Ziter ran S.D. Performing Arts League for 17 years, then spent the past 20 years building the arts district at Liberty Station
On Wednesday, Alan Ziter will retire after spending 37 years as one of San Diego’s leading arts champions.
“There are so many young people who are up and coming in the arts administration sector. I think it’s important that there are good future job opportunities for them. I want them to stay in the arts and not have to leave because the leadership is stagnant,” Ziter said. San Diego Performing Arts League Executive Director Alan Ziter, center, with employees Rick Prickett, left, and Toni Robin, right, at the League’s Arts Tix booth in 2002.“It has been a great pleasure working with Alan through the years and I am so grateful for everything Alan has done to advance the arts at Liberty Station and in the greater San Diego community,” Johnson said.
“Alan Ziter is among a handful of administrative arts leaders who, during the’ 90s, began to elevate the trajectory of the San Diego arts community. My husband, Osborn, and I give Alan much credit for engaging us during that period,” Hurston said. “I feel fortunate to have graduated from the unofficial Alan Ziter School of Arts Leadership. He’s the most quietly persuasive person I’ve ever met and he has taught me so much about how to operate in the arts community.
“But the success of Arts Tix wasn’t just about selling tickets,” Ziter said. “It helped demystify the theater-going experience. People have questions on how to get there, where to park, what to wear. Nobody wants to feel out of place when they go. It was as much an information booth as it was about selling tickets.”The same year the Arts Tix booth opened, the city of San Diego floated a proposal to eliminate arts funding from its general budget.
Alan Ziter at the Naval Training Center’s command center, now in the heart of the Arts District at Liberty Station.In 1997, the U.S. Navy closed the Naval Training Center base and offered to set aside 26 vacant barracks and other buildings for future use as an arts and culture district. To raise the estimated $26 million needed to renovate the buildings for Arts District Liberty Station, the NTC Foundation was formed and Ziter was recruited in January 2004 to run the organization.
Over the years, more than 100 tenants have moved into Arts District Liberty Station and the overall cost of renovating the buildings has grown to $135 million.
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