Updated at 4:27 p.m., with comments from Mont Levy, chairman of the Regional Arts Commission — Felicia Shaw, executive director of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, resigned today.
The organization announced Shaw’s departure Monday and named Celia Hosler as interim executive director. Hosler, former chief operating officer of COCA, will start immediately.
Shaw could not be reached for comment. RAC officials gave no reason for her departure.
"Felicia made the decision, which we mutually agreed with, for her to resign and move on to, as she has described, her next adventure," said Mont Levy, chairman of the Regional Arts Commission.
Levy said that Shaw has made many contributions to the arts community in St. Louis in the past few years and that the commission's leaders are grateful for her vision. He said they look forward to implementing the plan she helped build to fully serve the region's arts-and-culture community.
"We're just coming off several years of in-depth, important planning for what the future's going to look like," Levy said. "Our expectation is that we will continue with these new directions."
He said the organization will release a strategic plan early next year.
Shaw had served as the RAC executive director since May 2015. She replaced Jill McGuire, who founded the commission in 1985. Since then, the organization has awarded more than $100 million in funding to artists and art institutions.
The commission aims to find a new executive director within nine months.
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