From the Desk of the Director of the Ashtabula Arts Center

Other Departments Director's Desk Theatre Department Auditions Calendar Dance Department Music Department Visual Arts Department Happenings & Events Volunteer News Picture Gallery Subscribe to ArtsCenterNews.Com Enter your name and email address to receive notification of updates to the site. email: name: Subscribe: UnSubscribe: Classes Workshops Theatre Classes Dance Classes Music Classes Visual Arts Classes Box Office Info Please call 440-964-3396 for more information Board of Trustees OFFICERS: President: Rob Schimmelpfennig Executive Vice President: Judy Robson Vice President: Mike Fedler Vice President: Bill Kline Treasurer: Rich Vanek Secretary: Debbi Waring BOARD MEMBERS: Baerbel Baginski, WSL Steve Candella Neroy Carter Arnie Esterer Adele Herzog Mary Ellen Higley Ken Johnson Mark Jones Randy Jones Gloria Kaull Kim Laurello Ed Looman Chris McClure Tom Picken Scot Sinkler Linda VanBuren Joseph Varckette Ellen Winer Phyllis Duffy-Zala Arts Center Staff Beth Koski Executive Director Cindy Rimpela Business Manager Pamela Hammond Public Relations/Marketing Coordinator Shelagh Dubsky Dance Coordinator Lyn Savarise Music Coordinator Meeghan Humphrey Visual Arts Coordinator Phil Mullet Technical Liason Joe Ford Maintenance Coordinator Marquitta Mollick Evening Desk Coordinator This Dept's Archives 07/2002 08/2002 11/2002 12/2002 02/2003 05/2003 06/2003 08/2003 11/2003 12/2003 03/2004 05/2004 07/2004 08/2004 10/2004 01/2005 03/2005 06/2005 08/2005 10/2005 12/2005 04/2006 05/2006 07/2006 09/2006 11/2006 12/2006 03/2007 05/2007 08/2007 10/2007 12/2007 03/2008 04/2008 06/2008 View Stats

2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 phone: 440-964-3396 Search This Site: Director's Desk September/October 2006: Posted: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 With September each year come changes - change of weather, change of classes, change of our theatre seasons and so forth. Change can be difficult; it may be bittersweet; it is always exciting. Change can make us anxious or calm, and it can make us both sad and happy. No matter what - change will always happen. Several changes are happening at the Ashtabula Arts Center at this time. Not only will our GB Community Theatre, fall classes, workshops, and other offerings - many of them new to us and to you be presented, but other big things are happening too. In August we learned the Arts Center had been granted the necessary funding to enable us to almost completely repaint, repair and refinish the interior of our building. Our many, many thanks from the Ashtabula Foundation for making this very necessary project a reality. The final part of this project will be replacement of our carpeting. So please bear with us as we "change" our façade - we are very excited to have this become a reality. We are hoping work will be completed by early October. I know it may cause some difficulties with spaces as we work, but the end result should be outstanding. Early in September our very special friends and partners for over 40 years, the members of the Women's Service League of Ashtabula County (WSL) will be holding a reorganizational meeting. While members of WSL have been strong and steadfast in their support of the Ashtabula Arts Center and the arts in Ashtabula County through the years, with changes in daily lifestyles and increased demands upon limited leisure time, it has become difficult to continue the organization as it was established several years ago. We are very hopeful new ideas, new members and change can make the exciting difference that will revitalize this extremely important organization and the work it does. Our theater department and Arts Center family as a whole will be experiencing a very large change within the next few months. Darrell Lowe and his family will be moving to Columbus to make it their home. Most of you may know that Alex Lowe has been attending Ohio State University the last couple of years. Her brother Jacob is joining her at OSU's campus this fall. Deb Lowe, the matriarch of this extremely talented family, has accepted a position with the Ohio State Medical Center. This change is indeed bittersweet for all of us (and there have been thousands) who have been touched by the Lowe family. Darrell took over the in-house direction of our theatre department in January of 1994, and he never looked back. Many of the youth and young adults now performing so excellently on stages at the AAC and beyond grew up with both Deb and Darrell are their mentors, teachers and guiding directors of their theatre experiences. Darrell reached for and achieved some of the finest theatre moments ever presented on the boards at the AAC. The Lowe family gave its all to the AAC and our community as a whole. We wish them all the very best. We will miss them, but are very happy for them that this change in their lives is one about which they are all very excited. Yes, change can be sad, bittersweet, happy, etc. Most of all change is exciting and always happening. The AAC is experiencing many big changes - and we're hoping you will be want to be around to be a part of it all. More to come as change evolves….