Karen Farber has been Director of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts since December 2005. Prior to moving to Houston, Ms. Farber served as Director of Development for Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. She has been a strategic planning and management fellow of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and has worked in administration and programming at numerous New York City cultural organizations including the 92nd Street Y; the Eldridge Street Project, a museum on New York’s Lower East Side; and International Production Associates, a production and management company for the performing arts. Before becoming the Mitchell Center’s first Director, she served as Major Gifts Officer for Houston Grand Opera.

Ms. Farber is a New York City native, was raised in Los Angeles, and is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with an M.A. in Performance Studies, and a B.F.A. in Experimental Theater. She serves on the boards of the Fresh Arts Coalition and Lawndale Art Center, and is a member of the River Oaks Women’s Breakfast Club.