LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – On Thursday (October 20), Wild Up – the eclectic LA-based new music collective, announced the hiring of Elizabeth Cline as their new Executive Director. Her previous leadership roles include Executive Director for The Industry, the Los Angeles-based experimental opera company; Assistant Director at Machine Project, an arts non-profit in Los Angeles; and a Curatorial Associate at the Hammer Museum, where she organized artist’s projects in the Public Engagement program.
Cline was unanimously selected by the Wild Up board and band members after a summer-long search and interview process. Cline’s history with Wild Up goes back to its earliest days: She’s been a longtime collaborator of Wild Up Artistic Director Christopher Rountree and even organized Wild Up’s first-ever paid gig, a residency at the Hammer Museum. Wild Up, with Rountree conducting, also served as the band for Cline’s opera The Edge Of Forever.
Wild Up Artistic Director Christopher Rountree says: “A lifetime ago, Elizabeth Cline gave Wild Up our first paid gig. Forty of them actually, over six months, in the reverberant marble spaces of The Hammer Museum. She has believed in us and has been part of our art-making since the very beginning. She is the kind of genius leader and creative friend who asks the hard questions and opens areas of thought, futures, and places unknown, to everyone around her. If the band’s first decade was about finding a new, Los Angeles, school of thought around making music, with Elizabeth at the helm, our second decade will be about finding the depths of application, permanence, and impact that Wild Up’s philosophy can reach.”
Says Cline: “I’ve admired the pure optimism of Wild Up and their commitment to making music to discover something beyond music. It’s inspiring to see a group so utterly independent and dedicated to offering new and different perspectives. This organization feels like Los Angeles to me — a breadth of ideas, a depth of creativity, and wild with ambition. I want to help make Wild Up a place to which we all want to belong.”
Wild Up Board President Karen Molleson: “At this unique moment, Wild Up is poised for a remarkable ascent. We have brilliant musicians, a fearless founder, dedicated board members, and brave audiences and patrons. With this team, the band has already created much amazing art over the past decade. Now Elizabeth Cline, an astute and experienced leader, blazing bright with creative vision, will guide us toward an even more stellar future.”
A Flurry Of New Programming
Wild Up are also thrilled to announce an exciting new slate of programming through the end of 2023, including Endless Season, Wild Up’s first-ever season in Los Angeles. From January to June 2023, Wild Up will perform numerous world premieres, each living in conversation across genres.
Featured composers and performers include Eliza Bagg, Sarah Davachi, Darian Donovan Thomas, Andrew McIntosh, Tony Conrad, Iannis Xenakis, Christopher Rountree, HOCKET, Patrick Shiroishi, Giacinto Scelsi, Jiji, and Julius Eastman.
