Over three decades, Chandler Center for the Arts has grown into a destination hub that draws guests to year-round world-class events, a driver of educational opportunities for all ages, and an economic powerhouse with more than $10 million in assets that enable the nonprofit to reinvest in an impressive portfolio.
And for 27 years, Michelle Mac Lennan, cultural arts manager and general manager, has been a key part of this transformation.
As Mac Lennan prepares to retire in September, she acknowledges that her successful career in nearly every aspect of theater is not just professional. It’s very deeply personal.
“I could have made more money if I’d taken other jobs that came across my horizon, but I wanted to be in a space of beauty, artists, and creatives,” Mac Lennan says. “I’ve always followed my heart.”
This passion has led to the championing of audience development of Black, Hispanic, and Intergenerational artists and events, collaborations with the Chandler Unified School District, more than 800 events annually with record numbers of sold-out performances, and an endowment increase of more than $7.7 million under her leadership.
And it all started when Mac Lennan’s sister took her to see Annie at the Orpheum Theater when she was 9.
“I fell in love. I felt this is what I wanted to do with my life,” Mac Lennan recalls. “I felt it was my life story … maybe someone would take me away, too.”
Born in Montana, Mac Lennan moved to Phoenix when she was 2, after her parents divorced. Her mother was a homemaker who had been in a wealthy yet not-good marriage, and she suddenly became a waitress at the country club she was once a member of.
Mac Lennan found herself being raised by a single mom, not living with her five older siblings, and in a different economic world. However, thanks to her mother’s love for the arts and making sure her children had it in their lives, Mac Lennan found stability.
“She was a gem and light in the world,” Mac Lennan says of her mother, who passed away three years ago at the age of 89. “Theater was a real safe space. It was magic. I loved everything about it. I built the family I didn’t have at home.”
Mac Lennan started acting while in grade school and continued to take the stage through high school. A mentor spotted her talent and enthusiasm for the craft and knew college was not financially realistic. She facilitated an internship at the renowned Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, which offered a taste of higher education. This is where Mac Lennan fell in love with lighting and scenic design in a setting that was much different than Arizona.
This experience proved valuable when Mac Lennan returned to the Valley. While attending Phoenix College, she was hired to be its theater house manager when she was 18. She would go on to work for Arizona State University as a lighting technician, getting promoted along the way. This led to her first job with the Chandler Center for the Arts as patron services coordinator in 1999.
She paused her education to raise her oldest of her two sons, now 35 and 19. But her passion, skill, and work ethic enabled Mac Lennan to rise through the theater ranks.
Mac Lennan moved to Tempe, where she assisted with the opening of the Tempe Center for the Arts in 2005. But she returned to make Chandler her home again in 2011. She also returned to the Chandler Center for the Arts, where she held several positions before becoming general manager in 2014, and five years later, cultural arts manager.
“I love Chandler. It’s where I chose to build my career,” Mac Lennan says. “This was the perfect place for me.”
Mac Lennan will be an active behind-the-scenes presence during the Center’s temporary closure for renovations this summer, helping with the administrative transition, and overseeing the improvements she spearheaded.
After that, she will remain a Chandler resident but spend summers in Michigan, where she will head an artist-in-residence program at a farm. This will be a continued opportunity to pay her fortunes forward, and one she embraces.
“This is bittersweet. I’ve spent 27 years of my life here, but I feel I am leaving at the right time. I feel my life has been in service of that and I want to give back as much as I can,” Mac Lennan says. “I want to move into a new space of mentoring and lifting artists because I’ve had so many great mentors … mentors in my life when I needed it most.”