Nataki Garrett Resigns as Artistic Director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival Amid Emergency Fund Drive.
Nataki Garrett, the artistic director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), is resigning from her position effective May 31. Her departure comes amid a "Save Our Season" campaign to raise $2.5 million by June 1 to launch the current five-show season and $10 million to complete it, as well as plan for the future. Garrett faced criticism over her leadership and programming as the festival's first artistic director of color, and also faced death threats and hired security. OSF has relied for years on a handful of extremely high-money donors, and both the pandemic shutdown and the annual fire season in Rogue Valley put a severe strain on those relationships.