When Monica Holt arrived in Des Moines last fall to interview for the top job at Des Moines Performing Arts (DMPA), she was entering unfamiliar territory. Raised outside Washington, D.C., Holt had spent 16 years at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, one of the nation’s most iconic arts institutions. She'd never visited Iowa before.
But the moment she started meeting people in Iowa, she said something clicked.
“I was so enchanted by the way folks talked about each other and how they supported one another,” Holt said on IPR's Talk of Iowa. “The richness of the arts community here really is not to be believed.”
In January, Holt became president and CEO of DMPA, the nonprofit organization that oversees the Civic Center, Temple Theater and Cowles Commons. She succeeds longtime leader Jeff Chelesvig, who retired last year after three decades at the helm.
Growing up in suburban Washington, D.C., Holt was immersed in music, theater and dance from an early age. Her parents, both musicians in their youth, made live performances a regular part of family life.
"I was just so lucky to be in an environment that really cultivated such a love and affection for the power of art in my life," she said.
She described the Kennedy Center as her own “local performing arts center” long before she understood its global reputation. She remembers childhood visits to see The Nutcracker and touring Broadway productions there. Later, she would build a career inside the institution, working in opera, marketing, theater production and eventually serving as senior vice president of artistic planning and production.
"It wasn't really until college that I understood how much work is happening behind the scenes," she said. "That there is a whole administrative component to how arts organizations are stewarded and how artists are lifted up in community."
Holt said one of DMPA's greatest strengths is its statewide reach. While many associate the organization with Broadway tours at the Des Moines Civic Center, she sees opportunities to further access and deepen partnerships across Iowa.
"While, yes, we are based here in Des Moines, part of what we're really talking about and wanting to expand on is how we make sure that DMPA is evolving as a complete home for the arts," she said. “A place where everyone — not just in central Iowa but across the state — can have better access to the arts."
Holt’s move to Iowa occurred during a turbulent chapter for the Kennedy Center. In early 2025, President Donald Trump purged the center's longtime board leadership and installed new board members who elected him chairman and later voted to add Trump's name to the institution. The center is scheduled to close after July 4 for a two-year renovation.
Holt said the changes fundamentally altered the organization she had known for years.
"An extremely qualified and long-tenured board chair and president, as well as the board of trustees ... were removed without cause, and, frankly, replaced with folks who had no qualifications to run a building of that kind in a very politicized environment for an organization that, for 54 years, had been a beacon of nonpartisanship," she said. "All of those mission, vision values changed on a dime. And so, for me, the most key points: working in community, working to uplift artists and working with a team who understood the direction we were all rowing in — that really vanished overnight."
She left a few months later "because there was no longer alignment in that mission and vision," which she said led her to the "rich community" she found in Iowa and Des Moines.
Among the projects she highlighted is DMPA’s upcoming Willis Broadway season, including the musical Buena Vista Social Club, which she called “a beautiful story of resilience and relationships and sacrifice.” She is also enthusiastic about the Hy-Vee Summer Art Series, which will bring free family-friendly performances to parks throughout the Des Moines metro this summer.
“The idea there, again, is just arts are for everyone,” Holt said. “You can just show up, you don't need a ticket and you can enjoy with a family by yourself and see what it's like to just make sure that the arts remain vibrant in all of our communities."
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Des Moines Performing Arts is a sponsor of Iowa Pubic Radio.
