The Panida is delighted to announce its new Executive Director, Heather White. Her tenure began on November 1st, and the board is thrilled to have her. She is committed to supporting the Panida’s growth into the next century through her combination of business management with a performing arts background.
Heather graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a bachelor’s degree in music, focusing on the piano, but returned to school to finish her master’s degree in business. That degree helped her land a position at Boeing for eight years, but she always felt there was something missing, so she opened her own piano studio focused on teaching youth. She said as the studio grew, she needed to make a choice between her career job and her passion, so she resigned from Boeing.
After nearly 12 years of running the piano studio, Heather and her family moved to Sandpoint from the Seattle area in search of a small town to raise their son. She is excited about her new role because she can marry both sides of herself - and do it here in Sandpoint, which she and her family love.
Heather realizes how much the Panida means to the locals. She said her top priority will be to preserve the theater and set it on a path that will keep the doors open for the next century. Her plan involves listening and connecting with the Sandpoint community, especially the younger generations. She plans to explore collaborations with local businesses in the city to boost programming and hopefully bring in more musical theater and larger productions.
Most of all, Heather is ecstatic to be a part of the Panida’s team and continue working in the community. She is getting up to speed on the theater’s ongoing restoration and hopes to work with other historic theaters in the region as they undergo similar projects.
"I want to make sure this is the entertainment venue that everybody wants to go to on a Saturday evening or Friday night,” White said. “Not only for our community, but when we have visitors coming into town, ‘Oh let’s go check out the Panida, let’s see what they’ve got going on.’”
