Ray Solley Executive Director Tower Theatre Foundation Ray Solley is the Executive Director of the Tower Theatre Foundation (TTF), a nonprofit organization that owns and manages the historic theatre in downtown Bend, Oregon. The Foundation promotes, programs, raises funds for, and rents the renovated Art Deco Moderne venue to make a wide variety of performing arts accessible and affordable to people of all ages across Central Oregon. Since Ray was hired in April 2009, the Tower: successfully established a four-month operating reserve fund increased its membership and volunteer lists to record highs saw a dramatic increase in events and attendance In Solley’s first full year of leadership, the Foundation achieved a record fiscal year surplus, in spite of the worst recession in decades. And, in November 2010, the Foundation received a capacity-building grant from Oregon Community Foundation—the largest single amount awarded the Tower since its renovation in 2004. Solley launched a multi-year educational initiative in December 2010, raising funds to enhance school curriculum and literature-based studies by bringing performing artists from around the world to the Tower and into Central Oregon classrooms. Solley moved to Bend after 26 years in Southern California. Since 2005, he had been Executive Director of the Torrance Cultural Arts Center Foundation, overseeing all programming, marketing, fundraising, and day-to-day operations. Under Ray’s leadership, the intimate Nakano Jazz Cabaret Series became a local fixture for area music lovers. In collaboration with the Torrance Unified School District, he launched Super Science Saturdays (known as “S3”) with sponsor ExxonMobil, and re- formatted the Foundation’s children’s programming with a three-year sponsorship from Farmers & Merchants Bank. The diverse acts and personalities Solley has brought to Torrance and Bend include: Ed Asner, Spike Lee, Martin Short, Jo Dee Messina, Rita Moreno, Peking Acrobats, Vienna Choir Boys, Hector Elizondo, Christopher Cross, Mariachi Divas, Celtic Tenors, Flying Karamazov Brothers, Geraldine Ferraro, B.D. Wong, Cheech Marin, Free Flight with James Walker, The Tweaksters, Rita Coolidge, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Turtles….even Elvis. From 1995 to 2001, Solley was the primary agent responsible for packaging and sales of programs to basic and pay cable networks for the William Morris Agency. He negotiated and sold a large variety of cable’s best known shows, including: South Park (Comedy Central) Eddie Izzard’s Dress to Kill Bug Juice and Cheetah Girls (HBO) (Disney Channel) Bill Cosby’s Fatherhood BIOrhythm and Lyricists Lounge (Nickelodeon) (MTV) Surprise Gardener (HGTV) Before moving to Los Angeles in 1983, Solley spent seven years at WTTW, the public television flagship in Chicago, developing and then producing the series that re-defined the way a generation learned about movies and made media heroes of film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert—Sneak Previews. Ray’s first job in Hollywood was as Talent Coordinator for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He then joined Paramount Television overseeing all aspects of Entertainment Tonight. The CBS Television Stations hired Solley to supervise their group-produced specials for national and international syndication. The Samuel Goldwyn Company next recruited Solley as Vice President of Development, where he established Goldwyn’s first-run programming division, launching their first daily strip (Body by Jake) and pop culture phenomenon, the original American Gladiators. Ray was profiled in the book Creating Television: Conversations with the People Behind 50 Years of American TV, by Rutgers Professor Robert Kubey (Erlbaum, 2003). He has led program development classes for USC, UCLA, NAB, NATPE, the Writers Guild and the Producers Guild. In 2007, Solley served as Executive Director of the venerated Leadership Torrance seminars, sponsored by the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce. Ray graduated from the intensive six-month program in 2006. His wife Michelle is a member of the Assistance League of Bend and teaches art education outreach for Arts Central. Son Matthew is an 8th grade left-handed starter with Shock Baseball. Daughter Allison is a sophomore at Central Michigan University. Contact info: 835 NW Wall Street Bend, Oregon 97701 [email protected] 541-317-0700 cell 541-420-8904 .