Betty Connors | 150 Years of Women at Berkeley

grayscale photo of Betty Connors, in thick frame glasses and a white collared blouse and gray sweater, smiling into the camera

150 Years of Women at Berkeley: Meet UC Berkeley Alumna Betty Connors, Performing Arts Visionary and Leader

During her 35 years at the helm of what we now know as Cal Performances, alumna Betty Connors lead the organization from a volunteer-run committee towards the professional, world-class performing arts presenter it later became.

You may not know the name Betty Connors, but her work has had a tremendous and lasting impact on the cultural life of the Berkeley campus and the Bay Area, as well as on the performing arts worldwide. The 1945 Cal graduate was the first staff administrator to work full-time to bring the performing arts to the campus, managing the Committee for Arts and Lectures—the forerunner to Cal Performances—for 35 years until she retired in 1979. Cal Performances is pleased to honor her legacy as part of the 150 Years of Women at Berkeley project, which celebrates the century-and-a-half since women were first admitted to the university, by recognizing notable contributions from female faculty, staff, and students.

Connors came to Cal from Iowa. As a student, she played viola in the UC Berkeley Symphony orchestra and often organized concerts off campus at nearby spots like the YWCA and the restaurant La Bateau Ivre (still open on Telegraph Avenue today!). After graduating with a degree in music, she was hired as the first staff administrator of the Committee for Arts and Lectures to manage concerts on the UC Berkeley campus. These activities had formerly been facilitated by faculty members.

Under Connors’ leadership, the number and quality of campus performances of music, theater, and dance grew exponentially. During her first year, she presented 36 events (by comparison, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of campus, Cal Performances had scheduled nearly 90 programs for the 2019–20 season). During Connors’ tenure, Hertz Hall was built in 1958, Zellerbach Hall was constructed and opened in 1968, and the Greek Theater was renovated, all providing her with a broad choice of venues in which to present the world’s finest performing artists.

Connors believed that “every student should have the opportunity of seeing the best that is available [in the performing arts] at some time during his college career.” She brought some of the greatest artists of all time to Cal, including pianists Glenn Gould and Rudolf Serkin, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, soprano Birgit Nilsson, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, jazz artists Dave Brubeck and Louis Armstrong, and sitarist Ravi Shankar. Igor Stravinsky attended the opening of Zellerbach Hall. Connors also engaged theater artists such as Marcel Marceau, Jerzy Grotowski, and Peter Brook, and poets Dylan Thomas and W.H. Auden. One of her greatest legacies has been the establishment of a renowned and influential program of dance presentation on campus; many of the world’s greatest dance companies continue to return to UC Berkeley to this day, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Joffrey Ballet, and Les Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo.

Connors also initiated regional and national strategies that greatly advanced the field of performing arts presentation. In 1958, she joined the fledgling Association of College and University Concert Managers, which—30 years later—became what is now known as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), the national service organization for the performing arts. APAP honored Betty Connors in 1979 with the Fan Taylor Award for her “outstanding career and exemplary service in the field of arts administration.” She was also an influential member of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA).

Betty Connors passed away in 2009. Cal Performances would not have evolved into what it is today were it not for this woman’s vision and dedication from the early days. As we celebrate 150 years of valuable contributions from women to the UC Berkeley campus, all of us in the Bay Area join artists the world over in gratitude for in the legacy of Betty Connors.