Executive Director, Minnesota State Arts Board
Sue Gens is executive director of the Minnesota State Arts Board. The board is a state agency that works to ensure that all Minnesotans have the opportunity to participate in the arts. It is funded primarily by the State of Minnesota, with additional funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and private donors. The board stimulates and encourages the creation, performance, and appreciation of the arts in the state. Gens joined the Arts Board in 2001. She has served as the agency’s director of communication and government relations (2001-2008), its interim executive director (2008-2009), and has been the agency’s executive director since February 2009.
Before joining the Arts Board, Gens was director of external relations for the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities). Previously, she served as director of development for United Arts, a federated fundraising organization for small and midsized arts organizations in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. She has worked in the Twin Cities nonprofit and public sectors for 30 years; has held management, public relations, marketing, or development positions at the Children’s Theatre Company, Minnesota Orchestra, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, COMPAS, and the Women’s Theatre Project. Gens has served as a board member with a number of Minnesota nonprofits including the Minnesota State University Moorhead Alumni Foundation, MSP Airport Foundation, and Minnesota Environmental Fund. She has served on grant review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Indiana Arts Commission and has been a presenter for Grantmakers in the Arts, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Illinois Governor’s Tourism Conference, Metropolitan State University, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and the University of Minnesota Arts and Cultural Leadership program.
Gens is a graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead, with degrees in music and arts administration.