Long-time resident of the area Jamie Robertson has been named Executive Director of the New York Mills Arts Retreat and Regional Cultural Center. He began his duties July 16.
Robertson has been involved in the production of the Old Wadena Rendezvous and Folklife Festival for the past five seasons, and he is active in the production of Wadena's annual Whiskey Creek Film Festival. He has taught English as an adjunct instructor at the Minnesota State Technical and Community College. He was a co-founder and Academic Dean of the Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake for 15 years.
The new Director looks forward to continuing the high quality artistic events the Cultural Center is known for. Among several new initiatives he plans for the Cultural Center is a juried art show in 2008 called Faces of Minnesota 2008.
Other ideas might include a solstice festival, an event designed to include the participation of multiple communities in the developing cultural life of the region. He says that he plans to emphasize the regional mission of the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center while building on the strengths of the Cultural Center within the New York Mills community. He also hopes to emphasize the living cultural roots of the region. One of his favorite thoughts from the great historian Arnold J. Toynbee is that civilization is a "voyage, not a harbor."
Robertson replaces interim director Lynn Kasma, who will remain on the Cultural Center staff.
