Jayne Adair, the new Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures executive director, hopes to increase visibility of the organization's already well-respected offerings, which include the Drue Heinz Lectures, Black, White & Read All Over and the American Shorts Reading Series.

	Jayne Adair -- Expected to expand progams. Click photo for larger image.

"I feel incredibly lucky to have been given a fabulous slate of writers for this year -- fabulous in the richness of what they've written, and so wonderfully diverse," says Adair, who replaces Sylvia Keller, who is relocating to Arizona after only a year in the job. "To have so many different writers from so many different perspectives is important for our community."

Speakers on tap for the Drue Heinz Lectures fall season include: Aza Nafisi, author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran"; Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature; Ann Patchett, whose most recent work, "Bel Canto," won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of "Purple Hibiscus" and "Half of a Yellow Sun"; and Nathaniel Philbrick, whose book "Mayflower: A Story of Community, Courage and War," was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History.

"I hope to be out there giving more people more reasons to support us and give more subscribers more reasons to support us," says Adair, 59, of Squirrel Hill. "The great thing about Arts & Lectures is this is not just a book series, it's a forum for discussion of great ideas. It's always a discussion of differences."

She plans to use her vast marketing experience to develop even more community and corporate support for Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures programs to complement that of longtime partners the Carnegie Library, the Carnegie Museums and Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

Before taking the post at Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, she was a marketing consultant to Carnegie Mellon University's Robotic Institute and Entertainment Technology Center, creating the Robot Hall of Fame, an educational outreach project of the center. As a consultant, she also created and marketed corporate sponsorships for Robert Morris University's Pittsburgh Speakers Series.

During the 20 years prior to starting her consulting business in 2000, she held a variety of management, communications, program development and revenue growth jobs at KDKA-TV, Fox Sports Net, WQED Multimedia and Sinclair Broadcasting.

"We are delighted that Jayne Adair has accepted this position," said Nicholas Lane, the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures' board president. "Her skills and experience make this a very good fit for us and for her."

Under Adair's leadership, he expects the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures to develop new programs as well as expand existing programs, including its work with children and young people.

Adair, who has a bachelor's degree in literature and creative writing from Wheaton College and a master's in American Studies from Purdue University, is a longtime subscriber to the Drue Heinz Lectures. She doesn't recall exactly how many years, but says "for long enough to have seats on the second row."

The Drue Heinz Lectures have raised the level of civic discourse in Pittsburgh for 16 years, she says.

"I just want to keep it going."

For more information about Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, visit www.pittsburghlectures.org.