LAYTON—Davis Arts Council (DAC) has announced the appointment of Lisa Hoyt Zamora as the new Executive Director of the 47-year-old nonprofit organization whose mission is to “strengthen and enrich our community through the power of the arts.”

Zamora brings with her a great deal of experience having most recently served as the Eccles Theater Community Activation and Event Manager for Salt Lake County Arts & Culture. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree in ballet and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ballet with a minor in business from the University of Utah.

“I come from a family of musicians,” said Zamora. “I was a little bit of a black sheep going into dance instead and I love folk dancing. Folk dancing is the dance of the people and everyone can participate – moms and dads, grandparents – you know all walks of life can participate. My local dance school required you to be in the ballet program in order to be in the folk dancing and do the performing.”

Zamora said she ended up sticking with ballet. “I’ve continued to do folk and character dancing throughout my life and love the opportunities that I’ve had through that to perform and I have performed all over the world in many countries and across the nation.”

Between her bachelor’s and master’s she danced with the Nevada Ballet Theatre in Las Vegas. “Then I was skydiving and I ripped my hip apart so that kind of ended my ballet career,” Zamora said. “I went into teaching instead and right after my master's I was fortunate enough to work with Ballet West Academy for many, many years as an instructor.” 

Zamora said she taught the children’s roles in Ballet West’s Nutcracker. “I’ve had 20 years of opportunities to teach the Nutcracker and that has been such a wonderful opportunity to meet community members and to watch them grow.”

She was really enjoying being with Ballet West and took on the lead of what was at the time their Trolley Square campus. “I had the opportunity to start doing community workshops and programming and bringing free performances to their atrium area. I really found joy in that and enjoyed making sure there’s access to free programming in the arts.”

Zamora started with dance but said she moved beyond that. “Eventually this kind of drew me into the venue side of things,” she said. “So I moved over into Salt Lake County as an event manager, helping clients connect with the venue and the space to be able to have their programming of all different arts. I got the creative itch and wanted to have the opportunity to be more in the programming side of things.”

That’s when she moved over to Eccles Theater as their activation manager. “I got to oversee their free programming,” said Zamora. “They have a really robust program there with Eccles presents. They bring a lot of concerts and things.”

There’s free programming on the steps out front on Main Street every Friday night throughout the summer, she said. “It is a great opportunity to connect with the community and strengthen that. That’s where my passion lies.”

The Kenley amphitheater. Courtesy photo

 Zamora said she moved to Davis Arts Council because she felt it was time to grow. “It was time to find a new adventure where I could have a bigger impact. I’ve had a lot of experience with some civic organizations on their boards and in leadership positions and it seemed like the time where I could use my energy and my enthusiasm to be able to make a greater impact.”

The opportunity presented itself at DAC, she said. “I took it by the reins and everything I learned about this organization it just felt like the perfect fit. Everything that I’ve done up to this and all of the opportunities that I’ve had has led to this and prepared me for this grand adventure.”

For a list of DAC programs visit https://www.davisarts.org/programming/.