Visionary Arts Leader Deborah F. Rutter to Headline 2025 Delaware Arts Summit

Statewide convening set for October 27 at the Hotel Du Pont to explore new ideas and practices in the arts

STATEWIDE (August 20, 2025) – The Delaware Division of the Arts is pleased to announce the return of the Delaware Arts Summit, taking place on Monday, October 27, 2025, at the historic Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington. This year’s theme, “Agents of Change: Advancing New Ideas and Practices,” will spotlight the idea of strategic change to meet challenges and opportunities in the arts.

Anchoring the day’s events will be keynote speaker Deborah F. Rutter, a nationally renowned arts executive and visionary who recently concluded more than a decade as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and was recently named the Vice Provost for the Arts at Duke University. Rutter made history as the first woman to lead the nation’s cultural center, where she expanded access to the arts, centered the voices of artists, and championed programs that bridged performance, education, social impact, and wellness. Her legacy includes the launch of the Kennedy Center’s Social Impact programming, the creation of the Hip Hop Culture Council, and groundbreaking collaborations with the National Institutes of Health and National Endowment for the Arts exploring the intersection of the arts and well-being.

“We are honored to welcome Deborah Rutter to Delaware,” said Jessica Ball, Director of the Delaware Division of the Arts. “She is a bold and inspiring leader whose work embodies the spirit of change-making. This year’s Summit is an invitation to embrace new ideas and affirm the importance of the roles each of us play in ensuring the vitality of Delaware’s creative sector.”  

The Delaware Arts Summit is a biennial gathering of Delaware’s arts community, including artists, arts administrators, board members, and volunteers, as well as community non-profit administrators, arts educators, and advocates from across the state. The 2025 convening will feature a dynamic keynote address, interactive workshop sessions, networking opportunities, and timely conversations about the future of arts leadership, innovation, relevancy, and sustainability.

Registration is open now at arts.delaware.gov/summit. The Summit’s schedule, workshop, and speaker descriptions can also be found at that link. Tickets are $65 and include free parking, breakfast, lunch, and a post-event reception at the Hotel Du Pont.

Learn more about the Delaware Arts Summit by watching this short recap video from 2023.

2023 Delaware Arts Summit Video Recap

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Contact: Andrew Truscott, Program Officer, Marketing and Communications

302-577-8280, andrew.truscott@delaware.gov

About the Delaware Division of the Arts

The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278.