Stephen Beaudoin

Stephen Beaudoin is an American arts leader. He is the Executive Director of South Orange Performing Arts Center., located in the northern New Jersey suburbs of New York City, and has held previous chief executive positions with two-time Grammy award winners, The Washington Chorus, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and PHAME, an Oregon nonprofit that serves artists and musicians with disabilities. 
Beaudoin was recognized by Musical America magazine as one of the "Top Movers and Shapers" in the music industry in 2019, and is recognized for his creative leadership.
==Education==
Trained as a classical tenor, Beaudoin studied Vocal Performance at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, where he graduated with Distinction in Performance Honors and went on to work as a singer, actor, and stage director with companies including Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Opera Boston, Opera Omaha, New Repertory Theatre, and many more. He then went on to receive a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. At the completion of his MBA, Beaudoin was awarded the C. Steward Sheppard Distinguished Service Award. He is an alum of the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, and of the NAS (National Arts Strategies) Chief Executive Program in affiliation with Harvard Business School.
==Career==
Beaudoin began working as a professional actor and musician as a teenager in Kansas City, Missouri, then went on to create, produce, and present arts experiences throughout college and into his twenties, including commissioning and presenting new music, opera, and musical theatre, creating and directing unique performance installations, and performing music and theatre from 17th century opera and oratorio to 21st century songs and musicals. In his early twenties he also embarked on his career in arts leadership, first with The Fenway Alliance in Boston, Massachusetts, then with organizations including PHAME and Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon.
During his time leading PHAME, Beaudoin drove significant programmatic and financial growth. Artistic highlights included commissioning and producing the world premiere production of the new music-theatre work "Up The Fall" by Laura Gibson and Debbie Lamedman, the "PHAME @ 30" series of arts experiences highlighting PHAME's thirtieth anniversary and creating the Oregon Arts Leaders for Inclusion Coalition. While in Oregon, he won election to the Multnomah Education Service District board, where he served first as Vice Chair and then Chair of this $80 million public education agency, leading the charge to turn around its public image and hire a new Superintendent.
From 2017-19, Beaudoin served as Executive Director of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. There, he led the orchestra through its first-ever recording project - composer Chris Brubeck's "Affinity: Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra," in collaboration with Sharon Isbin - at the Music Center at Strathmore, and expanded audience development programs. 
From 2019-2022, Beaudoin was Executive Director of The Washington Chorus, which produces a subscription series at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Collaborating first with Artistic Director Christopher Bell and then with Artistic Director Dr. Eugene Rogers, Beaudoin worked collaboratively to produce a digital music film by composer Damien Geter and filmmaker Bob Berg, "Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow," and created a platform service for Chorus members to create and deliver one-of-a-kind personalized music videos. He also led the Chorus through live concerts and collaborations at The Kennedy Center and the Music Center at Strathmore. 
In September of 2022, Beaudoin began his tenure as Executive Director of South Orange Performing Arts Center, or SOPAC. At SOPAC, Beaudoin serves as chief executive and creative, and, through his commitment to cultivating and showcasing next-generation artists and musicians, has brought artists like Emily King, Eleri Ward, Jessica Kirson, and Jimmie Herrod to SOPAC. Early in his tenure, he launched the "New Voices New Visions" series and the Creative Community Brain Trust, to design and move forward a vision for community-based creative programming. 
==Awards and Accomplishments==
Beaudoin has received several awards over the course of his career, including recognitions from the City of Portland, Willamette Week newspaper, and Musical America magazine. He was named in 2022 to the Poets and Quants publication's "Best and Brightest EMBA's of 2022" list.
Category:American people
Category:Arts occupations
Category:Directors