Page 12 - Delaware 222 - 2025

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
J.C. Barker
Delaware Symphony
Orchestra
J.C. Barker took over as executive
director of the Delaware Symphony
Orchestra in early 2020, just before
the COVID pandemic would scuttle
most of the prestigious outfi t’s
performances. Leaning on his prior
experience as director of artistic
administration with the Mobile
(Ala.) Symphony though he helped
the DSO navigate the uncertain
times including live streaming
performances to audiences over the
web. Barker has also helped to temper
relations between the board, staff and
musicians, brokering an amicable
new three-year contract with the
symphony’s professional musicians
in 2022 – the fi rst new DSO contract
since 2019.
Tina Betz
City of Wilmington,
Mayor's Office
As the director of cultural aff airs for
Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki,
Tina Betz is in the middle of the
music, performance and art that fl ows
through Delaware’s largest city. Now
more than 20 years into her second
stint in the role, the classically trained
singer and dancer keeps Wilmington
on its feet, perhaps foremost through
the annual Cliff ord Brown Jazz Festival.
For one weekend a year, the festival
makes Delaware the highlight of the
jazz world, bringing in stars like Herbie
Hancock, Chuck Mangione and Kamasi
Washington over its 37-year history.
Her offi ce also manages the city’s
arthouse fi lm theater Th eatre N, the
Wilmington Children’s Chorus and the
monthly city Art Loop.
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Brendan Cooke
OperaDelaware
Brendan Cooke’s love of art runs deep,
having launched the Baltimore Concert
Opera in 2008 after the collapse of
the Baltimore Opera Company with
$700 in personal funds. He led that
start-up company to exponential
growth before joining the prestigious
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as
group sales manager. In 2012, he
moved to Wilmington to take over
OperaDelaware, the 11th oldest opera
company in the country. Th e classically
trained opera singer has helped the
Delaware company reach new heights
through a new “festival” format that
has garnered international attention.
After leading through the COVID
pandemic, Cooke emphasized the
company’s “pop-up” performances with
a mobile stage and has now put on
more than 100 al fresco shows.
Gayle Dillman
Gable Music Ventures
Dillman founded Gable Music Ventures
in 2011. Over the past decade, it has
helped to revitalize Delaware’s local
music scene, giving original artists a
place next to popular cover bands and
touring acts. Gable Music Ventures has
created a handful of events over the
years to promote music and the arts,
but none have been as successful as the
Ladybug Music Festival, which is billed
as America’s largest free gathering
of female artists or female-fronted
bands, and has now expanded to both
Wilmington and Ellicott City, Md..
Over the past year, Dillman has been
working to expand the Ladybug brand
to one day host festivals in other major
cities around the country. Her eff orts
paid off as Middletown held its fi rst
micro-festival with her company.
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10 DELAWARE 222 | DelawareBusinessTimes.com
10 DELAWARE 222 | DelawareBusinessTimes.com