Prior to starting Culture OC, Heide Janssen developed the Arts & Culture section at Voice of OC with Paul Hodgins, where they first developed their nonprofit arts journalism model. She started her journalism career in 2013 when she was recruited to develop and curate the Varsity Arts section at The Orange County Register. Varsity Arts was dedicated to weekly stories and news about high school arts programs and students, giving arts students the same recognition that student athletes long enjoyed. The Varsity Arts section was the first of its kind in the nation and has since inspired similar sections in other regional newspapers. For the Register, she also developed and continues to produce the Artist of the Year program which honors the top fine and performing arts students in Orange County.

Beyond journalism, Janssen has worked in administrative and producing capacities at major regional theater companies including South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Stage in Los Angeles, The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Court Theater in Chicago and Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven. She has also produced smaller independent projects with Snehal Desai (now the artistic director at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles) and Adam O’Byrne (producer with New Neighborhood, a multi-media production company) among others. In the world of education, she worked in consulting capacities for the Orange County Department of Education where she oversaw the implementation of a $1.5 million grant for teacher training, the Santa Barbara Unified School District, and Little Kids Rock. She also helped to establish the Orange County Cappies and created the RoleAbout Theatre Festival, programs for high school theater students which she ran for over 10 years. Early in her career, she taught theater and English at the high school level.

Janssen holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Minnesota in English and master of fine arts degree in theater management from the Yale School of Drama.

hjanssen@cultureoc.org