Tyler Cassidy-Heacock looks forward to fundraising for Fringe

PLUS: Siena Facciolo is new Fringe Administrative Manager

Rochester, NY – The KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival is proud to announce the appointment of Tyler Cassidy-Heacock, Ph.D. as its first Director of Development and Donor Relations. She will manage all strategy and activity pertaining to contributed income, including government and foundation funding, corporate sponsorships, and individual gifts. The new position was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

“We feel very fortunate to have Tyler on board,” says Fringe Board of Directors Chairperson Justin L. Vigdor. “Not only is she an experienced and successful fundraiser, but as an artist herself, she’s committed to Fringe’s mission to provide a platform for artistic expression and public access to the arts.”

Cassidy-Heacock comes to the Fringe from Geva Theatre Center, where she was Manager of Annual Giving and led efforts that helped to raise over $940,000 in individual gifts during Fiscal Year 2020. Prior to that, she held the position of Assistant Director of Development at The Hochstein School and, earlier, taught as a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program at the University of Rochester.

An accomplished musician, Cassidy-Heacock pursued both Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied voice with Dr. Katherine Ciesinski and was awarded a Ph.D. in Musicology in 2015 for her research on contemporary chamber music for female voice. She performs often as a professional solo vocalist, appearing in concert during 2019 and 2020 with Cordancia Chamber Orchestra and ROCopera collective. As a soprano, she specializes in 20th century and contemporary music.

She supports arts organizations through consulting services, including work with fivebyfive, the Rochester Early Music Festival, and Musica Spei. Cassidy-Heacock has also volunteered as a board member with PUSH Physical Theatre and the Institute for Creative Music as well as serving on regional arts grant panels. She is passionately committed to enhancing the accessibility and sustainability of the live performing arts, especially by fostering connections between new and contemporary art and artists and broad, diverse audiences.

“I am thrilled to join the staff of the Fringe, an organization that is so focused on creating space for new and innovative performing art and making it available to the widest possible audience,” she states. “These values are at the heart of all I do in my career, and I am so excited to connect individuals and organizations in our community with opportunities to sustain and support the Fringe’s mission.”

Fringe has also hired Siena Facciolo as Administrative Manager, to ensure that the festival office runs smoothly year-round. Facciolo’s background is also in the arts, as a singer/songwriter, piano teacher, and performer. She has participated in Fringe as an artist and has a B.A. in Music from the University of Rochester. She’s organized several independent festivals as well.

“We’re grateful to have Siena with us as well,” says Festival Producer Erica Fee. “Like Tyler, she brings arts experience and a passion for how we serve the community to a challenging job.”

“From the first moment I wandered into a garden at Edinburgh Fringe in 2016, to that magical night when I saw Plasticiens Volants at the 2019 Rochester Fringe, I have been hooked and enthralled by Fringe,” adds Facciolo. “This is my dream job, not only because the Fringe is so exciting, but also because this work aligns with my vision for how the arts can influence and nurture the world.”

From its five-day debut in 2012, the 12-day KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival has become one of the fastest-growing and most-attended fringe festivals in the U.S. It is also the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festival in New York State. As a bifurcated festival, it allows for a combination of headline entertainment curated by the non-profit Rochester Fringe Festival as well as an open-access portion. The 2019 Fringe featured more than 650 performances and events – over 200 of them free – in 25+ downtown venues and broke all previous attendance records with more than 100,000 visitors. Last year’s Virtual Fringe offered more than 170 online productions, both live-streamed and on-demand, giving artists a platform and connecting audiences throughout our community and beyond.

Rochester Fringe Festival connects and empowers artists, audiences, venues, educational institutions, and the community to celebrate, explore, and inspire creativity via an annual, multi-genre arts festival. It was pioneered by several of Rochester’s esteemed cultural institutions including Geva Theatre Center, the George Eastman Museum and Garth Fagan Dance; up-and-coming arts groups like PUSH Physical Theatre and Method Machine; and higher-education partners such as the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology. The not-for-profit organization’s overarching mission is to provide a platform for artists to share their ideas and develop their skills while also offering unparalleled public access to the arts. It strives to be diverse and inclusive, and to stimulate downtown Rochester both culturally and economically.

2020 sponsors included: KeyBank; New York State Council on the Arts; University of Rochester; Rochester Area Community Foundation; Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust; Nocon & Associates Waldron Rise; RIT; Estate of Marianne Rohack; National Endowment for the Arts; Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation; Konar Enterprises; Mary Mulligan Trust; Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation; ESL Foundation; JM McDonald Foundation; The Pike Company; Louis S. & Molly B. Wolk Foundation; Fred & Floy Willmott Foundation; ESL Foundation; Big Slide Creative; Cheshire Audio Visual;13WHAM TV; CITY Newspaper; D&C Digital; Nazareth College; St. John Fisher College; City Blue; WXXI; The Rubens Family Foundation; Bond Schoeneck & King; Boylan Code; and Canandaigua National Bank.

About KeyBank: KeyBank’s roots trace back 190 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, KeyCorp is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $176.1 billion at March 31, 2021. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of over 1,000 branches and more than 41,000 KeyBank ATMs and Allpoint surcharge free ATMs for many customers when using a KeyBank debit card nationwide. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.

Media please note: Fringe press assets can be found at rochesterfringe.com/press.

###