The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair’s board of directors has just announced the appointment of Maureen Riley to the position of executive director, following the retirement of former longtime executive director Shary Brown.

Riley is new to Ann Arbor, and she previously worked as an event manager for Palace Sports and Entertainment, then as special events director for the University Cultural Center Association (a nonprofit community development organization that, in years past, produced the Detroit Festival of the Arts and Noel Night). Most recently, Riley has been working as a consultant while living with her husband in Rochester.

“Personally, I’m just trying to find my way around,” said Riley, who’s temporarily living by herself in a local apartment while she and her husband try to sell their house.

“I’ve always loved Ann Arbor, and I’ve always wanted to live in Ann Arbor,” Riley said.

But in addition to moving, Riley has had to hit the ground running, starting work last Monday, January 4.

“Right now, we’re … accepting artist applications, and we’ll be jurying near end of this month, and we’re planning programs,” said Riley. “It’s never too early to start planning.”

Riley is approaching the job with an open mind but no immediate plans for broad changes for the festival.

“It’s a wonderful event as it is,” said Riley. “As time goes on, you never know. We’ll need to be innovative and stay abreast of trends to keep making our events better. But there are no plans at this point for grand-scale changes.”

The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair is the oldest of four concurrent events that together make up the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. This year's fairs are July 21-24

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.