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Messina retires from NCI ARTworks board in Peru · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Messina retires from NCI Artworks Board in Peru. Written by
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  Tom Collins, This article is being read by an automated
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  voice brought to you by Everlett. The NCI Artworks Board
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  announced Monday the retirement of Executive Director Julia Martino Messina
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  and welcomed new leadership. Sarah O'Dell has been selected to
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  lead NCI Artworks as executive director, continuing to grow and
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  improve the regional nonprofit that hosts art exhibitions, music events,
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  and facilitates the creation of public art installations in LaSalle,
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  Bureau and Putnam Counties. Messina had led the creative team
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  at NCI Artworks since twenty twenty one. Over the past
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  five years, she and the board and staff have helped
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  bring world class musicians to local schools and provided rural
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  schools with music instruments. Offered free public concerts with our
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  Christmas and Summer tubifest Series and ensemble concerts. Showcased over
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  one hundred and sixty emerging and affirmed local, regional and
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  national artists, hosted sixty five professional level exhibitions at the
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  NCI Artworks Gallery, provided about two hundred and ten thousand
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  of revenue to local, regional, and national artists, conducted a
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  cash award juried art show, Emerging Artists shows, and youth
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  art shows. Brought in the White House Senior policy analyst
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  Peter Gaumond for the Trauma and Recovery Exhibition, and published
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  two books, The Life and Art of Father Joseph hayde
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  osb and From Harm to Hope, a multi artit of
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  Trauma and Recovery. Built partnerships with other local galleries and
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  venues to showcase local and regional artists. Developed annual fundraising
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  tours focused on art and culture in the USA and abroad.
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  Celebrated and recognized the top talent at the high school
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  level in the Tri County area. Partnered with local municipalities
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  to post summer art camps, and offered workshops and classes.
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  The relationships I have been able to build with the artists,
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  the NCI artworks Board, and the community of art and
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  culture lovers mean the world to me. Messina said, I
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  am grateful and truly blessed to have been able to
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  connect with and work with so many talented people who
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  are committed to building the arts in the Illinois Valley.
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  As I take my leave of this amazing organization, I
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  am confident that the NCI Artworks Board has chosen the
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  right people to continue its mission. Odell brings community volunteer
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  experience to her new position. A longtime advocate for the arts,
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  her focus has been primarily on the music component of
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  the NCI Artworks Mission, assisting both at NCI Artwork sponsored
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  music events and at the LaSalle, Peru Township High School
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  music program. She is expanding her artistic repertoire to include
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  the visual arts, as she has been helping to curate
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  and organize art exhibits at the NCI Artworks Gallery in Peru.
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  Sarah attended Michigan State University in Southern Illinois University. After
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  moving to the Illinois Valley in two thousand and seven,
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  she led the STEM program at a local summer day
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  camp since twenty seventeen, where she shares her expertise in
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  science and technology. Outside of her professional work, she is
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  an avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast. I am delighted to
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  keep the NCI Artworks mission moving forward, bringing the arts
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  to everyone in our community and showcasing are very talented artists,
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  she said. In addition to welcoming its new executive director,
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  NCI Artworks welcomes Don Grant Zelmer to the NCI Artworks
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  creative team. Don will be responsible for developing and curating
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  arts and cultural events and trips to help sustain the
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  mission of NCI Artworks. Zelmer's background as a group tour
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  travel expert and his many decades as a professional entertainer
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  will ensure that local art and culture lovers who travel
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  with NCI Artworks have the most enjoyable experiences at local, regional, national,
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  and international music and theater performances. Zelmer has taken groups
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  from nc Artworks to New York for Broadway tours in
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  the past and will continue that very popular tour. Zelmer
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  was a director, slash choreographer, slash featured performer for Cargo
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  Productions NYC for twenty years. He owned and operated Zelmer's
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  Dinner Theater in the Peoria area and spent two seasons
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  headlining two shows in Brincelwn, Missouri. He and partner doctor
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  David Quester, have operated the Follies Theatre in Utica and Yorkville,
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  and for twenty one years, Zelmer was the director and
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  choreographer of musical theater at Illinois Valley Community College. As
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  a longtime supporter of NC Artworks. Zelmer said, this is
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  a sterling opportunity to combine a lot of elements that
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  are in my wheelhouse, combining entertainment and group travel, as
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  well as fundraising for such a worthwhile and integral part
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  of the Illinois Valley