The local arts organization welcomes Gabriel van Aalst as new president and CEO

Dayton Live has named Gabriel van Aalst, formerly of the New Jersey Symphony, as its new president and CEO. The arts organization, which is the largest employer of performing arts professionals in the Miami Valley, has a mission of strengthening community engagement in the arts through performances, educational opportunities and world-class venues.

Van Aalst, who was born in Sydney, Australia, thinks that the opportunities in Dayton are “truly extraordinary.

“When I started exploring Dayton Live and our impact here, one of the things that makes this place so special is we serve over 400,000 people every year,” he says. “That’s a truly incredible ratio of the greater Dayton area.”

van Aalst adds that this high ratio doesn’t happen everywhere. “That’s only thanks to the incredible work of the team who came before me,” he says.

Before van Aalst, Ty Sutton was the president and CEO of Dayton Live until he stepped down in October 2023 to become the president and CEO of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sutton joined Dayton Live in 2018 and, during his time, he rebranded the Victoria Theatre Association as Dayton Live and secured the local premiere of Hamilton in 2022.

“Ty was a wonderful leader and so is everyone who works so hard here every day to put on more than 300 performances a year,” van Aalst says.

Before the process began of van Aalst joining Dayton Live, he had never been to the city. “Once I started coming here, I really fell in love with the community,” he says. “Everyone has been so welcoming and it’s just a wonderful place to live and work and see the impact of the arts.”

van Aalst moved with his partner to Washington Township near Dorothy Lane Market, which he loves. “It is the greatest supermarket in the entire world; Dayton’s hottest bar is Dorothy Lane at 5 p.m. on a Friday,” he laughs.

Though van Aalst has only been in Dayton for a couple months, he sees a bright future for Dayton Live. “Downtown Dayton is going through a renaissance, and I see us playing a big role in making sure that downtown is a welcoming, fun environment,” he says.

He shares that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be visiting Dayton in May for its Parliamentary Assembly. “It’s going to be a wonderful showcase for the city and to the world in a way,” he says. “It’s really special, and it’s a real honor, so we’re excited about that.

“One of the great things about what we do here at Dayton Live is we get to create a model for the world that we believe in,” van Aalst adds. “We get to present great art for everyone, we get to work with amazing resident companies. Within the microcosm we get to present and show and support the community in the ways that we believe it.”

Though he can’t get into specifics about what the next season of Dayton Live will hold, van Aalst shares that the Broadway performances for the 2025-26 season will be tremendous. “We have a season in the works that showcases some classics, a number of really new works as well as some family favorites,” he says.

van Aalst shares that he and Dayton Live feel an “obligation” to serve the Dayton community. “Art centers like Dayton Live have an obligation and have an opportunity to be of and for the communities that they’re serving,” he says. “It’s really exciting to me to think about how we can be part of the renaissance of downtown.”

While the ratio of those supporting the arts in Dayton is high, van Aalst knows that there are still some people who feel intimidated by the arts.

“We know—and I say ‘we’ as the industry at large—we know that not everyone feels comfortable coming to a theater,” van Aalst says. “And it can be an experience that is transformative, but it can also be an experience that is overwhelming. So, I can see a world where we start doing work out in the community, as well, to reinforce the idea that the theater and arts are a place for everyone.”

This can be a daunting task, but van Aalst already has an idea of how to bring about increased arts engagement in the community.

“The trick is going to be creating an ecosystem,” van Aalst says. “The center of that ecosystem is the very best of the performing arts on our stages. Whether that’s us bringing in Hamilton, whether that’s partnering with one of our resident companies like Dayton Contemporary Dance or the Dayton Philharmonic, making sure that there’s a broad diverse array of offerings on our stages as well as supporting the community on and where they’re at in their arts engagement journey.”

van Aalst hopes to do this through education programs, shows for younger audiences and community engagement, among other outreach methods. Long-term investments, facility upkeep and nurturing Dayton Live’s relationship with Broadway are also important ways that van Aalst plans to build the arts ecosystem and sustain it.

“The goal of all of that is to create this sort of thriving system that means when acts come into town, they have full houses, which in turn means we get better acts, which means people have great experiences and then come back again and again and again,” he adds.

Upcoming Broadway shows during the remainder of the 2024-25 season include Six, a musical about the six wives of Henry VIII (Jan. 14-19); Chicago (Feb. 4-9); Peter Pan (Feb. 26-March 2); and The Book of Mormon (March 25-29)—all at the Schuster Center. Additionally, comedian Brian Regan will be at the Victoria Theatre (March 19); the Shamrock Tenors, an Irish all-male singing group, will be at the Schuster Center (March 22); and Camelot will be performed by The Human Race Theatre Company in The Loft Theatre (March 26-April 6).