Announcing ISPA’s 2025 Board Appointments

Announcing ISPA’s 2025 Board Appointments

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New York, NY, USA (February 12, 2025) – On behalf of the Board of Directors, the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) is pleased to announce the appointments of the new Chair of the Board, Alfonso Leal de Ojo (Chief Executive, The English Concert, UK) and three new Board Members: Barry Hughson (Executive Director, American Ballet Theatre, USA), Aurora Limburg (International Tour Producer Artist's Agent, Aurora Limburg, Spain/France), and Beth Morrison (Creative Producer, Beth Morrison Projects, USA.) (Biographies attached.)

The ISPA membership unanimously approved the appointments at ISPA’s Annual General Meeting, held virtually on February 10, 2025.

As the ISPA Board Chair, Alfonso Leal de Ojo will oversee the organization’s strategic direction in collaboration with the other directors and executive leadership. His appointment marks an exciting new chapter for the ISPA community, and the organization looks forward to his leadership and vision as it furthers its mission globally.

“Our mission to advance leadership, foster the exchange of ideas, and build a diverse and engaged membership relies entirely on the strength and commitment of our members. It is through the exchange of your ideas that we tackle the many challenges we face. These challenges continue to take many forms across our international community: political interference that threatens the independence of our artists, rising costs that jeopardise our livelihoods, the closing of borders that undermine cultural exchange, and the growing tide of xenophobia around the world, to name just a few. Our Fellowship Program, brings people from across the globe, providing opportunities for young art leaders to be part of the network and is a prime example of how we enable dialogue and exchange across cultures and generations, but we can do more! We must do more!” said Board Chair, Alfonso Leal de Ojo.

ISPA is dedicated to strengthening the global performing arts sector by advancing leadership, facilitating the exchange of ideas, and fostering a diverse and engaged membership. During the meeting, ISPA members also expressed their gratitude to outgoing Chair Alicia Adams (Vice President, International Programming, Kennedy Center) for her dedicated leadership and contributions.

ISPA further recognized Kai Amberla (Executive Director, Finland Festival, Finland), Cindy Hwang (President, InPulse Creatives, LLC, Saudi Arabia), and Allen Moon (Director of Touring & Artist Management, David Lieberman Artists' Representatives, USA) for their service and commitment as they concluded their terms on the Board.

“I am very much looking forward to working alongside Alfonso as well as with the entire board as we continue to tackle the obstacles facing our performing arts communities.” said CEO David Baile.

Please view the ISPA website for more information on ISPA’s Board Members

About ISPA: The International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) is a global association of more than 500 arts management leaders from 56 regions, who come together with the shared goal of strengthening and developing the arts internationally. We achieve this by building leadership ability, recognizing and discussing field-wide trends and new developments, and deepening global exchange through the arts. ISPA members include presenters, performing arts organizations, artist managers, competitions, funders, consultants and other professionals working in the performing arts. Founded in 1948 by Patrick Hayes, 2024 marked ISPA's 75th Anniversary.

About ISPA Congresses: ISPA Congresses bring together performing arts leaders to discover the next great idea, strengthen relationships, and rejuvenate their passion for the arts. Programming is geared toward administrators, presenters, managers, agents, artists and government/cultural leaders.

ISPA holds two Congresses annually, one every January in New York City and a second Congress in a different region of the world. Recent International Congress locations include Leeuwarden-Friesland (2018). Guadalajara, Mexico (2019), Hong Kong (2022), Manchester, UK (2023), and Perth, Australia (2024). ISPA’s 2025 mid-year Congress will be held Lugano and the registration will launch on Feb 17th, 2025. For more information about ISPA congresses, visit https://www.ispa.org/page/congress_landing.

[BIOGRAPHY OF THE BOARD MEMBERS]

Alfonso Leal de Ojo

(Chief Executive, The English Concert, UK)

Alfonso Leal del Ojo has served as Chief Executive of The English Concert, one of the world’s leading period instrument orchestras, since March 2019. Under his leadership, the ensemble has significantly expanded its performance calendar and launched the ambitious Handel for All project—a major recording and film initiative that aims to make Handel’s complete works freely accessible online. Prior to this role, Alfonso was Chief Executive of the Dunedin Consort, where he oversaw a substantial increase in the group’s performance output and international profile. During his tenure, the ensemble earned widespread critical acclaim, including a Gramophone Award for its recording of Mozart’s Requiem.

