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Longtime Arts Leader Leaves Wichita Job

Deborah Shaar
/
KMUW/File photo
John D'Angelo ended his 43-year career with the city of Wichita on April 26. He was manager of the city's arts and cultural services division.

This story was updated on Thursday, May 16

A change in leadership is coming to Wichita’s arts and cultural services division.

Longtime manager John D’Angelo resigned April 26. City officials say he left to take a similar job in Oxnard, California, but that might not have happened. This week, Oxnard announced layoffs in arts and culture, and proposed closing its performing arts center and a museum, according to the Ventura County Star.

D'Angelo was not available for comment about his departure.

D’Angelo spent 43 years with the city of Wichita. He managed daily operations at Century II, CityArts, Mid-America All-Indian Center and Old Cowtown Museum.

“The city appreciates John’s lifetime of service to the arts and cultural arts community, and we are confident that we will benefit from his contributions for years to come,” says Elyse Mohler, the city's assistant communications director.

In recent years, D’Angelo helped navigate future options for Century II, the city’s 50-year-old performing arts venue and convention center.

Mohler says the city is in the process of determining the future of the manager position.

“There’s still so many ways we could with this," she says. "And that’s why we are using this time to take a look at what the position should look like, and what are the particular skill sets we would want our next director to have."

Assistant City Manager Donte Martin will serve in the role on a temporary basis. He has worked for the city of Wichita since 2000.

Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.