PORT TOWNSEND — Teresa Verraes, who has announced she will leave her position as the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce executive director, will join the Port Townsend School of the Arts as its executive director in January.
She will take the post as founding executive director after seven years at the helm of the Chamber of Commerce.
Her decision to leave was announced Sept. 21.
“We just got our No. 1 draft pick,” said Kerry Tremain, president of the board of the school of the arts, which is in Building 306 at Fort Worden State Park, in a news release issued Friday.
“It’s impossible to imagine a more perfect leader to grow our young school.”
Said Verraes: “I’ve spent the past 20 years preparing for this position and this challenge.
“It will call on my experiences in the gallery, in business and in community development. I believe PTSA is poised to help lead a renaissance of art in this region and beyond.”
Tremain said Verraes “has the skills, energy, network of community relationships and enthusiasm for the arts that will enable us to give Port Townsend the art school it deserves.”
In the two years since the art school began offering classes, 64 artists have taught more than 175 classes to 1,100 students, board members said in the release.
The nonprofit school is located in the heart of the proposed Makers Square at Fort Worden and is participating in planning for the new arts facilities to be built there.
Verraes has served on the art school’s board, where she was in charge of programs, for the past year.
“As executive director, she will lead PTSA’s collaborative effort, with Centrum and other organizations, to realize Makers Square’s potential as a regional center for arts and culture,” the news release said.
“Teresa joins us at a critical moment for renewing and expanding Port Townsend’s creative resources,” Tremain said.
“She has already secured a second location for us to exhibit faculty and student work downtown in one room of the former Simon Mace Gallery.
“Fittingly, that was also the location of the gallery she founded and ran for several years, Artisans on Taylor.”
Port Townsend School of the Arts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2015.
It offers people of all ages and skill levels opportunities to learn collaboratively with artists through classes, workshops and other programs.
For more information about the school, a schedule of classes and donation inquiries, see www.ptarts.org or email info@ptarts.org.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
