Michael M. Kaiser to Serve as Interim Executive Director for Seraphic Fire



Seraphic Fire bids farewell to its executive director of over 8 years, Rhett M. Del Campo, and wishes him great success as he begins his next role as Executive Director of iSing in Silicon Valley, California.

The DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland has been engaged to provide interim leadership and manage the search process for a successor. 

Michael M. Kaiser, the Chairman of the DeVos Institute and President Emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, will serve as Interim Executive Director. Prior to his tenure at the Kennedy Center, Kaiser led Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Royal Opera House in London, the American Ballet Theatre, and others. Matthew Kacergis, Associate Consultant, serves as Interim Managing Director. 

Says Mr. Kaiser, "We are honored to collaborate with Patrick Quigley and Seraphic Fire at this pivotal point in its history. For two decades, the ensemble has brought astonishing art to audiences throughout Florida and around the country. Its next leader has a tremendous opportunity to build upon Rhett Del Campo’s great work and help the choir further grow its profile." 

Artistic Director Patrick Dupre Quigley shares, “We are incredibly excited about Michael Kaiser and his team at the Devos Institute joining us in writing Seraphic Fire's next chapter. Michael and the DeVos Institute represent the standard for best practices in our industry, and we look forward to a happy and fruitful collaboration in the coming months.”

“As a Board, we are all very excited and honored to be working in partnership with the Devos Institute,” remarks Board Secretary Diane Ashley. “After 20 years of incredible music, we are all united in our commitment to seeing Seraphic Fire flourish for another 20 and beyond.”

Guided by the DeVos Institute, a national search will be conducted for the next executive director. The job profile will be listed on the Seraphic Fire website and industry postings in the coming weeks. 

About DeVos Institute of Arts Management

The DeVos Institute of Arts Management provides training, consultation, and implementation support for arts managers and their boards. It operates on the premise that while much is spent to train artists, too little is spent to support the managers and boards who keep those artists at work. 

The DeVos Institute has served more than 1,000 organizations from over 80 countries since 2001. While environments, objectives, and disciplines vary, each of our clients shares the desire to create, market, and sustain exemplary cultural programs.

The DeVos Institute has designed its services to assist a wide range of institutions, from traditional performing and presenting organizations, museums, galleries, art schools, and libraries, to botanical gardens, glass-making studios, public art trusts, and nonprofit cinemas, to name a few.

The Institute was founded in 2001 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. by President Michael M. Kaiser. In 2010, it received an unrestricted, multi-year commitment from the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation to support its pro bono consulting and teaching activities. In 2014, it transferred its operations to the University of Maryland, maintaining offices in Washington D.C. and partnering with the University on research, teaching, and fellowship initiatives serving thousands of students and practitioners worldwide. More information at DevosInstitute.umd.edu

About Michael M. Kaiser

From 2001–14, Kaiser served as President of the Kennedy Center, the nation's center for the performing arts, where he expanded the education and artistic programming, oversaw a major renovation effort of most of the center's theaters, and led the country in arts management training. Mr. Kaiser previously served as the Executive Director of the Royal Opera House, American Ballet Theatre, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation.

In 2001, Mr. Kaiser created the Kennedy Center Arts Management Institute, renamed the DeVos Institute of Arts Management in May 2010 to provide advanced training for arts administrators and to provide consulting support. Since its inception, the DeVos Institute has advised thousands of individuals, organizations, governments, and foundations throughout the United States and in more than 80 countries on six continents.

As an arts management consultant, Mr. Kaiser has advised such institutions as Yale University, Oxford University, Lesher Center for the Arts, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, Philadelphia Orchestra, True Colors Theatre Company, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Public Art Fund, Martha Graham Dance Company, San Antonio Symphony, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and many others.

About Matthew Kacergis

Matthew came to the DeVos Institute in 2018 and has since worked on a wide variety of project teams across the organization’s portfolio of services. He specializes in the curation and delivery of performing arts programming and supports strategy development for the Institute’s strategic planning practice. Matthew currently serves on the executive leadership team of the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, overseeing a budget of $3.6 million and a year-round season of artistic programming in collaboration with Artistic Director Michael Kaiser.

Matthew has studied Musical Theatre at The Boston Conservatory and received a Bachelor of Arts University of Massachusetts Amherst with a Core Certificate in Arts Management. He is an Executive Master of Nonprofit Administration candidate at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He lives in Seattle with his wife Katy Tabb, a professional choreographer and dance educator.