Michelle Kozlak - Management & Operations
Michelle Kozlak is a veteran arts professional with a background in theatre for young audiences, arts education, and performing arts management. Throughout her career she has worked with organizations both large and small, managing programs with multi-million-dollar budgets to building a small non-profit theatre from the ground up.
Michelle's arts management career in the Washington, DC area started at the Center, where she was the National Touring Manager for the Theater for Young Audiences program and then the Manager of Theater Programming, where she served as General Manager for the Tennessee Williams Explored Festival, Mister Roberts, and Mame with Christine Baranski. In 2010, Michelle founded Arts on the Horizon, a theatre company specifically designed for an audience of children ages 0-6. As the Founder and Producing Artistic Director, she led the company's vision, strategy, and implementation, overseeing all artistic and educational programming, fundraising, and financial management. Under her leadership, the company received several prestigious honors, including multiple Helen Hayes Award nominations. In 2024, Michelle became the Producing Director of Theater for Young Audiences at the Kennedy Center, where she provides artistic and administrative leadership for one of the nation’s most prominent TYA programs. With a keen focus on nurturing the next generation of artists and audiences, she oversees the development process of new musicals and plays, management of all in-house productions and national tours, as well as curation for the 5-8 national and international productions presented each season.
Michelle's passion for arts education extends beyond her formal roles. She has led workshops on Theater for the Very Young and new work development and has served as a mentor for Theatre Washington. Her leadership in the arts community is further demonstrated by her service on boards and committees, including the Alexandria Commission for the Arts and the Alexandria Arts Alliance. She holds a Master of Arts in Arts Management from American University and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Theatre Arts from the University of Oregon.