PCYC Announces New Executive Director

The PCYC Board of Directors is pleased to announce that we have hired Melissa Denton as our Executive Director, effective October 3, 2022. Melissa brings a broad range of experience and expertise to her new position, including an extensive background in theater and the arts, and 20 years of experience in all functional areas of nonprofit management. Her professional roots as an actor and director are in Minneapolis where, fresh out of college, she interned as a reporter at KMOJ Radio and performed with Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop. From the Twin Cities she moved on to Los Angeles and New York, where she found her passion and expanded her vocational objectives to include arts education with a focus on youth. Most recently Melissa served as the Executive Director and Program Director for The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company in Los Angeles, a nonprofit whose mission is “to mentor, educate, and enrich youth in under-resourced communities through the creation of collaborative, original theatre.” As E.D., Melissa co-founded the Arts for Healing and Justice Network with 14 arts-based nonprofit organizations. Together, members of this collaborative work with thousands of youth in the L.A. juvenile justice system to build resilience and wellness using creative arts practices. During her tenure at The Unusual Suspects she also created long-range strategies to achieve organizational growth and timely progress toward goals; maintained 20+ national, state, local, and private partnerships, and increased revenue by 160% over 5 years to build the organization’s first-ever operating reserve.  Ms. Denton received her undergraduate in Mass Communications from South Dakota State University, her Arts Education Certificate from Marymount Manhattan College in New York, and her Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management from Antioch University in LA.  “We are so excited to bring Melissa on board, with her wealth of experience and her passion for empowering young people and communities,” said Karen Polzin. “She is a smart, generous, and creative soul who will serve PCYC very well. Our future looks bright!”

“It’s an honor and a joy to be coming back to Minneapolis to work on the Northside with the dedicated board and amazing staff at PCYC,” said Denton. “I also look forward to meeting all of the people who’ve come to know and support this agency over the years, and to telling the story of this remarkable organization to many more!”