Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation names new CEO

The Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation Board of Directors has named a veteran of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations as chief executive officer. 

Bringing more than two decades of leadership serving complex nonprofit arts and cultural organizations nationwide, Tania Castroverde Moskalenko will officially assume her duties on Feb. 5, 2024. In the interim, she will work with the board on key strategic initiatives effective immediately.

Castroverde Moskalenko is recognized as a results-driven leader with a proven track record of philanthropic outcomes, programming and social impact. Working with the PAF board, she will champion accessible arts education and lead the vision for a new Sarasota Performing Arts Center.

“Tania is a strategic and philanthropically minded leader with demonstrated success in public-private partnerships at arts and cultural organizations around the country, and we are confident in her ability to lead the foundation into its next phase,” said SPAF Chairman Jim Travers in a news release. “Together we will deliver the vision for an iconic performing arts center at the heart of The Bay and ensure the future of performing arts in our region for generations to come.”

Castroverde Moskalenko’s experience includes serving as executive director of the Miami City Ballet, where she completed a $65 million capitalization campaign. Her experience leading arts organizations and guiding them through strategic, financial and operational transformations includes serving as CEO of the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, a 4,000-seat National Historic Landmark in downtown Chicago; president and CEO of the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana; and executive director of the Germantown Performing Arts Center in Tennessee. 

Most recently, she was interim CEO of Oolite Arts in Miami Beach and Strategic Advisor for the Youth America Grand Prix, the world’s largest ballet audition competition.

“As a believer in the transformative power of the arts, I am inspired by the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation’s mission of bringing accessible arts experiences to the entire community,” said Castroverde Moskalenko in the release. “I am equally captivated by the community’s vision for a new performing arts center, especially in such a dynamic and growing region of the country.”

Castroverde Moskalenko holds an master of arts in philanthropy from Indiana University, a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Memphis, and executive certifications from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. A native of Havana, Cuba and raised in Miami, she serves on the board of directors of Philanthropy Miami.