We are proud to announce that Canadian Tricia Baldwin will succeed Stephen Green as Dean of the Victoria Conservatory of Music, following Stephen’s retirement from the organization on May 16, 2025.
Tricia will join the organization on June 1, 2025. Associate Dean of Post-Secondary Studies, violist David Visentin, will take on an expanded advisory role as Associate Dean of Victoria Conservatory. The appointment of Tricia Baldwin follows a highly competitive, international search led by Martin Bragg & Associates. Martin Bragg & Associates.
Recruitment Process
The comprehensive, highly competitive search process was led by Martin Bragg, Sarah Geddes and Nicola Dawes from Martin Bragg & Associates, with a search committee comprised of Gary Karr (retired bass soloist and Honorary Board Governor), Shelley Williams (Board Chair), Colin Doroschuk (Director of Classical and Contemporary Voice), Kyron Basu (voice instructor and Board Faculty Rep) and Michael McEvoy (Board Vice Chair), advising Conservatory CEO Nathan Medd. Search criteria was guided by survey input from the Conservatory’s 130-strong faculty community, and finalists – all three Canadians – were interviewed by the organization’s senior management committee and by the artistic heads of each programming department.
“Tricia Baldwin comes to Victoria Conservatory at a time of enormous possibility, and no small amount of responsibility to our community, beginning with music students and instructors,” says Shelley Williams, Chair of the Board of Governors and member of the search committee. “Tricia’s many recognized successes with arts curriculum design, concert production, digital innovation and arts centre management, in a career that was sparked by her experience in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, make her the ideal Dean to work with the Conservatory’s talented artistic leadership team in the coming years.”
About Tricia Baldwin
Tricia Baldwin is a distinguished arts leader with a career spanning top Canadian institutions.
She is a graduate of the Faculty of Music at University of Toronto and the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business, York University, and in addition, studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Tricia served as Director of the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts at Queen’s University, where she co-founded the M.A. in Arts Leadership program and launched impactful initiatives like the Isabel Human Rights Arts Festival and the Ka’tarohkwi Festival of Indigenous Arts. Previously, she was Managing Director of Tafelmusik, spearheading international tours, recordings, and the Tafelmusik Media label.
Tricia envisions a “world of possibilities” for the Victoria Conservatory of Music:
“This is a most exciting and challenging time for the arts, with the call for significant community engagement and the diversification of art forms, curriculum, and impact of music education institutions on the community.” She adds, “Clearly, there is an abundance of vision at the Conservatory, and I believe it has a bright future given its high artistic and educational standards, its educational programmatic excellence and diversity, its beautiful concert spaces, its enthusiastic volunteers, and its demonstrated passion for supporting artists. I look forward to working with the superb Artistic Directors and faculty team, who demonstrate such talent, commitment, caring, and excellence in all facets of music education, music therapy, and performance. We all honour current Dean Stephen Green who has made an outstanding contribution to the Victoria Conservatory of Music over his remarkable 13-year tenure here.”
Most recently, she was Executive Director of the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre, where her mandate included mentoring a next-generation Indigenous leader to succeed her in leading the organization, and deepening the centre’s role as a cultural knowledge-keeper with the creation of a multi-media Digital Collection of Kwanlin Dün Cultural Knowledge. Ry Moran, Victoria Conservatory Guest Faculty in Music and Reconciliation, served as a consultant on the latter project.
A recipient of the Canada Council’s John Hobday Award, Tricia’s wide-ranging career has included senior posts at a number of high-profile Canadian artistic institutions.
“Tricia comes to Victoria with an exciting combination of artistic, producing and financial leadership experience, along with a rich background in curriculum design and development, academic and practicum studies, experiential learning, evaluation rubrics, and program innovation,” said Nathan Medd, Conservatory CEO. “Tricia is also recognized for her deep respect and support for Indigenous music and artists, through intercultural commissioning, presentation and through her recent leadership of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation Cultural Centre on the Yukon River. We are thrilled to work with her in the coming years.”