In addition to his leadership roles, Alfonso is a highly regarded instrumentalist. He has been the principal viola of The English Concert since 2007, performing with the orchestra on tours across the globe. He can be heard in numerous recordings, including Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, which was selected as an Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine.

Barry Hughson

(Executive Director, American Ballet Theatre, USA)

Barry Hughson began his career as a dancer with The Washington Ballet, where he performed classical and contemporary repertoire at the Kennedy Center and on tour throughout the world. Hughson has served as an executive leader at Connecticut’s Warner Theatre, Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York City, New Jersey’s American Repertory Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Boston Ballet, and The National Ballet of Canada.

Hughson joined The National Ballet of Canada as Executive Director in 2014. Under his leadership, the company accelerated its trajectory of artistic growth, fiscal responsibility, community engagement, and international presence.

Hughson is deeply engaged with the international arts community and has had consulting, teaching, and speaking engagements in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. He has served on a variety of industry boards, including Dance/USA, North America’s largest service organization for professional dance, where he completed two terms as a Trustee and Vice Chair. In partnership with Dance/USA and The Royal Ballet, Hughson spearheaded the first ever meeting of North American and European executive dance leadership, bringing together 22 administrators from nine countries in 2015. In 2018, he joined North American colleagues in The Equity Project, a three-year initiative to address racial diversity in the ballet field.

Hughson has also served as a mentor to emerging arts leaders through Dance/USA’s Institute for Leadership Training and Business/Arts Executive Leadership Program. He has served as Vice-Chair of the National Council for the Canadian Dance Assembly and as a member of the Steering Committee for the Canadian Arts Summit. As a member of the Coordinating Committee for Respectful Workplaces in the Arts, Hughson led the development and implementation of a National Code of Conduct for the Performing Arts in Canada.

Hughson is currently a member of the Steering Committee for the Canadian Arts Coalition and the Advancement Committee for the International Society of Performing Arts, the Labor Relationship Advisory Board at Toronto Metropolitan University, and the Honorary Board for the Interprovincial Music Camp. In 2023, Hughson received the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Toronto Musicians’ Association, Local 149 of the American Federation of Musicians.

Hughson was appointed Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre in June 2024.

Aurora Limburg

(International Producer Artist’s Agent, Aurora Limburg, France/Spain)

After obtaining a History Master’s degree at Paris IV Sorbonne, Aurora worked for a few years in the contemporary art field in Madrid (Emilio Navarro’s Gallery; Carlos de Amberes’s Foundation) and then in Paris (Magnum Agency).

She temporarily joined the “XIV Flamenco Biennial” and later on “A Negro Producciones” (Seville). Then on she collaborated with Carole Fierz doing the international promotion for flamenco dance companies including Israel Galván or Rocío Molina and for the “Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía” under Rafael Estévez’s artistic direction.

Building on her experience, she has been working freelance since 2012 and is currently based both in Seville and Paris. She’s responsible for the international broadcast and booking of the following flamenco dance/music companies: “Estévez/Paños y Compañía” (2019 National Dance Award), “Marco Vargas & Chloé Brûlé”, “Lucía Álvarez La Piñona” and “Artomático”.

Aurora is a member of “Emprendo Danza” (a dance companies’ association), located in Madrid.

Beth Morrison

(Creative Producer, Beth Morrison Projects, USA)

Beth Morrison is the recipient of the Musical America Award for Best Artist of the Year and Agent of Change and a Kennedy Center Next50 Honoree, Beth Morrison is hailed as a “contemporary opera mastermind” (LA Times) and “a powerhouse leading the industry to new heights” (WQXR), Beth Morrison is an opera and theatre producer, President and Creative Producer of Beth Morrison Projects, and Founding co-Director of the PROTOTYPE Festival.

Beth created Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) in 2006 to identify and support the work of emerging and established living composers, and to create a new kind of opera (“Beth Morrison is her own genre”-Opera News). BMP is celebrated as having been an industry disruptor and is now a tastemaker at the forefront of musical and theatrical innovation by commissioning, developing, producing and touring the groundbreaking new works of a diverse group of living composers and their collaborators, which take the form of opera-theatre, music-theatre, and vocal-theatre.

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