Arts Council of the Valley names new executive director

Jenny Burden has been named executive director of the Arts Council of the Valley based in Harrisonburg.

Burden has been a Realtor with the Harrisonburg Homes Team of Kline May Realty, where she also coordinated the bi-monthly art exhibitions for its Wilson Downtown Gallery.

Burden’s arts background includes museum and gallery work, teaching, research and writing. She graduated from University of Richmond with a bachelor’s degree in art history and received her master’s degree in Art History from George Washington University.

Burden has taught history and appreciation of art at James Madison University and Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale. She was was a researcher for The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C,; curatorial assistant for the North Carolina Museum of Art; and was director of The Tartt Gallery and The Foundry Gallery in Washington, D.C. Burden serves on the Board of Directors of the Harrisonburg Education Foundation and is president of Harrisonburg High School’s StageStreaks. She has also served on the Boards of JMU's Greater Madison and the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.

The Arts Council of the Valley was founded in 2000. It offers Advancing the Arts grants to artists and art educators, coordinates Harrisonburg’s First Fridays Downtown events, operates Court Square Theater for performing arts and film,and houses monthly exhibitions in its Darrin-McHone Gallery.