Norristown Arts Council elects new leaders

Last month, ’s Arts Council met to elect a new board for 2011.

A solid turnout of “hardy souls” attended the meeting outside Norristown Municipal Hall on an icy Jan. 27 to participate in the election of the Norristown Arts Council Board of Directors. There were 17 candidates for 13 seats, according to Arts Council President Doug Seiler.

“Several excellent candidates were understandably disappointed and the Arts Council thanks them sincerely for making the effort to run and for their commitment to bring the arts and revitalization in general back to downtown Norristown,” Seiler said in a press release.

“We are hoping they’ll stay involved,” he said later in a phone interview.

The new board of directors, including their affiliations (and board title, where
applicable) are:

• Matt Conant* – Project 21
• Fran Doyle – Montgomery County Cultural Center (secretary)
• Gene Frank – Norristown Educational Theatre
• Mila Hayes* – State of Pennsylvania, 70th Legislative District
• Kevin Homer* – Greater Norristown Corp.
• Stan Huskey – The Times Herald
• Eric Malm* – Cabrini College
• Michael McElroy* – Theatre Horizon
• Gabriela Prete – Municipality of Norristown (treasurer)
• Rich Rogers – Academy of Dance and Music (vice president)
• Doug Seiler – Seiler and Drury Architecture (president)
• Eric Smith* – High Swartz Attorneys at Law
• Kathy Arnold-Yerger – Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library

* Denotes a new board member for 2011

Seiler said the board recently held its first monthly meeting and the discussion
centered around getting the community involved.

“We’re energized, and we’re hoping to fill our subcommittees with local folks who want to volunteer,” he said.

The council has established four subcommittees: Marketing, Fundraising, Logistics and Bylaws and Sustainability.

The Marketing Subcommittee will work to promote the Arts Hill brand and idea; the Fundraising Subcommittee will raise money for the Arts Hill Festival (to be held May 7) and the overall sustenance of the organization; and the Logistics Subcommittee will be planning and organizing the different events throughout the year (the group hopes to plan events in the spring, fall and winter each year).

“We think the [Arts Hill], in principle, serves Central Montgomery County, so we’re reaching out to anyone in the greater Norristown area,” Seiler said. “We would expect, as a practical matter, Norristown residents, but any of the surrounding [East Norriton-, West Norriton-], Plymouth-, King of Prussia-areas would not only be welcome but appropriate, because it’s impacting their day-to-day life.”

Arts Council board meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cultural Center, 208 DeKalb St., Norristown. The subcommittee meetings have not yet been scheduled, but Seiler said that information will be available on their blog at website or on the Arts Hill website.