Gosz Helps Pull the Strings at P.A.C.
by Tim Froberg
The performing arts are all about entertainers reaching audiences emotionally through song, dance, and theater.
Amy Gosz has spent most of her professional career working to consistently create that powerful connection — right here in Appleton.
Gosz has worked at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center since the day it opened its doors to the public on Nov. 25, 2002, with a performance by legendary crooner Tony Bennett.
Gosz — the Fox Cities P.A.C.’s chief programming officer — has seen it all. She has played a significant role in the center’s overall growth over the past 23 years into a well-rounded business and excellent venue for Broadway plays, concerts, comedy shows, and other high-level entertainment performances.
In addition to helping draw top national and international performers to Appleton, Gosz leads the Fox Cities P.A.C.’s educational programs and works to make the center a welcoming venue for all. She’s not a person who barricades herself in her office. She regularly goes out into the community to attend different networking events and talk with local residents to learn what the public wants to see and hear.
“Amy has been the creative and driving force behind the center’s education and community engagement programming since our opening in 2002,” said Maria Van Laanen, the president and CEO of the Fox Cities P.A.C. “Our mission is to make the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center a welcoming, multicultural gathering place come to life through many of the very programs Amy has helped create.”
The most rewarding part of Gosz’s job has been seeing the excitement on the faces of audience members while taking in Les Misérables or Fiddler on the Roof.
“The programming and some of the things the center has embraced and done has really grown over the years,” said Gosz. “But that core value of being a multi-cultural gathering place for the community has stayed the same, and I would say has even grown in the 23 years I’ve been here. To me, that’s pretty amazing.”
Gosz’s career journey has been pretty amazing, too. She actually began her career as a kindergarten teacher before taking a life-changing job at the Fox Cities P.A.C. where she worked her first four years as its education coordinator and the next 14 as director of programming and community engagement. Gosz began her current executive leadership role in 2021. She works with a six-person team to research, curate, and contract events for the center while leading the way on community engagement, educational programming and cultivating partnerships.
“I wear a lot of hats,” Gosz said. “I have a great team, and we work in collaboration to bring many of the shows we present here. My job is probably less about Broadway and more about communication, partnerships, community engagement, and our education programs. I also work with our production team to make sure everything runs smoothly.
“Having Broadway right here in our backyard is great. But what I appreciate about being here the last 23 years is just understanding more about all the other programming the center does besides Broadway to help introduce people to all the dance, theater, music, and other programming we have.
“That’s been a large part of my role — introducing people to arts they can see in their own backyard without having to go to Chicago or a large city and see world-class dance music, and theater.”
Gosz and the entire Fox Cities P.A.C. staff have experienced excellent success bringing top-of-the line talent to Appleton, whether it’s a Broadway smash like Phantom of the Opera, or local performances such as the Fox Valley Symphony, the Center Stage High School Musical Theater, the Boldt Arts Alive Series, and the Viewpoint Speaker Series.
What Gosz has noticed after observing and working with so many skilled performers is humility, a love of the performing arts, and a basic human decency.
“The artists that come through our door, they’re human just like us,” Gosz said. “You can have conversations with them. I remember having a backstage conversation with Darlene Love, who is famous for her Christmas music, before she went on stage.
“It was like having a normal everyday conversation with your neighbor. We have a value here that we treat everybody like a star — no matter who is in the building. Whether it’s high school students from our Center Stage Showcase or someone from Hamilton, we try and have the same level of excitement and energy for their show.”
Gosz and her PAC team have worked to keep the bright lights shining on so many incredible shows in Appleton. As a theater aficionado, she admits it’s a huge job perk to eventually sit back and enjoy the performances.
“I love being an audience member and it’s an important job because the arts need an audience,” she said. “The performers on stage need that feedback from a live audience. That’s why we try and treat our audiences like stars as well.”
One of Gosz’s favorite Fox Cities P.A.C. memories was hearing a presentation from Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Russian politician and leader of the former Soviet Union.
“It was shortly after the center opened, and it was fascinating to be in the audience,” she said. “I mean, where else was I going to hear a world leader speak?”
There are plenty of good reasons why thousands of renowned performers have visited and eventually revisited the Fox Cities P.A.C.
“They love coming to Appleton,” Gosz said. “When you ask them if they’re enjoying Appleton, a lot of them will tell you they love being in a city where they can just walk outside the theater and get a cup of coffee.
“They like that the hotels, the restaurants, and all the amenities are right downtown within walking distance of the theater. And they love how friendly and nice everyone is. These are the types of things I hear.”
“They love coming here and they come back because they know it’s a place where they will have great audiences and be treated well. It says a lot about our community that they want to come back. We’ve been able to establish a high level of trust with them.”
The performances Gosz enjoys the most, though, are the ones that lack big-name star power.
“My favorite shows are probably the ones where we’re able to shine a spotlight on some of the local performers, like The Nutcracker when we had local performers from the Makaroff School of Ballet and the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra.
“To see local talent on our stage making a world-class play like The Nutcracker come to life in front of their families and friends, that’s pretty magical. It was magnificent.”
Gosz never dreamed she would be working at a performing arts venue when she launched her professional career after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1999 with a degree in elementary education.
Teaching was her chosen profession, and she worked for two years (2000-2002) as a kindergarten teacher in the Nekoosa school district. Her life changed dramatically when her husband, Joe, a middle and high school social studies teacher in the Weyauwega-Fremont school district, encouraged her to apply for a job at what would be a brand-new entertainment center.
“My husband is from the Fox Cities and saw they were building the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center and were hiring for an education coordinator,” Gosz said. “He said, ‘You know what? You would be really good at that job. You should apply.’ I did, and here I am 23 years later.”
Music and theater, though, were nothing new to Gosz. She was a member of choir and show choir groups while attending La Crosse Central High School.
“My dream job growing up was to become a teacher, but I also loved everything about music and the arts,” she said. “I was a choir kid and always went to shows. I love the arts, but back then nobody told me I could go to school and get a job at theater.
“I wish someone had told me that I could, this was the type of job I could have. When I do tours and talk with students, I tell them that theater is more than just the people on the stage.
“There are so many different jobs a person can have if they love theater or music. You can work in administration, marketing, or work on the finance side. I think it’s important for students to understand there are ways to incorporate the passions they have into different jobs and to feel like they can explore them.”
Gosz is also a member of the business advisory board for the Appleton Area School District and the education and the outreach committee for Celebrate Diversity Fox Cities.
When she’s not performing tasks for the Fox Cities P.A.C. or volunteering on community boards, Gosz enjoys family time with Joe, their two sons, Andrew, 19, a student at the University of Mississippi, and Zach, 15, a student at Menasha High School, along with their golden doodle, Beamer.
“Beamer needs a lot of attention,” said Gosz with a laugh. “When we’re not playing with him, we like to go to the movies, especially Zach and I.”
This article was originally published in the February 2026 issue of Appleton Monthly Magazine.
