Shea’s staff and invited guests filled the theater lobby Monday to warmly welcome Rep. Brian Higgins as Shea’s Performing Arts Center’s next president and chief executive officer.
Rep. Brian Higgins was announced Monday as the new president and chief executive officer of Shea’s Performing Arts Center.
Higgins, chosen after an extensive search process, will finish his 19-year tenure in Congress the first week of February, and plans to start his new job on Feb. 5 leading one of Western New York’s most popular and successful cultural attractions.
“On behalf of myself and the entire Shea’s staff, we welcome you as president of this extraordinary institution – the anchor of the Theatre District and the heartbeat of our urban core,” said Albert Nocciolino, Shea’s presenter and producing partner.
People are also reading…
Nocciolino was on the Shea’s selection committee, consisting of Shea’s trustees and non-trustees alike who chose Higgins.
Rep. Brian Higgins, who is stepping down after serving in Congress for the last 19 years, talks about Shea’s Performing Arts Center where he is being announced as the new president and CEO.
Albert Nocciolino, Shea’s co-presenter and producing partner, welcomed Rep. Brian Higgins on Monday as the theater’s next president and chief executive officer.
Mark Sommer
“Western New York has embraced what we do and has put our arms around Shea’s,” Nocciolino said. “Our job – and your job, Brian – is to preserve it for the next generation.”
The centerpiece of Shea’s Performing Arts Center is Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, the 1926 city-owned theater that was built as a movie palace and is home to touring Broadway shows. There are two smaller venues, Shea’s 710 Theatre and Shea’s Smith Theatre.
Rep. Brian Higgins shook hands with former Erie County Supreme Court Judge Penny Wolfgang prior to being announced as Shea’s Performing Arts Center’s president and chief executive officer.
Mark Sommer
Mayor Byron Brown called the selection of Higgins “an inspired decision.”
“I can tell you that Brian has a deep love and passion for the arts. He understands that the arts equals economic development, that the arts are a building block of a strong community,” the mayor said.
Sometime next year, after voters cast their ballots in a special election to replace Rep. Brian Higgins, the Buffalo area will be represented in the House by two first-term lawmakers for the first time in nearly half a century. Will it make a difference?
“And Brian, I know that you will keep this jewel in our community polished and make the illumination of this jewel brighter than it’s ever been,” he said.
Higgins expressed his excitement for his new job, his appreciation for Buffalo’s rich arts and architecture and his desire to revitalize the Theatre District.
He celebrated friends and family who are or were in the arts. He also spoke of how his father, Daniel Higgins, played a role as a South District Council Member in aiding Friends of Buffalo Theatre. The group was trying to stave off the theater’s demolition in 1978, and would evolve into Shea’s O’Connell Preservation Guild, the nonprofit that since 1980 has overseen Shea’s.
Higgins also praised the efforts of those who came before him, including Anthony Conte and Patrick Fagan, and the current staff that endured a difficult 2022, which saw staff and trustee departures over the tenure of Michael Murphy as president before his firing that October.
Although Shea’s didn’t disclose Higgins’ salary, he is expected to earn a sizable increase over the $174,000 he earns as a member of the House of Representatives. Murphy was paid $305,000.
Higgins will take over with the theater in solid financial health and the Broadway series fully recovered from the pandemic.
The 2023-2024 season has 16,500 season subscribers, second only to the 2018-2019 season when the presentation of “Hamilton” contributed to a record-setting 18,474 subscribers.
Higgins, in an earlier interview with The News, said that along with enhancing the Theatre District, he wants to expand the theater’s reach into Southern Ontario, and bring more federal resources and the use of state and federal historic tax credits for restoration projects.
Mark Sommer covers culture, preservation, the waterfront, transportation, nonprofits and more. He’s a former arts editor at The News.
#lee-rev-content { margin:0 -5px; }
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-family: inherit!important;
font-weight: 700!important;
border-left: 8px solid var(–lee-blox-link-color);
text-indent: 7px;
font-size: 24px!important;
line-height: 24px;
}
#lee-rev-content .rc-provider {
font-family: inherit!important;
}
#lee-rev-content h4 {
line-height: 24px!important;
font-family: “serif-ds”,Times,”Times New Roman”,serif!important;
margin-top: 10px!important;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-size: 18px!important;
line-height: 18px;
}
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article {
clear: both;
background-color: #fff;
color: #222;
background-position: bottom;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
padding: 15px 0 20px;
margin-bottom: 40px;
border-top: 4px solid rgba(0,0,0,.8);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2);
display: none;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article,
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article p {
font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, “Apple Color Emoji”, “Segoe UI Emoji”, “Segoe UI Symbol”;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article h2 {
font-size: 24px;
margin: 15px 0 5px 0;
font-family: “serif-ds”, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article .lead {
margin-bottom: 5px;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article .email-desc {
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 20px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
opacity: 0.7;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article form {
padding: 10px 30px 5px 30px;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article .disclaimer {
opacity: 0.5;
margin-bottom: 0;
line-height: 100%;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article .disclaimer a {
color: #222;
text-decoration: underline;
}
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article .email-hammer {
border-bottom: 3px solid #222;
opacity: .5;
display: inline-block;
padding: 0 10px 5px 10px;
margin-bottom: -5px;
font-size: 16px;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#pu-email-form-daily-email-article form {
padding: 10px 0 5px 0;
}
}
.grecaptcha-badge { visibility: hidden; }