The person who, in a non-profit professional theatre, chooses the plays, directors and often the actors. The artistic director also carries out the creative mission of the theatre, oversees the artistic quality of the productions and may also direct particular productions, as the Rep’s Timothy Near often does.
Chief staff person who is responsible for the artistic decisions of an arts organization, including overall artistic vision and programming choices. Generally members of the artistic staff, such as choreographers, stage directors, music directors, etc, report to this person, not to the executive director or general manager. See Human Resources.
A theater company's chief artistic officer and usually the last stop before a play is selected for production.
The Artistic Director (AD) has the ultmate artistic (as opposed to production) control of a theatre company.
An artistic director may also refer to someone who directs a musical ensemble, and in this medium, is often abbreviated as simply Director. The typical jobs of a musical artistic director are to choose repertoire for the ensemble, come up with an artistic vision for the group and also a long-term strategy for programming, and also to help choose performers if the ensemble is not pre-set. An artistic director may also be—and often is—the conductor of the ensemble and a "jack of all trades", performing multiple roles and even managing the ensemble, although that role is often left to a Managing Director if financial resources are available.