Provost and Vice-President of Communications Join Interlochen Center for the Arts

Camille Colatosti and Katharine Laidlaw join with recently appointed President Trey Devey to lead Interlochen into its second century.

March 7, 2018

Camille Colatosti and Katharine Laidlaw have joined the leadership team at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Colatosti will serve as the institution’s Provost, overseeing all aspects of the student experience across both Camp and Academy, including Enrollment Management, Academics, Arts Education, and Student Life to support the artistic, academic, and emotional well-being and growth of Interlochen’s students. Laidlaw will serve as the institution’s Vice President of Strategic Communications and Engagement. She will be tasked with the strategic development and oversight of branding, marketing and content, advertising, customer insight and research, public relations, crisis communications, stakeholder communications and engagement, and customer service.

“The Provost and Vice President of Communications will be instrumental in creating the strategic direction that will propel Interlochen into our second century, ” said Trey Devey, President of Interlochen Center for the Arts. “Camille and Katharine are visionary and highly accomplished leaders. We are thrilled to welcome them to our team.”

Camille Colatosti

Camille Colatosti serves as the founding Dean of The Berklee College of Music Graduate Studies program, and has led the development of curriculum, policies, programs, and processes for master’s education at the Boston campus and the campus in Valencia, Spain. This includes faculty recruitment and development, as well as development of academic and student support structures. Through her work as head of institutional research and assessment, she also directs the institution’s accreditation work with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and led the institution’s most successful re-accreditation to date in 2013 as well as the merger between Berklee and the Boston Conservatory. Colatosti oversees Berklee’s academic research, assessment, program review, and continuous improvement initiatives. As well, she manages Berklee’s credit transfer agreements.

Prior to her work as Dean, Institutional Research and Assessment/Graduate Studies, she served as chair of Berklee’s Liberal Arts program, where she led all curriculum development, programming, faculty recruitment, advising and support. She also managed the guest artists and lecture series, including curriculum and programming for Africana Studies, Music and Society curriculum, Musical Theatre curriculum, and Women Studies. Colatosti also serves as a consultant-evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission, and as a peer-evaluator for the New England Association of School and Colleges. She has also served as the Chief Academic Officer at Schoolcraft College. Camille spent 11 years at Davenport University with successive roles and responsibilities, moving from Professor to Department Leader, to Curriculum Leader, and lastly served as the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

She founded new curriculum and programming in 6 Master of Music programs; 2 Master of Arts programs; study abroad; Performance Poetry; English as a Second Language; First Year Advising; Artist, Creativity and Inquiry Seminar; and a Professional Development Seminar, among several others.

She has published numerous articles on education, women’s issues, and other social topics. She is the author of the books To Be an Artist: Musicians, Visual Artists, Writers, and Dancers Speak (2012) and Stopping Sexual Harassment (2002).

Colatosti has won several awards, including the Athena Award for Women’s Leadership and the Girl Scouts’ Woman of Distinction Award. She is a 2010 grant recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is a sought-after speaker, presenting to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the American Association of Colleges & Universities, Consortium for the Liberal Education of Artists, Mid-America Congress on Aging, International Conference on Narrative Literature, and many more.

Colatosti earned her Ph.D. and Master’s of Arts in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She received her BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

“I share Interlochen’s commitment to enhancing the quality of life through the universal language of the arts, and I look forward to continuing to build on the excellent achievements of the institution,” said Colatosti.

Katharine Laidlaw

Katharine currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). At UNCSA, she oversees marketing, communications, public relations and brand management for the university.

As CMO, she has driven a comprehensive rebranding of UNCSA including creative direction, visual identity, messaging, and strategy. She is responsible for UNCSA's multi-faceted award-winning advertising campaign, spanning digital and print buys for recruitment, institutional, and performance promotion for over 300+ events a year. This work received thirteen gold, three silver, and two bronze awards from the Higher Education Marketing Report, three CASE Awards, one gold and two silver award from the Collegiate Advertising Awards. In Fall 2017, she launched a new recruitment campaign, including a 20-piece collateral suite with a comprehensive digital strategy. Since launch, Admission inquiries on the website have doubled, applications have increased +30% and deposits are up +90% (YOY). During her tenure, each of the five arts schools have been consistently ranked in “Top Ten” features in industry-leading publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, and Backstage. Through her work on institutional messaging, she has helped advance UNCSA’s reputation as a leading cultural institution in the South and a significant contributor to the state, national, and global creative economy.

Prior, she served as UNCSA’s first Executive Producer, with production credits that include Producer/ General Manager and Marketing Director of “The Nutcracker,” which nearly doubled its gross revenue during her tenure, and provides over $300K in annual scholarship and instructional support. She received an Emmy Award for the filmed production of “Much Ado About Nothing” which was broadcast on UNC-TV and won Best Arts Program in the Midsouth Division in 2013. She also produced two of the most successful gala fundraisers in the school’s history.

Prior to joining UNCSA, Katharine was a commercial producer for Waxman Williams Entertainment and Fox Theatricals. She served on 8 Tony nominated productions, the Broadway premiere of a Pulitzer prize-winning play, in addition to several West End, Off-Broadway, regional productions and developmental workshops. Katharine also has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, a member of the Corporate Cabinet for the Forsyth County United Way Campaign, and as a marketing consultant and developer of corporate sponsorships for Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Her brand marketing experience includes positions with The Coca-Cola Company and Hanesbrands, Inc.

Katharine graduated from The Lawrenceville School, received her BA (Honors) in English from Davidson College, and a MBA with a concentration in marketing from UNC-Chapel Hill.

“I believe arts engagement improves learning outcomes, strengthens communities, and enriches lives. I am thrilled to advance Interlochen’s mission of bringing the joy, meaning, and transcendence found in the arts to people of all ages,” said Laidlaw.

Colatosti and Laidlaw were selected from hundreds of applicants after an intense international search.

“Camille and Katharine are dynamic, proven leaders with exceptional experience driving institutions forward, and I look forward to working side-by-side with them as we carry out Interlochen’s purpose of igniting a lifelong passion for the arts,” said Devey.