Alan Ziter, the openly gay founding executive director of the San Diego Performing Arts League has accepted a position as President and CEO of NTC Foundation, a nonprofit organization responsible for converting 26 historic buildings at the former Naval Training Center into a new city district, and will be stepping down as executive director of the League Dec. 8.

The San Diego Performing Arts League is a nonprofit organization that sponsors programs that promote San Diego’s performing arts. Ziter has been its executive director for 18 years.

“Alan Ziter is a San Diego treasure,” said League board president Osborn Hurston. “I am very thankful for the knowledge, energy, passion and organizational skills he has brought to his job. His dedication to and efforts on behalf of art helped to securely place San Diego on the national cultural map.”

Referred to as the “chamber of commerce for the arts,” the League consists of more than 140 theatre, music and dance companies in San Diego County. Programs include ARTS TIX: a half price ticket booth, What’s Playing: a guide to the performing arts, Business Volunteers for the Arts and BRAVO San Diego, one of the city’s signature fundraisers.

“I wanted to do [BRAVO] because we had done a study here at the League in 1998 that showed over the previous ten-year history, funding for the arts in San Diego had gone up in every area except the corporate sector,” explained Ziter. “So I said why not do an event that would showcase the great wealth and diversity of San Diego’s performing arts and invite all the business and civic leaders to this event — use it as a fundraiser for the League’s arts and business programs, but have people really see what’s going on here in San Diego.”

The first BRAVO was a success, raising $25,000. Many people echoed prominent San Diego businessman Phil Blair when he said, “I had no idea all of this was going on in San Diego. This reminds me of New York or San Francisco.”

BRAVO now raises around $200,000 each year. One local newspaper called the event, “a Street Scene for the classy.”

Traditionally held the Saturday before Thanksgiving at the Westgate Hotel, BRAVO features more than 70 different performing arts groups and 65 food and beverage vendors, spread out over three floors of the hotel. Second Ave. is tented over and attendees can see a range of different performing arts groups, including puppets, chamber music, opera, The Globe and Playhouse theaters and the San Diego Symphony.

“It is actually one of the best mixes of an event I have ever seen in San Diego,” said Ziter. “You’ve got business leaders, elected leaders, socialites and also a large smattering of people from the gay and lesbian community. And it’s nice to see that mix in an event here in San Diego.”

Some of the GLBT groups that participate in Bravo every year include Diversionary Theatre, the Men’s Chorus of San Diego and the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus.

Ziter’s exit coincides with the League’s 20th anniversary and, according to Ziter, the League is positioned well to move forward for at least another 20 years.

“I now have the opportunity to lead a new project that will also have a significant impact on the arts and culture scene in San Diego for decades to come,” Ziter said. “I am proud to leave the League in sound financial health, with a strong staff in place, an enthusiastic board, growing support from the business community and a roster of programs that promote and advance San Diego’s performing arts.”

The NTC Foundation’s project involves turning a portion of the Naval Training Center into a civic, arts and cultural district called Promenade Centre. The first phase is expected to start in early 2005and the entire project is expected to cost $30-35 million, of which $5.88 million has been secured.

At first, Ziter was intimidated by the prospect of spearheading the NTC Foundation project. When he was approached by one of the NTC board members to apply for the job, “I really said, ‘Are you nuts? It just looks like too much of a challenge. I sort of enjoy doing what I’m doing,’” he recalled. “But then one Sunday afternoon I rode my bike over there … and just pedaled around all those different areas. Well, there are 26 different buildings, each with their own little courtyard or plaza or promenade or something — it opened up untold doors to help create a new arts, civic and cultural district for San Diego, while meeting the needs that I know our arts organizations have had all these years.”

The Promenade Centre will provide space for theaters, shops, rehearsal and stage-building areas, a complete dance center and a variety of other artistic activities that will constantly change — all of which visitors to the Centre can tour again and again.

“You can come back to the Promenade Center … and never have the same experience twice,” said Ziter.

Taking the NTC position is a natural progression for Ziter, who sees a link between the vision of the League and the vision of the NTC. “The whole purpose of the League is to promote and advance San Diego’s performing arts. This gives me a chance to do something different that will help promote, advance and assist the arts groups in San Diego … in a way that is going to get them the affordable office, rehearsal and performance space, and do it in a way that further elevates the status of San Diego as what Travelocity.com has called, ‘the newest cultural mecca in the United States.’”

When Ziter starts with the NTC in January, the first thing on his agenda will be to communicate with the leadership and residents of San Diego about what they would like to see the Promenade Centre become. They are convening community sessions already, to allow the greater San Diego community to give their input. Once the plan is finalized, the NTC must begin fundraising for renovation of the buildings, find tenants and complete the renovations. A date for completion of the Promenade Center depends on the progression of the project’s phases and has not yet been set.

For more information on the Performing Arts League, call (619) 238-0700).us in the back, and we will create new personal and business associations. If you need help in coming to know and understand, and embrace lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals, we are here to work with you.

My appeal is to the media in the Coachella Valley and everywhere. Yes, there are gays and lesbians working in all levels of your organizations, and many are out of the closet and are wonderful role models. However, there is a dramatic absence of people in the media who are openly gay in their media outlets as a way of informing their coverage. As a hypothetical example, in entertainment reporting, a female anchor would often “swoon” about a male movie star she is reporting about, and it’s simply part of telling the story. The assumption is that she is heterosexual and that it’s okay for her to swoon over a male movie star. Don’t you think it’s appropriate for a gay male entertainment reporter, in print or in broadcast, to do the same thing? This is simply one example of a complex issue, and I would like to appeal to the media of the Coachella Valley to create ways of reflecting back to the citizens who we really are in your reporting.

Yes, I have an agenda, but it’s not hidden. I decided a long time ago to be openly gay in the public eye and to follow my own “Hollywood” dreams, many of which are coming true in Palm Springs. As I begin a return to more mainstream Hollywood-based coverage, I will continue to cover the Coachella Valley for all the world to see. Perhaps, as I write this letter and put it out there into the Universe, some doors will slam shut, but others will open, but I will be able to live with myself.

The world is changing, and I ask that the media in the desert follow the lead of its citizenry.

Nicholas Snow

Palm Springs