New President Selected for Vermont Studio Center
You know how you go looking high and low for something and then find what you're seeking right before your eyes? It happens in the grocery store, and it happens in your closet. It can also happen in a job search.
In fact, it's not at all unusual for a nationwide search to result in finding the right man or woman very close to home — perhaps in the same organization. That's what happened at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson just this week.
After looking nationwide for four months, the board of trustees announced today that Gary Clark (pictured right) has been selected as the new president of the nonprofit artist residency retreat. Not only does Clark live, with his wife and three children, right in Johnson; he's already been active within the VSC community since 1993, serving as the writing program director and development director. Here's what the VSC press release says about his past and future responsibilities:
Gary has been responsible for envisioning and implementing an international program for writers and translators, which also inspired the construction of the Maverick Studios for writers, VSC’s first completely new building. He has initiated, developed, and maintained many of the enduring relationships with VSC’s individual and foundation supporters.
As President, he will be responsible for providing leadership, strategic direction, and vision for the Vermont Studio Center, strengthening and advancing VSC’s mission and ideals, overseeing all operations, and implementing the Board’s policies and strategies. He will assume the duties of President later this year concurrent with the planned retirement of Executive Director George Pearlman after 30 years of distinguished tenure.
“Gary Clark is one of the most significant and influential pillars among those directly responsible for VSC fulfilling its mission,” says Board Chair and Founder Frederick Osborne. “The Center is very fortunate to be able to call on his talents to envision and guide its future at this time in its history. He is committed to providing the leadership that will ensure the Studio Center’s continuing to determine its own growth and path.”
Clark earned a BA in English and drama at Dartmouth College, and an MFA in poetry at the University of Oregon. Not surprisingly, he's a frequent contributor to VSC's reading series and to literary journals. The Center offers residences in visual art and writing to 50 individuals monthly. Some of them, too, are from close to home.
