The new executive director of the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts in Meridian is eager to determine the community’s tastes in entertainment and plan for the future.

“I am anxious to get there and to get started,” Daniel Barnard, the new executive director, said in a telephone interview Monday.

Barnard’s appointment was announced Monday morning by Terry Dale Cruse, administrative director and head of the campus. Cruse said Barnard was chosen because of his academic and professional experience.

Barnard will be the second person to lead the center. Founding executive director Dennis Sankovich retired at the end of March.

“Dr. Barnard, with his wide-ranging experience as a performing artist, an arts administrator and programmer, and a professor, will take the Riley Center to even greater heights,” Cruse stated in a news release.

Cruse said he had some goals he would like to see with the new director, including continued growth in helping the Riley Center continue to be a premier venue. Cruse said he wants the Riley Center to become a place where great talent, known and unknown, will have a place to perform. And he would like to increase hospitality services through the the hospitality program at MSU-Meridian.

Barnard has been associate dean of cultural affairs and director of Bailey Hall performing-arts center at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, since 2015. He previously directed The Arts Center at the University of Texas at Brownsville. He has also been the director of the music program and composer-in-residence at Dakota Wesleyan University in South Dakota, and director of the choral music programs at Western Nebraska Community College and Penn State-Erie, The Behrend College. He has a doctorate in musical composition from the University of Kansas.

Barnard stated in the news release he is looking forward to getting to know Meridian and East-Central Mississippi, and especially bringing amazing performing-arts experiences to Riley Center audiences.

“The part that I live for is choosing the shows, trying to get the season just right,” Barnard stated in the news release. “It’s the best job in the world.”

Barnard who has experience in vocal performance, music theory and composition said he didn’t think he would be a director of anything. Barnard just thought he was going to work in composition for the rest of his life.

“I thought I was going to be a college professor,” Barnard said.

One of his goals is to form an advisory committee to help him determine the programs that best fit the community. He said he wants to look at data from the last 10 years to see what things are working well and what other things they can improve on.

“It’s a process that is going to be perfectly tailored for the community,” Barnard said.

Among his duties will be programming, booking performing artists and renting out the center for conventions and meeting space.

During his time at the University of Texas Brownsville, Barnard helped create a program called the Signature Series that helped to highlight various talent in the area. The series highlighted a variety of talents such as singing, dancing and theater performances. While he was there he also had a lobby art gallery.

Barnard described the center as a place where arts will be transformed. He said he wants to make the center a place where people can experience and even perform great music right in their backyard.

At Broward College, he brought performing artists and jazz and film festivals to Bailey Hall. Barnard said he wants to have something similar where filmmakers can screen their work to a local audience.

Barnard said he wants to finish what Sankovich started when the center opened in 2006. Barnard said he is ready for the challenge but doesn’t want to make too many changes.

“(Sankovich) has left a legacy and took the center to the next level,” Barnard said.

Barnard will begin his new position on June 1.