After months of searching, the Northport Art Association (NAA) welcomed its first executive director, Hadley Dickinson, in April.
Dickinson will lead the organization forward as it continues to grow and expand its programs to people throughout the region.
“It has been fantastic. I was driving to work from Suttons Bay to Northport by thousands of acres of orchards in bloom — going ‘how lucky am I?’ not only that I get to live and work in northern Michigan,” Dickinson said. “It’s just an amazing place to be.”
Dickinson was born in Chicago, but grew up in Harbor Springs, Emmet County. She lived on and off in Leelanau for 20 years though, with her parents moving to the Suttons Bay area in 1991 to retire. In her life, she’s lived in many different places, but always wanted her children to have the opportunity to experience growing up in northern Michigan around her parents just like she did.
Before moving back to Suttons Bay, Dickinson also lived in Washington, D.C. for seven years, leading a nonprofit group, “Vacations for Veterans,” as the director of fundraising. The group provided week-long vacations for veterans and their families after they were discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center.
“It was beautiful (living in Washington, D.C.), but I missed northern Michigan though, the people and the values — it was always my goal. I wanted to raise my kids in northern Michigan — we produce really good humans in Leelanau County,” she said.”I missed that purpose of helping others, so I wanted to get back into fundraising and grant writing and working for a nonprofit and looking for a way to kind of give back and still contribute to my community.”
Dickinson’s job includes a broad range of duties like collaborating with the board and volunteers, staff and community partners. She is responsible for driving the organization’s growth by raising funds, building awareness, engaging diverse audiences, ensuring operational and fiscal integrity, as well as adhering to the policies laid down by the president and board.
“As the arts association has grown, like many things, it just became more than the board could do, and they needed more hands on deck, so they decided to hire an executive director,” she said. “My main role is fundraising, grant writing, and organizing the volunteers. We have many docents and volunteers and people who make NAA happen.”
Looking ahead, Dickinson said she plans to continue the work that the NAA board has done for years, while also utilizing the donations from supporters, such as a recent large walkin kiln for pottery, to share with the greater community.
“We have had some wonderful donations and some really great opportunities that are opening up here,” she said. “We would like to utilize that (the walk-in kiln), but in order to use it, we need to update our electrical on the building, so that is one of the goals… we also just have some incredible artists, authors, and people who are coming to teach classes and show their work here, so my goal is to help raise funds so we can make all that happen and we can continue the classes we’re doing, but also to expand outside of Northport.”
Highlighting the numerous artists that live or find inspiration in Leelanau, Dickinson said she wants NAA to be a space for all people to come learn and enjoy. Ensuring that various programs are available to as many people as possible is part of that process. Another goal of Dickinson’s is to establish connections with art instructors at schools where students can further utilize the building and its resources to learn about art, theater, vocal, and dance programs.
“To have such a small area that has produced so much incredible talent or had so much talent move here, it’s really a unique opportunity… One thing we want to do is hopefully provide a place where these artists can all get together and gather and share ideas,” she said. “I love art and I love appreciating it, so it allows people like me to come in and see the work and gain a greater knowledge. Some of these artists are worldrenowned, and they’re right here, so we need a place where we can come and see them… and we have some incredible vocalists, so we’re hoping that we can bring in more music and vocals and provide a place maybe for dance to be taught on the north end of Leelanau County.”
To find out about what exhibits are showing this week or for more information about NAA membership and classes, call 231-386-1113 or visit www.northportartsassociation. org.
