Not long ago, Suzanne Nance asked the ticket taker at Ireland’s  renowned National Opera House if she might be able to take a look around.  No performances were going on at the moment, and the ticket taker cheerfully invited the visiting American in, raving about the beautiful 2008 venue in the historic town of Wexford, and how much the community embraces it and the biennial opera festival the town has hosted over the past 74 years. 

Nance, the president and CEO of Portland’s Global Media Arts Network All Classical Radio, was transfixed by the structure’s grandeur. 

“I hope you’ll be able to come back soon,” the ticket taker told her when she turned to leave. Nance smiled. What she knew — and her host didn’t — was that she was a finalist to become the festival’s next director. “I hope I can come back soon, too,” she replied.

She will. Nance is leaving Portland and moving to Ireland, where beginning in January, she’ll become executive director of the Wexford Festival Opera. All Classical Radio will appoint an interim leader and launch a search for her successor. 

One of Oregon’s most consequential arts leaders, Nance leaves behind a much expanded and invigorated organization that’s much more than a radio station. She’s accomplished the challenging task of turning what in most American cities is a retro museum of old music into a culturally relevant, forward-looking multimedia arts producer that’s expanding opportunities for Oregon musicians and other artists. 

Eventful Decade

Since arriving at All Classical a decade ago, and especially after assuming her current role in 2018, Nance has spearheaded a startling number of ambitious initiatives, collectively transforming All Classical from strictly a classical music radio broadcaster to a multimedia producer and a full-fledged arts and culture network. As you’ll see by clicking on the links below, ArtsWatch has recounted many of All Classical’s considerable achievements over the years, and most have happened under Nance’s leadership.

But before she could implement those programs, Nance needed to put the station on stable financial ground. It’s a lesson for other arts organizations.

Sponsor

“One of my first priorities was implementing a strong fiscal plan,” Nance recalls, speaking as ever diplomatically. “We achieved that. I turned over every stone to see what’s working and what’s not working and moved mindfully, swiftly, even surgically to make sure that we put more resources into programs that were going well. And the ones that had served their purpose but weren’t going to be financially viable, we sunsetted. It’s always precarious, but we’re now in a good position moving forward.” 

Nance prioritized “programs that lent themselves to attracting financial support,” such as ICAN (International Children’s Arts Network), a first-in-the-nation second channel devoted exclusively to programming for children, families, caregivers, and educators. “Financially it was a gamble,” she acknowledges. “It was mission-based, but that opened us up for financial investment from donors who wanted to see growth and access to growth and education. Within five years of launch, it was paying for itself.”

Expansive Vision

ICAN is one of several major educational efforts, including ICAN, a Youth Ambassador program, an arts journalism mentorship, and more, that Nance spearheaded at the station. And it’s one of many deep connections the station has forged to the local arts community. Last year, the station moved operations to new headquarters in Portland’s KOIN Tower, in the process transforming what had once been merely a radio station into a cultural hub and state-of-the-art media production and performance center.

The move followed the station’s 2019 creation of its ongoing Artist in Residence program, “making sure our local artists have a platform and can benefit from the full weight and resources of the organization,” Nance explains. “We became the model for other stations throughout the country,” eagerly sharing information with any station that asked how to replicate the program.

 Along with providing live and broadcast showcases for local musicians, the station also produced an anthology of profiles of 40 Oregon artists. 

For all the new initiatives, All Classical’s main signature continues to be its programming, which ArtsWatch has praised for its vitality and variety. Unlike stations — of whatever genre — content to be musical museums, All Classical’s offerings have grown more diverse during Nance’s tenure, with more contemporary and not-strictly “classical” sounds, as in Nance’s own Sunday Brunch show. She credits the station’s longest-tenured employee, Director of Music and Programming John Pitman, who’s in his fifth decade at the station.

The composers represented have also become more diverse, especially in the past few years. According to Pitman, from calendar 2022 to calendar 2024, the total number of plays of works by women and/or composers of color increased by 24 percent.

