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Elk County Council of the Arts has new leader
By GRETCHEN ROKOSKY
Era Correspondent
RIDGWAY — The Elk County Council of the Arts has a new leader at its helm.
Abbigail “Abbi” Peters has been a board member since August 2007 and now she has moved up to the position of executive director.
“When Andi (Willis) announced her resignation at the board meeting, my eyebrow went up and hum,” Peters explained. “I went ahead and applied, and was eventually processed and was accepted.”
Peters took over the reins of the organization on May 19.
“So far, I don’t have a typical day,” Peters said. “I start out my ‘To Do List’ at the beginning of the week and I try to stick to it, and usually a million other things pop up. But I bounce between the administrative side as far as the daily operations of keeping the books, payroll and what not and then also the incoming projects, keeping them on track, and then also talking about future projects.
“So every day I kind of bounce between past, present and future.”
All of the programs and projects of the ECCOTA are made possible through funding, either through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Endowment of Arts or the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
There are a lot of different sources that are promoting different types of funding. An example is the popular “Tasting of the Wilds” in July, where part of the funding for the event is used to help promote tourism.
“Right now, I am still following programs that were already put in place,” Peters said. “They have partially already received funding and already rolling. As I get my bearings more, and get into the swing of things and see and how everything runs, then I will start to look to bring in other programs and projects.”
One big thing that Peters would like to do is have a teen arts festival to showcase visual, performing, literary and all the arts throughout the high school and have them come together and be displayed in one place.
“I haven’t fully announced this anywhere,” Peters said. “I would like to be at the county fairgrounds, but logistically I still have to work through everything. I don’t have anything in place yet.”
Peters said “I know I was lucky enough, when I was growing up, we had one (a teen arts festival) in our area and it was countywide. It was just a wonderful experience because you got to see everyone else’s work.”
Peters said during those festivals, participants could hear the high school bands, jazz bands and the choirs. There were also theater performances and monologs and those in attendance got to see everyone’s visual work. She said not only did the school children come to see it but also family members and those in the community.
“It did so much for our confidence and for our understanding that people appreciate it,” said Peters.
Peters grew up in Clinton, N.J., and went to Kutztown University in Kutztown. She studied fine arts and art education. She and her roommate made a pact to move out to California to do stand-up comedy in 2000. They did some sketch comedy and put on an all-female comedy troupe.
Peters also did some photography and freelance jewelry, but mainly she worked on the administrative side in a fashion accessories company and a music accessories company, where she got her administrative training, doing everything from production to shipping. Peters said they were small companies but did large volume business, so she learned a lot and worked very closely with the owners.
With her parents former St. Marys residents, Peters met and married her husband, Charles Wish, in Los Angeles. In 2006, they were in Ridgway for the Firemen’s Parade and that is when they saw the old schoolhouse on Walnut Street, which was for sale.
“I fell like a ton of bricks for that schoolhouse,” Peters said. “We had been looking for more of a sense of community where we were living, but we couldn’t find it in Los Angeles.”
Peters said Clinton (her hometown) is a small town, a lot like Ridgway.
“But it has the small town mentality, and growing up I couldn’t stand it,” Peters said. “I just hated it and had to get so far away, and then realized everything I actually did love about it — and I wanted to come back to one. And Ridgway has welcomed us with open arms. I have no intention of leaving anytime soon.”
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