Gilmore Keyboard Festival Marketing Director Steps Down
May 1, 2017
Photo: Chris McGuire
The Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival has announced that Mary McCormick, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, has resigned after successfully leading the marketing and PR efforts for the organization for more than eight years.
“All of us at The Gilmore are going to miss Mary’s remarkable creative and energetic spirit at the helm of our PR and marketing efforts,” said Dan Gustin, Director of The Gilmore. “She has set new standards of excellence for us in these areas, while also contributing mightily to the overall Gilmore programs.”
McCormick assumed her role at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival in 2009 following a 25-year career in private industry in Michigan and Wisconsin. She led the marketing and PR efforts for the 2010 and 2014 Gilmore Artists Awards announcements, the past four Gilmore Keyboard Festivals, eight Gilmore Young Artists Awards announcements, and eight seasons of Piano Masters and Rising Stars concerts. McCormick will be leaving her post this month.
“I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to contribute to such an extraordinary arts-presenting organization as the Gilmore Keyboard Festival,” McCormick said. “I will miss working with the talented Gilmore staff, and being a part of the upcoming 2018 Festival and Gilmore Artist Award announcements; however, I’m very much looking forward to taking some time off and pursuing other interests.”
Among McCormick’s accomplishments are spearheading the wildly-popular “Play Out Loud” piano project in the spring of 2012, which placed brightly painted upright pianos on the streets of Kalamazoo and Portage during that year’s Festival. Last year, McCormick worked with the City of Kalamazoo and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to convert three major pedestrian crosswalks into keyboards for the 2016 Festival. She was also instrumental in re-opening the box office within Kalamazoo’s Epic Center in 2015, now operated by Gilmore staff to serve Gilmore Keyboard Festival patrons. This spring, the box office expanded to provide ticketing services for Fontana as well.
A search for McCormick’s successor is currently underway. More information can be found on our employment page.