Richard T. Bryant
President
Richard Bryant founded Front of House Services in 1999. The company specializes in start-ups and transitions in the performing and visual arts. Clients have included American Ballet Theatre at The Metropolitan Opera, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, “Small Voices Calling” at Carnegie Hall, New York’s Theatre Development Fund, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and Yale University.
Front of House Services is also recognized for its work in creative placemaking – assisting neighborhoods, towns, and cities in their quests to become more livable, just, and beautiful through arts-driven economic development. Working with NYC’s Perkins Eastman Architects and NJ Transit, Richard helped guide the creation of Woodbridge NJ’s ten-year arts development plan. Other placemaking projects along New Jersey’s rail corridors included the Valley Arts District in Orange; Hamilton Stage in Rahway; and the Connect the Lots initiative under the Ben Franklin Bridge near Camden’s waterfront.
In addition to his practice, for the past eight years, Richard has served as executive director of the 1,000-seat Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University in Orange, California. His journey with Musco Center began well before the venue’s grand opening to the public. In 2015, he was brought aboard by Chapman as the venue’s launch consultant, becoming the architect of its vision and strategic blueprint even while the building was still under construction. Drawing from his previous decades of national arts experience, Richard guided the Musco Center to its inaugural performance in March 2016: a landmark achievement that signaled the center’s transformation of the artistic scene at Chapman University. Following Musco Center’s opening, Chapman announced that Richard would become the hall’s full-time executive director.
As Musco Center’s principal programmer, Richard has presented a wide range of world-class visiting artists and companies, bringing them into relationship with Chapman students and the community. Featured have been staged opera concerts with LA Opera including “Nabucco,” “Don Carlo,” and “Roberto Devereux;’ classical music concerts by Wroc?aw Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Juilliard String Quartet, Ray Chen, Sarah Chang, Yefm Bronfman, and others; contemporary dance companies including Mark Morris Dance Group, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Pilobolus, Hubbard Street Dance Company, and Diavolo; stage and screen personalities Alan Cumming and Mandy Patinkin; singer-songwriters Chris Thile, Martha Redbone and Rosanne Cash; thought leaders Michio Kaku, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and George Takei; and recording artists Jon Batiste, Bela Fleck, LeAnn Rimes, Herb Alpert and Lani Hall, among many others. In addition, Richard co-founded Chapman’s annual Heartbeat of Mexico festival, an indoor-outdoor fiesta of local Hispanic/Latinx culture and music/dance ensembles, and developed the innovative Leap of Art residency program that places visiting artists into relationship with faculty and students as part of the curriculum.
Prior to joining Chapman, Richard created a strategic marketing plan for San Antonio’s McNay Art Museum and advised Stanford University on the opening of its Bing Concert Hall. He previously served for ten years as director of marketing for Southern California’s Segerstrom Center and helped open the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. He was also director of marketing for Washington DC’s Arena Stage for seven years and a founding member and first President of the Helen Hayes Awards.