When I went to college in the 1990's and received my formal art training, there was an idea that one must live in one of the country’s cultural centers like LA, New York or Chicago in order to achieve any level of artistic success. So with my MFA in hand from an art school on the East Coast, I returned briefly to the Lansing region to see friends and nearby family on my way to Chicago to start my artistic career. During my Lansing "stay over", I not only kept the momentum of making artwork, but I also quickly became involved in the local arts and cultural scene. Although I had been an undergraduate student and graduated with my BFA from Michigan State University, I realized that when I was in school, I had not really become engaged in the Lansing community. Coming back to the area really opened my eyes to the tremendous arts and cultural opportunities in the Lansing region. There were not only a multitude of great arts and cultural things to do, but there were many opportunities for someone like me to create additional arts experiences. The region is accessible, affordable and -- as was a surprise to me -- open to supporting new artistic ideas. So, I not only quickly built up a body of artwork, but I also became involved with a number of community arts and cultural projects which ended up informing my artwork in a way I never could have predicted. I began running a community fine arts program and in 1999 opened up a contemporary art space with two other local artists called The Art Apartment.
Since then, I founded (SCENE) Metrospace, coordinated the East Lansing Art Festival and instituted an Emerging Artist Program at the Festival, and joined the Arts Council of Greater Lansing as its Executive Director. For the last five years at the Arts Council, I have worked very hard to build additional opportunities for the arts and for artists in particular, including a new individual artist grant program -- a rarity in the State of Michigan and across the country.
Although we may not realize it, the arts and cultural amenities that we have in the greater Lansing region are tremendous. We have more than 140 arts and cultural organizations and hundreds of artists, which per capita is comparable to the arts and cultural offerings in the City of Seattle. We have much to be proud of here in greater Lansing. The arts in the region are rich, varied, and help define what is vibrant and special about our region. I am excited to work with Greater Lansing Next to help support these wonderful regional assets and look forward to further connecting our arts and cultural assets to the greater community in order to see them, and our region, grow.