Britt Festival celebrates 60th anniversary with new president

Jacksonville, Ore. — The Britt Festival, a staple in the Rogue Valley, is getting ready to launch its 60th season with a new president and CEO.

This year marks the first full season since the festival had to skip a season in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions and was forced into a half-season last year during the Delta variant surge.

"I think for everybody this is a time of coming back together after two years of isolation and so I think all of us are really eager to get together experience live performance, this is one of the ways I think that we as human beings build community," said Abby McKee, the non-profit's new president and CEO.

Mckee, whose first official start day will be May 1, will replace Britt's president of 11-years Donna Briggs who announced her retirement in December of 2021.

She follows a similar pattern as Briggs by taking up the role during a challenging time. Briggs was selected by the board to lead the festival in the aftermath of 2008's economic depression and McKee fills her shoes just as the pandemic begins to transition to an endemic.

"I am just starting to really get into understanding the planning and how the whole organization works," she said. "The Britt Festival has a remarkable team of staff and board members. There is a lot to learn before I arrive there on the ground."

McKee said she is working closely with Briggs during her training process.

"We are actually going to be meeting almost every few days for the next several weeks as we talk about and work through this transition," she said. "It's a real privilege to be stepping into this organization and really taking the torch from Donna and continuing to carry it forward.

Though this will be McKee's first Britt festival, she comes to the organization as a non-profit executive with 15 years of experience in program development.

"I worked for Stern Grove Festival Association in San Francisco for quite some time," she said.

McKee also has a background in music. Born to parents who were both music educators, she attended the University of South Carolina on a full scholarship as a flutist.

After earning her Bachelor of Music Magna Cum Laude in 2003, she continued her education at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she completed her Master of Music in 2005.

She comes to the valley from her last position as the Executive Director for the Portland Baroque Orchestra (PBO) in Portland, Oregon.

"I am so excited to come into this wonderful community and first learn the community, learn what serves the community that participates in the Britt Music and Arts Festival," she said.

She noted that as a leader stepping into a new position she has always tried to avoid "taking people from a place that they are very happy to a place they don't want to go," and added that the first thing she wants to do is learn about "where the community wants to go."

"Then I think I will have a really clear picture of how we want to go together," she said.