The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge could name a replacement for former president and CEO Eric Holowacz as early as Tuesday.
Officials with the nonprofit agency have declined to comment. But Daily Report has confirmed that the organization’s CEO search committee has whittled down a list of nearly a dozen viable candidates to its top pick and will present that name to the full board when it meets late Tuesday. The board could accept the candidate, defer action or ask the search committee to start the process over.
The Arts Council has been without a CEO since early this year. Holowacz resigned in February, following a vote of no confidence by the board. Neither Holowacz nor the board ever publicly discussed the events leading up to his departure, but in recent weeks Holowacz formed a new arts initiative called the Creative Development Bureau. The Arts Council, meanwhile, has been working with a search firm to help with a national search for his replacement. Two Arts Council staffers, Lisa Ibert and Jonathan Grimes, have been serving as interim co-directors.
It is unclear if the board will vote to accept the search committee’s recommendation.  The board is a private nonprofit agency, and its meetings are not open to the public.
—Stephanie Riegel
