Title: Director of Cultural Affairs
Workplace: City of Wilmington Office of Cultural Affairs
Alma Maters: Boston University, Merrimack College
Board: Delaware Symphony Association
First job? “Sweeping my grandmother’s steps. I was paid a nickel and a roll of crystal mint Lifesavers.”
As the director of cultural affairs for Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, Tina Betz is in the middle of the music, performance and art that flows through Delaware’s largest city. Now more than 20 years into her second stint in the role, the classically trained singer and dancer keeps Wilmington on its feet, perhaps foremost through the annual Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. For one weekend a year, the festival makes Delaware the highlight of the jazz world, bringing in stars like Herbie Hancock, Chuck Mangione and Kamasi Washington over its 37-year history. Her office also manages the city’s arthouse film theater Theatre N, the Wilmington Children’s Chorus and the monthly city Art Loop.
