Carroll County Arts Council seeks new executive director

The Carroll County Arts Council’s executive director, Lynne Griffith, has left the organization after two-and-a-half years, according to a June 12 news release from the arts council.

Former assistant director Stephen Strosnider will act as executive director until at least the end of this year. The 34-year-old New Windsor resident has been the organization’s assistant director of programs and communications since October 2022.

“The community should expect the artistic support and programming that they’ve come to know [to continue],” Strosnider said.

Carroll County Arts Council Board of Directors President Lynn Wheeler, of New Windsor, said the board will begin the process of naming a permanent executive director in September, after new board members have been seated. The board will also reevaluate the organization’s other staffing needs in the near future, Wheeler added.

“I’m so thankful that [Strosnider] agreed to step in as interim executive director,” Wheeler said. “That will give us time to evaluate many, many things.”

The arts council’s executive director should be passionate about connecting people with the arts, competent at handling grants, knowledgeable about technology, and skilled at teamwork and management, Wheeler said, and Strosnider has each of those traits. She said she hopes he applies to be the organization’s permanent leader.

Wheeler said the board of directors and Griffith, the former executive director, “mutually agreed that we were going to pursue another direction.”

Strosnider and Wheeler agreed that Griffith will be remembered for ushering in an era of more diverse programming during her time leading the arts council, including the inception of Carroll County’s Black American Film Festival during her tenure.

“Lynne was a great advocate for artistic partnerships between other organizations and the arts council,” Strosnider said. “She was very passionate and focused on the community, which I think was very much appreciated.”

The Carroll County Arts Council is a nonprofit with a mission of supporting artistic education and expression, based in Westminster’s Carroll Arts Center, at 91 W. Main St., a historic building constructed as a movie theater in 1933.

The nonprofit is known for hosting the popular annual PEEPshow and Festival of Wreaths fundraiser events, for hosting performances at the arts center, and for contributing thousands of dollars each year to supporting the arts in Carroll County. The council had a fiscal 2023 operating budget of more than $1 million, Strosnider said. The arts council receives major funding from The Maryland State Arts Council, Carroll County Department of Recreation & Parks and the City of Westminster.

Members of the Carroll County Arts Council board of directors have three-year terms and may serve twice. Wheeler will step down as board president in September and her second term will expire in September 2025. She said more information about the board’s new composition will likely be available next month. Wheeler retired after 14 years as executive director of the Carroll County Public Library system, in 2018.

The Carroll Arts Center will soon announce its fall lineup of artists, performances and events that the organization will host or sponsor. Strosnider said the next season of programming was almost entirely determined before he stepped into his new role, which will help make the transition as seamless as possible.

“Once the fall season is up and running and people can start getting tickets, then the board will have time to have a bigger conversation about what a search [for an executive director] would look like,” Strosnider said.

Wheeler said she has complete faith in Strosnider’s ability to excel at a complicated job. Strosnider has previously worked in arts and theater programs for McDaniel College, Carroll Community College and Glenelg Country School.

“I’m very confident that during this interim period, Stephen will do a very good job of keeping things rolling for us,” Wheeler said, “but it’s complicated because you have to have both sides of the equation. You have to be able to reach out to people, have ideas, bring artists in, promote it, and you have to be able to manage the organization and do the day-to-day, in-and-out managing of technology, finances, and so forth.”