Raye Varney Hired as Artworks! Gwinnett Executive Director

ArtWorks! Gwinnett has hired Raye Varney as its second executive director since its founding. The Executive Board of ArtWorks had undertaken a search process after the departure of Inaugural Executive Director Sally Corbett. Varney had been serving as interim executive director since November 2012.

She began her permanent position on Aug. 1, according to a news release. “I am thrilled to be chosen for this role,” said Varney. “Gwinnett County has a wonderful group of artists and arts organizations, and I look forward to working with all of them to raise the profile of the arts county-wide.”

Artworks! Gwinnett is the independent non-profit arts council serving Gwinnett County. 

Varney has a 20-year career in the arts in metro Atlanta. She has served as the managing director for Theatre in the Square and 7 Stage Theatre, and began her career in marketing and PR, including stints as the marketing director for Georgia Shakespeare and for the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts at Georgia State. 

Varney is a 2009 graduate of Leadership Cobb and a 2004 graduate of the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders in the Arts at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She currently serves as a judge for the metro-wide Suzi Awards for Professional Theatre, and she sits on the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Arts and Culture Advisory Committee. She holds a B.A. from Wake Forest University and is married with two daughters.