Diane Eber has always been a music nerd. “I was raised by two musician parents in Rochester,” says Eber, who grew up playing clarinet, piano, drums, saxophone and guitar. “Then I got to college and was like, I don’t want to practice—I just want to hang out with musicians.” Shortly after, Eber started booking her own music series at Vassar College called Vice Jazz, and she hasn’t looked back since.
Two decades later, Eber now hangs out with musicians, actors and artists professionally—she’s the executive director of The Egg, the Empire Plaza’s center for the performing arts. Eber was hired last year to breathe new life into the beloved institution or, “hatch The Egg,” as she calls it. “I’m so inspired by the space itself—we’re inside a piece of art,” says Eber. “So when putting artists onstage, let’s lean into this incredible architectural wonder.”
In just one year, Eber has hatched a 20 percent jump in tickets sold via social media ads and a 25 percent budget increase, not to mention launched the first-ever, building-wide, free event with Eclipse at the Ellipse last April. She credits some of that quick success to another personal mission: making the arts more welcoming and fun.
“I believe in taking art off the pedestal,” says Eber, who allowed beer and wine in The Egg’s theaters for the first time last fall. “We’re welcoming everyone and making sure The Egg is a place where people feel comfortable to try things out and take a chance.”
Eber is one of 10 honorees featured in the holiday issues of Saratoga Living and Capital Region Living. Join him and nine others at our 6th annual Capital Region Gives Back event, returning to Putnam Place at 6pm on December 11.
