ARTS COUNCIL NAMES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Daniel North has been named executive director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, a position he says he basically has been in training for since becoming assistant to the director a year and a half ago.

The 24-year-old North has been the assistant to the director for the past year and a half. He was chosen to become the executive director during the organization's board meeting Monday. Tuesday was his first official day of work as director.

The appointment follows the resignation earlier this month of Greg Jones, who had been the Arts Council's executive director since August 1997. Jones is moving back home to the Toledo Museum of Art where he will become the creative arts coordinator.

North grew up in Poplar Bluff and graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in studio art with an emphasis in painting. He continues to paint -- contemporary Midwestern landscapes -- on the side.

"As long as I'm continually painting I will be able to connect to other artists," North said.

While in college, North was an intern under then-executive director Beverly Strohmeyer. He was hired July 1, 1997, to replace Strohmeyer's departing assistant, Laura Brothers.

"Basically, I've been trained for the position (executive director) since I was hired," North said.

Though being an active artist will help him be a better administrator, North said his own interests have evolved to include involvement in the community and teaching others -- not so much what they need to know but what they want to know."

He and Jones worked together to create many of the Arts Council's current programs, North said. He anticipates making no changes but expanding on those programs. "We will continue our interest in art education and want to expand community involvement," he said.

"We want to give people the opportunity to experience things, learn and develop new interests in areas they never would have been exposed to before," he said.

The Arts Council's Arts for All program at this point is its most exciting, North says. The program is aimed at helping people with disabilities create art.

This year's event in April will be co-sponsored by Southeast and will include a performance by the Cleveland Dancing Wheels and a workshop April 24 by Dwayne Szot.