Meet the Creatives Helping to Unite the Arts Scene in Licking County, OH
It has been said there is no art without artists, as humans are those interpreting, expressing and creating the art forms we experience. Meet four artistic professionals helping to shape the vital part of community life that is Licking County’s cultural and creative arts scene.
In This Article
The Theatre Director
The historic Midland Theatre was already close to Maryann Crist’s heart when she joined the staff.
“My children performed here, and I’d previously worked for Dave Longaberger (the benefactor financially responsible for The Midland’s restoration), so being part of his legacy and vision again is incredibly meaningful,” says Crist, who leads The Midland as executive director.
Built in 1928 and restored in the early 2000s, The Midland hosts concerts, films, theatrical performances, educational programs and community events. “We’re not just hosting events. We’re creating a space where people feel welcome, seen and connected. For those two or three hours, we have the chance to create a kind of utopia where people from all walks of life come together, united by a single experience,” Crist says.
Crist believes Licking County has a deep-rooted appreciation for the arts, not just for the performance or the visual, but the way the arts bring people together and shape a region’s identity.
“It’s about access, inclusion and shared experiences,” she says. “That collective spirit is what makes the arts scene in Licking County so vibrant and meaningful.”
The Conductor
As the musical director of the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra (NGSO), Russel C. Mikkelson creates the artistic vision for each season’s programming, ranging from compositions by Beethoven, Holst and Mozart to works from contemporary films such as “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
“To bring pieces of music to life that have been an integral part of the human experience for centuries, and in the same concert season perform popular movie music that was written recently, is both exhilarating and inspiring,” Mikkelson says. “I feel a deep sense of responsibility to bring my very best musicianship to the table on behalf of the NGSO musicians, but more importantly for the audiences who experience our music.”
These audiences are diverse, hailing from both urban and rural backgrounds.
“These concerts bring people together that might not otherwise come together, and I think that is really unique,” says Mikkelson, who is also director of university bands at The Ohio State University. “I feel a special connection with the audience in Licking County.”
The Actress and Arts Educator
Growing up in Newark, Savannah Patterson participated in the youth theater education program at Weathervane Playhouse, Ohio’s longest running professional summer stock theater. In college earning a BFA in musical theater, she was cast in a Weathervane summer production. Today, she’s Weathervane’s theater team lead, where she occasionally directs in the children’s theater and collaborates with Executive Director Lauren Harvey to run the box office and handle social media and marketing.
Patterson is also the Drama Department director at Licking Valley High School and says arts education is “insanely important” to her.
“The arts gave me passion as a kid, and I really see a difference in kids who are involved in things that are arts-education based, whether that’s in their everyday lives or in their common core classes,” Patterson says.
She finds support for both arts education and her art form in Licking County. “There’s always something going on in our art world, which I find super, super fun. People like the Licking County Foundation, Explore Licking County and the administrators I work with care a lot about the arts, and that matters to me.”
The Glass Artist
Graham Judge was first introduced to molten glass as an elementary student in the same studio he now manages at The Works in Newark. And although he dabbled in other media in his journey as an artist, he says the “mesmerizing material of molten glass” kept drawing him to glassblowing. Today, Judge is the glass studio manager at The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology, an interactive museum for all ages focused on STEM, art and history.
Judge is the resident glass artist, creating artwork, teaching classes and demonstrating glassblowing and glass fusing techniques. Some of the students are the same age he was when he first took a glassblowing class at The Works.
He says it took moving away and then coming back to his hometown to appreciate the region’s thriving creative scene.
“I’ve found a strong community in Licking County that includes talented artists and musicians,” Judge says. “And I feel tremendously supported as an artist by The Works.”
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