Cape Girardeau man to represent area on Missouri arts council

Southeast Missouri now has its first representative on the Missouri Arts Council's board of directors in over 20 years.

Gov. Matt Blunt's office announced Wednesday that Dr. Joel Ray, a Cape Girardeau photographer and neurosurgeon, had been appointed to a term on the board. The term begins immediately and ends Oct. 13, 2011.

Ray is the first representative of Southeast Missouri to serve on the board since Paul Loiseau, whose term ended in 1985, said Missouri Arts Council executive director Beverly Strohmeyer.

"I've been lobbying to get someone from Cape Girardeau on the board for a long time," said Strohmeyer, who spent 33 years in Cape Girardeau, part of that time as the director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Out of the board's 15 members, Strohmeyer said most are from Kansas City and St. Louis. Two members are from Springfield, while Columbia, Joplin and Washington, Webster Groves and Lee's Summit each boast one member. The council is a part of the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

In his capacity on the board Ray will work with other board members to distribute arts council funding throughout the state and to develop priorities and initiatives to encourage the arts in Missouri.

"We get overlooked a lot," said local artist Craig Thomas, a member of the local arts council's board of directors. "This may give us a little more clout."

Ray said he didn't ask to be appointed, but he was suggested to Blunt by Rep. Nathan Cooper. But Ray said he's "excited" about bringing a Southeast Missouri perspective to the council and giving back to Cape Girardeau, where he has lived the past 10 years.

The fact that he's the first Southeast Missouri resident on the board in over 20 years "just puts further importance on trying to represent the community, a community which has welcomed my family from far away," Ray said.

As a member of the arts council, Ray isn't supposed to steer funds toward Southeast Missouri entities and events, Strohmeyer said. However, Ray can increase the council's awareness of the cultural environment of Southeast Missouri, a region he says is experiencing astounding artistic growth.

"The arts in Southeast Missouri are exploding right now," Ray said, using the coming River Campus as a prime example. Ray said he hopes in his position he can enhance the dialogue between the local art scene and the state council.

msanders@semissourian.com

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