Petoskey‘s new First Lady of the Arts

Sept. 14, 2005

Ten years ago Liz Gowans-Ahrens was in the middle of her back cast during a Montana fly-fishing trip when she asked herself what she really wanted out of life. She knew that all the “things” and “trappings” acquired through living the fast-paced, big-city life wasn’t filling the void. When she returned to Detroit she packed her bags and headed four hours north to Petoskey hoping to fill the void.
Eventually Ahrens would apply for the vacant Executive Director’s position at the Crooked Tree Arts Center, but the board passed on her. That was six years ago, and Ahrens, a few months later would be offered the Development Director’s position by the very person who was offered the Executive Director’s position that she desired.
“I told Dale Hull when he hired me that I really wanted his job. He just shrugged his shoulders and hired me anyways. I quickly realized that I wasn’t the right person for the position at the time and the Board made a wise choice in hiring Dale,” said Ahrens. “He was an advocate for personal and professional growth for all of the staff. He motivated me to get my Masters Degree in organizational management. I wouldn’t have developed into a candidate to replace him had it not been for his encouragement and inspiration.”
So when Hull announced his retirement, last spring Ahrens dusted off her resume, and this time the Board knew she was ready. She officially took the position this past Saturday, excited but knowing there is much work to be done to keep the arts a viable element in the community.
Cuts in arts education is one of the voids Ahrens believes that the Arts Center has and must continue to fill. The Arts Center currently serves 5,000 plus students during the academic year. Ahrens is proud of the many programs the Crooked Tree Arts Center has created, especially the Beginning Strings program that benefits 15 schools in nine northern Michigan communities.
“We are able to offer this program to these schools at no cost to them, exposing several kids to the world of stringed instruments,” said Ahrens. “Without this program those schools would be without any sort of musical instrument program. We are also proud of the dance program we recently started.”
Ahrens also believes that the arts are for everybody.
“I look at my own path of art appreciation. I set out to become a lawyer but when I took an art history class at MSU, my whole outlook changed,” said Ahrens. “I knew that I didn’t have the ability to create the art but that I had the ability promote it. So I changed my major from Pre-Law to Humanities/Arts Management and knew that after I graduated that I wanted to own a art gallery.”
After MSU Ahrens, along with a partner opened a successful gallery in Birmingham. Eventually she married and started a successful financial management company with her husband. They were living the “good life” with the big Grosse Point home and new Jaguars every year until market forces came crashing down on their success.
“When you think you have it all and then when you loose it all, you begin looking at your life and start assessing what is really important,” said Ahrens. “What I really valued couldn’t be bought or driven. It is amazing that when you take a breath, you realize what is important like family and friendships. We get so busy chasing what we think is important that we don’t realize that what really is important was right in front of us all along.”
Ahrens relates her own pursuit to finding the meaning of life similar to that of pursuing an appreciation of art; sometimes that appreciation is right in front of you.
“I think art sometimes is a little bit scary, especially if it is not understood,” said Ahrens. “At times what people don’t realize is that art is always around them. Cars are art, buildings are art, and the clothes you wear are art and were created by a designer. Art is the first thing cut in the schools which is a real shame because art is a part of every aspect of our lives.”
Ahrens sees one of her goals being to “shake things up” a little bit.
“There is this tendency to get comfortable in what we appreciate, because we understand what we are looking at,” said Ahrens. “One of my goals is to get us talking about art, to present things we might not understand and feel comfortable with. Those are the works of art, theatrical performances or musical concerts that spark conversation, that cause us to think. Versus a piece of work that we say ‘that is pretty,’ and move onto the next one without any thought or conversation. I want people to buy the piece they are not comfortable with and hang it in their living room. When that happens then I think we are accomplishing our goal as promoters of the arts.”
For Ahrens she knows the decision to move to Petoskey was the right one.
“I moved here because this is a great place to enjoy the four seasons and I am only four hours away from my family in Detroit,” said Ahrens. “But what I found out when I moved here is that this area is also a haven for artists, musicians and a lot of creative people. This community rallies around the arts and its artists.”
Ahrens points to the annual Gallery Walk and the numerous galleries that have opened in the area as all evidence that the arts are vibrant in Petoskey. She is also pleased with the unique uses of the Arts Center and the fact that people of all ages remain interested in the arts.
“We recently hosted the Petoskey High School 20th class reunion. They chose this over the traditional bar or banquet setting and loved it,” said Ahrens. “Traditionally that is the age group that is the hardest to keep interested in the arts because they are working at careers and raising families. So it was great to see their enthusiasm and appreciation for what we have to offer.”
She, along with other community leaders, see the region growing as an “arts destination” and that the Crooked Tree Arts Center will remain as the heartbeat of the cultural community.
“We experienced tremendous growth under Dale Hull’s leadership,” said Ahrens. “There are a lot of challenges we are faced with to keep us at the center of the arts in this community. I am confident in our staff and this community that the Crooked Tree Arts Council will remain an important part of this region for many years to come.”
The Petoskey region can be confident that Liz Gowans-Ahrens will work daily to promote the arts. The Crooked Tree Arts Council is to be congratulated for hiring within. So often organizations and companies look elsewhere and fail to realize that the right person for the job is right in front of them. Now Ahrens has filled the “voids” in her life, and as a result, Petoskey can rest assured that their community will never be void of the arts.