Chris Harrington, president and CEO of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, on getting immersed in the Twin Cities community

Off the Record

One of the best ways to get acquainted with a new home is to start meeting people. Detroit-born Chris Harrington, now the president and CEO of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, admits on the latest episode of Off the Record that he had never before set foot outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport when he accepted the top job with the nonprofit.

But he had some familiarity with the region, he says — and it didn’t hurt that he spent his first six months meeting a thousand community members. Yes, a thousand.

“I’m not making that up,” Harrington says. “I confirmed that with my colleague, Nikki. It was very interesting because it was during a time where we were still meeting virtually… We were just on Zooms back to back. I always say that if we had to actually go back and replicate meeting a thousand people within the first six months, it would probably take six years.”

Check out the latest episode of the Off the Record podcast with Harrington and hosts Dave Faust, president and CEO of Platinum Bank, and Jen Hellman, CEO of Goff Public, to learn more about:

• How the Twin Cities punches above its weight class when it comes to the arts (17:05)
• What Harrington’s most excited about for the Ordway’s upcoming season (18:24)
• What it means to be “carefrontational” (23:10)
• Curating his own personal board of directors to consult for life’s big decisions (26:05)
• Why Harrington has no aspirations of performing on stage (30:53)
• NOOMA, the opera for babies — and how there’s truly something for everyone at the Ordway (35:35)

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