Courtesy / Haystack
Paul Sacaridiz
January 31, 2022
Haystack School executive director to leave for prestigious post in Michigan
By Staff
The executive director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Paul Sacaridiz, will soon leave his post at the Deer Isle nonprofit to take a leadership position at a school in Michigan.
Sacaridiz, who joined Haystack in 2015, will become the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art in late April, according to a news release.
Ellen Wieske, a metalsmith who has been involved with Haystack for more than 25 years, will begin serving as interim executive director in May while the school’s board of trustees searches for a successor.
Haystack is a nationally prominent school that provides intensive studio-based summer workshops, conferences and symposia to craftmakers and visual artists. Founded in 1950, the campus sits atop 40 acres on a granite hillside overlooking Jericho Bay.
Under the leadership of Sacaridiz, Haystack’s endowment multiplied nearly threefold, from $9 million to over $24 million. He also led the development of the school’s long-term strategic plan, launched free online programs with more than 4,000 views from participants in 38 countries, and completed major studio and infrastructure upgrades.
A former student and later a teacher at Haystack, Sacaridiz had served as a professor and chair of the art department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He stepped in as Haystack’s fourth director after the retirement of Stuart Kestenbaum, who had served as director for 27 years.
“Paul Sacaridiz has been a visionary and tireless leader at Haystack. Under his directorship, Haystack has expanded and thrived, while maintaining a tradition of intimacy and community building,” said Ayumi Horie, the school’s board chair.
Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is the country’s top-ranked, graduate-only program in architecture, design and fine art. According to the release, Sacaridiz will be the academy’s 11th director since Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen first held the role in 1932. Cranbrook shares historic ties with Haystack, one of whose founders, Priscilla Merritt, had spent time at the Michigan school.
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