MacPhail Center for Music CEO Kyle Carpenter Announces August 2024 Retirement

MacPhail Center for Music today announced that its CEO for the past 12 years, Kyle Carpenter, will retire in August, 2024. “MacPhail, under Kyle’s leadership, has achieved unprecedented growth, community access, and financial strength,” says Kate Whittington, MacPhail’s board chair, “His well-earned retirement comes at the end of a tremendous tenure.”

Kyle CarpenterOn Carpenter’s watch, MacPhail has nearly doubled its enrollment to 15,000 students, becoming the largest community music school in the nation. Through additional expansion sites, 70 new community partnerships, the acquisition of the Madeline Island Chamber Music summer program, and the start-up of live online music lessons across the state of Minnesota over ten years ago, MacPhail has gained a statewide presence and impact.

When COVID hit, MacPhail immediately pivoted to all live online teaching, which allowed students uninterrupted musical learning progress through the pandemic. “We were very fortunate, as an arts institution, to not experience a single layoff or furlough of personnel during the pandemic,” Carpenter says.

MacPhail has just completed Up Tempo!, a three-year comprehensive fundraising campaign. Up Tempo! was enthusiastically embraced by the community and far surpassed its $25 million dollar goal well ahead of schedule. The funds will help MacPhail to achieve Carpenter’s primary and aspirational goal when he became CEO, “To never turn a student away because of their personal financial circumstances.”

“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have helped MacPhail grow. I am proud of our community, faculty, and staff and what we have accomplished together. With the success and completion of the campaign combined with the strength of our board of directors and the remarkable skill of the senior leadership team, I am confident that we are financially prepared and strategically equipped to take MacPhail to a new level. This is a natural time for transition to new leadership.” Kyle Carpenter

“Kyle has been a remarkable leader, change agent, and innovator for MacPhail for more than a decade. His business background, his ability to listen, and his collaborative style were perfect mix for the job,” says Whittington. “He leaves MacPhail in a strong position for the next leader.”

The board has retained Doran Leadership Partners to assist in a thoughtful and inclusive process to select Carpenter’s successor. They expect a great deal of enthusiasm for the position.