Wadsworth to Leave UCLA

Pebbles Wadsworth, 43, executive director of the UCLA Center for the Arts and as such one of the more powerful arts administrators in Southern California, will leave that post Jan. 1 to take a comparable position at the University of Texas in Austin.

“This is a good time for me to leave UCLA,” Wadsworth said about the job she has held since 1979. “When I arrived, the performing arts program, on a scale of 1-10, was around 3 or 4. I think we’ve brought it up to an 8.

“UT’s program, at this time, probably rates a 1 or 2, but has tremendous potential, on a campus where there are 55,000 students (UCLA has 30,000)” Wadsworth said.

“They want me to bring it up to the point where it is artistically important.”

The performing arts budget at UT is “approximately the same” as at UCLA (approaching $5 million annually), she said. She declined to give a figure for her new salary, but acknowledging that it is “generous.”