Joan Cumming began her professional career in arts marketing in 1976, working as the assistant  to the director of marketing and public relations for Ballet West in Salt Lake City. Since that time, Cumming has worked as the associate director of development for Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI; executive director of the Rhode Island Chamber Music Society; director of the Performing Arts Series at the University of New Hampshire;  and associate director of marketing and public relations for Boston Ballet. In 1994, Cumming moved to Los Angeles to work as the director of marketing and public relations for the LA Opera. She then became the executive director for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. In 2000, Cumming began work as the director of marketing and public relations for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, leaving briefly to work as the managing director for LaPlaca Cohen, a strategic planning, branding, and advertising agency specializing in the arts. Cumming  returned to work at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the summer of 2005 as vice president of marketing and communications.