Sponsor

The expansive vision appears to have paid off. Nance earlier told ArtsWatch that All Classical enjoys the highest market share of any classical radio station in the nation. 

Under Nance’s leadership, All Classical moved to extend that emphasis on diversity beyond Oregon, sponsoring an initiative to “change America’s playlist by producing new, high-quality recordings of classical music by underrepresented composers,” including excellent locally produced CDs. Nance says other classical stations are starting to pick up on that effort.

Nance’s emphasis on diversity extends to the station’s own staff, which now includes several nonwhite members. And Nance has elevated other accomplished women into leadership positions — a rarity when she started her radio career. 

“One of the most rewarding parts of my job has been to support the growth of women leaders at All Classical Radio,” Nance says, crediting All Classical Radio’s Board Chair Elaine Durst as a model and inspiration for her own efforts to offer opportunities to deserving women. “We have some amazing men, too, but I’ve taken joy at seeing the women thrive. My capital campaign advisory cabinet was composed solely of women leaders from the community who provided me with deep insight, and unwavering encouragement. I learned so much from them.“ 

All these moves are even more noteworthy because they occurred in the context of a historically hidebound field: American classical music. It’s hard to think of any similarly ambitious institution in the field, and Nance says she didn’t really have a model. 

“I really think that, because we’re born out of the pioneering sprit of the Pacific Northwest, we break the mold in so many ways as a community,” Nance says. “We have embraced that spirit and tried different initiatives. We’re pioneers.”

New Adventures

With all of that recent success and optimism for the future, and with the station just now ensconced in a spiffy new headquarters, why leave? Of course, when any American decides to move out of the country these days, the question arises: What role did national politics play in the decision to relocate? 

Sponsor

In Nance’s case, she says, it was more about love than politics. For more than a decade she and her husband, composer and conductor Desmond Earley, have somehow maintained an often long-distance relationship, thanks to his position as an associate professor at University College Dublin. Earley’s recent embrace of new opportunities for working beyond his campus would limit his opportunities to fly home to Portland. 

Moreover, with most of her All Classical initiatives achieved or well under way, and her tenth anniversary at the station approaching, “I thought, ‘That’s a really good milestone,’” she explains. She received a few calls about positions in Ireland, but when the Wexford position came up, “I felt something,” she remembers. “It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world, with a community that loves the arts and the festival. It was born out of the community 74 years ago, and they champion it. Everything aligned.” 

With the festival’s impending 75th anniversary, “I’m so excited to embrace a new community and to champion an arts organization that has a global reach and a hometown touch,” Nance says. Which sounds a lot like her current arts organization. “It’s exciting to be that person who comes in with that perspective to help this community celebrate themselves.” 

The couple will live in Wexford, and also maintain a place about an hour and a half away in Dublin, where Earley is still based. Ireland’s verdant surroundings and rainy weather will feel familiar. Plus, along with listening to classical radio there (she’s already been on the major Irish station), she can always tune into the institution she helped build. All Classical will always be in her ears. “And,” she says, “in my heart.”

Embrace the Discomfort 

Nance is optimistic about the station’s future after her departure. “I believe All Classical Radio is now positioned to do more than ever for the community,” she says. “The new performance hall in particular will allow artists to play, document, record, and broadcast their work in both audio and video. It will be a gathering space for arts of all kinds. I dream about what is going to take place in that hall — drumming circles, poetry slams, corporate retreats.”

She wants the innovation to continue after she’s gone: “There’s a lot of opportunity to reimagine what it means to be  a public radio station, an arts station. We want to strengthen how we tell the story of our artists with audio and video. We’ll continue to take feedback from our community of listeners and local artists, to learn how we can do that better, from the people whose story it is.” 

Nance urges the wider world of American classical and public radio to embrace All Classical’s ambitious, risk-taking approach. 

Sponsor

“The biggest opportunity for arts organizations and radio stations is to keep an open mind; to not be afraid to flip everything on its head,” she declares. “Now is the time to try new things. Embrace the discomfort, because we’re going to be here for awhile.”