Henry Timms, who guided Lincoln Center through the turmoil of the pandemic and helped complete a $550 million renovation of David Geffen Hall, will step down as leader this summer after five years, he announced Wednesday.
Timms will become managing director of the Brunswick Group, a global public relations firm. He said he had always intended to stay at Lincoln Center for five to seven years, and that the Brunswick Group, which advises leading corporations and cultural groups, had approached him about a position there late last year.
“I feel proud of what we’ve done,” he said in an interview in his office above the Lincoln Center campus. “But I always think change is a good thing.”
Steven R. Swartz, the chairman of Lincoln Center’s board of trustees, said in an interview that Timms was a “transformational leader” who helped foster innovation and played a critical role in accelerating the renovation of Geffen Hall, home of the Philharmonic New York. during the pandemic.
“In our perfect world, we would have him continue to do his job,” Swartz said. “But we certainly understand that he sees this opportunity as his next step and obviously we wish him the best.”
Timms, 47, arrived at Lincoln Center in 2019 with a mandate to restore stability to the organization, which had struggled financially and years of leadership. He was also tasked with restoring Lincoln Center’s fraught relationship with its constituent organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet and the Philharmonic. The center acts as an owner in these groups, but has little authority over them, since each has its own leadership, board and budget. The center also presents its own work, sometimes bringing it into competition with its constituents.
In his first year on the job, the pandemic hit, forcing Lincoln Center and its members to close for more than 18 months. Timms, working with Lincoln Center’s board of trustees and Philharmonic leaders, took advantage of the shutdown to complete the Geffen’s renovation a year and a half ahead of schedule, as construction crews could work without interrupting concerts.
Timms received about $1.5 million in total compensation in the year ending June 2022. He has been criticized for his efforts to shake up Lincoln Center’s cultural offerings. The organization cut back on its own programming and shifted its focus from classical music and international theater to other genres, including pop, hip-hop, social dance and comedy.
The old Mainly Mozart Festival was replaced by a new, eclectic festival, Summer for the City, with more varied offerings. To project a more welcoming image, the center hung a giant disco ball over its central plaza.
Some critics have suggested that Timms has abandoned the values ​​and traditional role of Lincoln Center as a champion of classical art forms under siege today. Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker last year that the new vision seemed “fundamentally out of step with Lincoln Center and its audience, both existing and potential.”
But Timms defended his approach. He pointed to Lincoln Center’s investment in Geffen Hall as a sign of its commitment to classical music, but added that the organization will have to reach out to a much broader, more diverse crowd to fulfill its mandate. The center now offers choose-what-you-pay tickets for certain events.
“We’re speaking directly to the culture,” he said, “which requires us to talk to some young people who have historically not been the most comfortable at Lincoln Center.”
Timms has also worked to diversify Lincoln Center’s board and staff: Women make up about 60 percent of its executive and senior management teams, and people of color nearly 40 percent.
Timms’ departure will add to Lincoln Center’s challenges. Although the center is in a relatively strong position — its endowment has grown to about $280 million, up from $258 million in 2019 — it is still working to recover from the pandemic. Lincoln Center, which spent $23 million on its own programming in 2019, spent $14 million in the year ending June 2022, when Geffen Hall was still closed, and $21 million in the year ending last June .
It’s unclear how the departure will affect Timms’ plan to tear down the barriers that line the Lincoln Center campus from Amsterdam Avenue, a project still in its early stages.
Swartz said the center will move forward with the plan. He hopes the organization can find a new leader before Timms steps down in August.
“We want someone who can continue the momentum,” he said, “and who can bring leadership in innovation, but also work with our featured organizations, which are, after all, the lifeblood of Lincoln Center.”
British-born Timms, who previously headed the 92nd Street Y, has long had interests outside the arts. He helped create #GivingTuesday and authored “New Power,” a book that explores bottom-up leadership.
Tims said it was hard for him to leave, but he felt both he and Lincoln Center were ready.
“I did what I came to do,” he said. “I hand over the keys with the engine humming.”
