Lincoln Center leader Henry Timms is leaving after five years

Henry Timms, who guided Lincoln Center through the turmoil of the pandemic and helped direct the $550 million renovation of David Geffen Hall, will step down as leader this summer after five years, he announced Wednesday.

Timms will become CEO of the Brunswick Group, a global public relations firm. He said he always planned to stay at Lincoln Center for five to seven years and that the Brunswick Group, which advises top companies and cultural groups, approached him late last year about a position there.

“I'm proud of what we did,” he said in an interview in his office above the Lincoln Center campus. “But I also always believe that change is a good thing.”

Steven R. Swartz, the chairman of the Lincoln Center board, said in an interview that Timms had been a “transformational leader” who had helped drive innovation and played a critical role in accelerating the Geffen renovation Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic. during the pandemic.

“In our perfect world, we would want him to continue doing this work,” Swartz said. “But we certainly understand that he sees this opportunity as his next step and of course wish him all the best.”

Timms, 47, arrived at Lincoln Center in 2019 with a mandate to restore stability to the organization, which has struggled with financial problems and years of leadership turnover. He was also tasked with repairing Lincoln Center's fraught relationship with its member organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet and the Philharmonic. The center acts as a landlord for these groups, but has little power over them because each has its own leadership, governance and budget. The center also presents its own work, sometimes putting it in competition with its constituents.

In his first year on the job, the pandemic struck, forcing the closure of Lincoln Center and its constituents for more than 18 months. Timms, working with Lincoln Center administration and Philharmonic leaders, took advantage of the closure to complete the Geffen renovation a year and a half ahead of schedule as construction crews were able to work without disrupting the concerts.

Timms received approximately $1.5 million in total compensation in the year ending June 2022. He has received some criticism for his efforts to shake up Lincoln Center's cultural offerings. The organization reduced spending on its own programming and shifted focus from classical music and international theater to other genres, including pop, hip hop, social dance and comedy.

The old Mostly Mozart Festival was replaced by a new, eclectic festival, Summer for the City, with a more diverse offering. To create a more welcoming image, the center hung a giant disco ball above the main square.

Some critics have suggested that Timms has abandoned Lincoln Center's values ​​and traditional role as a champion of classical art forms that are under siege today. Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker last year that the new vision seemed “fundamentally out of step with Lincoln Center and its audiences, both existing and potential.”

But Timms defended his approach. He pointed to Lincoln Center's investment in Geffen Hall as a sign of its commitment to classical music, but added that the organization would need to appeal to a much broader, more diverse audience to fulfill its mandate. The center now offers 'choose what you pay' tickets for some events.

“We're speaking directly to the culture,” he said, “which requires us to speak to some new people who historically haven't felt the most comfortable at Lincoln Center.”

Timms also worked to diversify Lincoln Center's board and staff, with women making up about 60 percent of the executive and senior management teams, and people of color nearly 40 percent.

Timms' departure will add to Lincoln Center's challenges. Even though the center is in a relatively strong position — its funding has increased from $258 million in 2019 to about $280 million — it is still working to recover from the pandemic. Lincoln Center, which spent $23 million on its own programming in 2019, spent $14 million in the year ending June 2022, when Geffen Hall was still closed, and $21 million in the year ending last June.

It's unclear how the departure will affect Timms' plan to tear down the barriers shielding the Lincoln Center campus from Amsterdam Avenue, a project still in its early stages.

Swartz said the center would move forward with the plan. He hopes the organization can find a new leader before Timms steps down in August.

“We want someone who can continue the momentum,” he said, “and who can bring leadership in innovation, but who can also collaborate with our constituent organizations that are, after all, the lifeblood of Lincoln Center.”

The British-born Timms, who previously led the 92nd Street Y, has long had interests outside the arts. He helped start #GivingTuesday and co-wrote “New Power,” a book that examines leadership from the bottom up.

Timms said it was hard for him to leave, but felt both he and Lincoln Center were ready.

“I did what I came to do,” he said. “I hand over the keys while the engine is running.”