Arizona Citizens for the Arts’ ‘Rusty’ Foley Announces Summer Retirement
Catherine “Rusty” Foley will retire from her role as Executive Director of Arizona Citizens for the Arts this June.
Foley has held the executive director role since 2011, but her roots with ACA date back to 2003, when she first signed on as a chair and board member for the organization. Prior to joining the organization, Foley was a longtime local communications and public affairs professional, logging 25 years with the Salt River Project while maintaining an active role in the local philanthropy landscape along the way.
“Having previously enjoyed a rewarding career in the corporate world, it has been the honor of my life to lend whatever skills and talents I’ve learned to promoting the value of the arts,” Foley said. “While I don’t consider myself an artist, the arts were integral to my own education and have been a constant source of joy and enrichment in my life. I firmly believe our lives are happier and healthier and our communities are stronger because of the presence of the arts.”
A recipient of the Phoenix Theatre’s “Women Who Care” award, the Phoenix Arts and Business Council’s 2007 Arts Board Member of the Year nod and the Arizona Music Educators Association and the Raymond G. Van Diest Music Advocacy Award, among other accolades, Foley has long proved herself a champion for the arts as well as numerous civic and community efforts and causes.
“Rusty Foley has left an indelible mark on Arizona’s arts and culture landscape, not just during her tenure with Arizona Citizens for the Arts, but during a long corporate career in which she served in leadership positions for many nonprofit organizations,” said AzCA Board President Michael Seiden. “For Arizona Citizens for the Arts, her leadership, direction and advocacy, particularly in efforts to ensure state funding for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, have significantly impacted arts and culture organizations and those who love and support them statewide.”
