Maarten Bout leaves Buskirk-Chumley Theater for new Indianapolis role

The historic Buskirk-Chumley Theater announced Tuesday it will soon be going through two significant staffing changes.

Associate Executive Director Maarten Bout and Assistant Box Office Manager Caitlyn Kuhs will both be leaving their respective roles to pursue different paths.

Bout, who spent the last five years as a marketing and public relations coordinator for the community theater, will soon join Indy Baroque Music, Inc., the parent organization of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, as its executive director.

Kuhs will continue her education later this year by attending Loyola Law School of Los Angeles.

“Highly qualified staff are very desirable in the not for profit sector and we’re lucky to have had Caitlyn’s and Maarten’s support for all these years,” Danielle McClelland, executive director of the theater, said in a press release. “We’re now looking to fill their positions with equally qualified and energetic people so we can keep our momentum going and continue our path of aggressive growth.”

Bout’s and Kuhs’ former positions are now open to new applicants and will be posted on the Buskirk-Chumley Theater website at buskirkchumley.org until the positions are filled.

Bout will join Indy Baroque Music, Inc. at the end of July this year, where, he said, his job will have a much larger scope of duties than his position at the BCT.

He said his new responsibilities will include financial development, program marketing and payroll management for staff, performers and crew members, among other tasks.

“It will be a great next step for my career,” Bout said. “I learned a lot working with the Buskirk-Chumley and I felt now is a prime time. The position was open, it piqued my interest and the board of the Indy Baroque Orchestra decided to hire me.”

Beside the greater responsibility and a change of scenery, Bout said he is most excited to work with Indy Baroque Music, Inc. Artistic Director Barthold Kuijken and to work closely with the talented performers and musicians within the organization.

Bout has a performer diploma from the Jacobs School of Music and earned his bachelor's and master’s degrees from his studies at the Rotterdam conservatory Codarts in the Netherlands.

He said he has always had a healthy interest in baroque music and the history of its performance, specifically, which he feels will help him tremendously in his new career.

Although Bout will still be living in Bloomington and commuting to Indianapolis, there are some things he will miss about the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

“What I will miss really is the interaction with my neighbors,” he said. “The Buskirk-Chumley Theater is such a central location in Bloomington and we put on such a variety of performances during the year that I’m convinced that literally every person in Bloomington comes through those doors at least once. It’s very much a center for the community and we often like to say it’s the hub of cultural life in Bloomington. And I truly believe it is.”