Terrence D. Jones has served as president and CEO of the Wolf Trap Foundation since August 1, 1996 and during that time has positioned the organization as a premier center for the integration of performing arts, education, technology, and community. Jones is responsible for the management and strategic planning of the Foundation’s annual budget which is in excess of $28 million; 80 full-time employees, approximately 300 part-time employees, and thousands of volunteers; presentation of more than 270 performances each year at the Filene Center—America’s National Park for the Performing Arts, The Barns at Wolf Trap, and the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods; and a wide variety of education programs, including the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and the Wolf Trap Opera Company.

Fostering New Works

Jones’ 30-plus-year career in theater and the performing arts is inherent to his ability to advance Wolf Trap’s leadership role in the worldwide arts community. Most notably, his commitment to fostering new works has resulted in Wolf Trap’s strategic priority of annual commissions from the world’s finest performing artists. Since joining the Foundation in 1996, Jones has commissioned more than 30 new works from such world renowned artists as jazz greats Don Byron and Max Roach, composer Philip Glass, multimedia artist Robert Wilson, and choreographers Elizabeth Streb, Ann Reinking, and Donald Byrd. In 2000, Jones launched the original performance series Face of America. Through commissions of new works from top American choreographers and musicians, the Face of America series has celebrated the beauty and cultural diversity of our National Parks, including Yosemite National Park, Virgin Islands National Park, Mammoth Cave National Park, the Wright Brothers National Memorial, and the National Parks of Hawai`i. In 2001 Jones began the Kay Shouse Great Performance Series, an annual event honoring Wolf Trap’s founder Catherine Filene Shouse. The debut featured the premiere of Monkey and the Bone Demon, a stunning new work by internationally renowned dance company Pilobolus. In 2004, Wolf Trap’s first full-length opera, Volpone, premiered at The Barns at Wolf Trap. Commissioned by Wolf Trap, composed by John Musto, and written by Mark Campbell, the performance received rave reviews and national acclaim. Under his leadership, Wolf Trap has helped artists and audiences discover fresh outlooks and new expressions of the human spirit through the performing arts. In 2007, Jones created Wolf Trap’s National Council on the Arts and Environment to develop ways in which the arts community can address environmental concerns.

A Distinguished Career

Prior to joining Wolf Trap, Jones was CEO and Artistic Director of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for ten years. While there he established ongoing financial support for the Center and a $7 million program endowment. Jones also developed a number of innovative programs, including collaborations with some of the world’s finest artists including Kronos Quartet, Miami City Ballet, Trisha Brown, and Billy Taylor. Jones moved to Krannert in 1986 after serving as General Manager of Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis and Assistant Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Butler University. He also founded the Bradford Repertory Theatre in Vermont.

Memberships and Affiliations

Jones is a frequent speaker and consultant nationally and internationally on performing arts management issues and has often been invited to address the National Press Club. During his appearances he has discussed contemporary challenges of arts organizations, creativity in the 21st century, the fundamental risks taken by developing artists, and the new landscape of philanthropy in the performing arts. His speeches have received national media coverage and have garnered praise from many members of the national arts community. Jones is a member of the board of directors of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, Fairfax Convention and Visitors Corporation, and the Tower Club. He has served as Chairman of the University of Kansas Theatre and Film Advisory Board and was a founding partner of the Japan/United States Collaboration Performing Arts Project. He has served on the board of directors of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the Illinois Arts Alliance, the United Arts Organization of Greater Washington, and the National Association of Performing Arts Managers and Agents. He has also been an active member of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Presenters panel, Music panel, and Arts in Education panel; the State of Illinois Art-in-Architecture Review Panel; the Illinois Arts Council Advisory Panel; the Arts Midwest Advisory Panel; the Virginia Commission for the Arts Review Panel; and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Review Panel. Several of his articles on arts administration have been published, and he has addressed numerous national and international conferences. Jones has testified in support of the National Endowment for the Arts before the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and he served as one of six United States delegates to the first International Arts Programming Network project in Turkey and Greece, an arts exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. Jones was recently invited to Sparta, Greece to deliver the keynote address for the “Education and Arts Partnership: Archeological Heritage” conference.

Awards and Grants

In 2006, Jones was named Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine, and in 2005, he received the Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award for exemplary service to the field of professional presenting from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The award honors Jones’ career-long commitment to artistic excellence, as well as his commitment to artistic expression by providing artists with the support and freedom to create new works. In 2004, Jones was honored with a Distinguished Achievement Award from his alma mater, the University of Kansas. Under Jones’ leadership in 2004, Wolf Trap received the Red Rocks Award for Best Small Outdoor Venue from the Concert Industry Consortium. In 2000 and 2001, Jones accepted two awards on behalf of Wolf Trap from the Commonwealth of Virginia—the Governor’s Award for the Arts and the Jinx Hazel Arts Citizen of the Year award. On behalf of the Krannert Center, Jones was awarded the Dawson National Management Award in 1989. He has been recognized in numerous publications including Who’s Who in America.

Education

Jones earned both his Bachelor of Science degree in education and his Master of Arts degree in design and technical theater from the University of Kansas; with additional work on a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater design at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Jones is married to Polly Nell Jones, a writer. They have two daughters and two grandchildren.