PORT TOWNSEND — Bob Alexander has plans for Centrum.
The center’s new board president, who lives in Seattle, said he is impressed with the level of service Centrum offers residents of the North Olympic Peninsula as well as the role it plays nationally and internationally.
But he thinks that, at times, Centrum is taken for granted in its own back yard.
He wants to strengthen its ties with the local community.
“One of my goals is to help the Peninsula community realize, understand and strengthen its relationship with Centrum,” said Alexander, who was elected by the organization’s board of directors on June 23.
Centrum offers events, workshops, and artist residencies in music, literature, dance, theater and the visual arts.
It has hosted National Heritage fellows, Pulitzer Prize-winners and Grammy winners.
It just completed its annual summer Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, and, this weekend, it hosts the Port Townsend Slide & Steel Experience, the only gathering of its kind.
A Saturday afternoon concert will celebrate steel and slide guitars with Hawaiian, bluegrass, country and blues music.
Centrum enriches the North Olympic Peninsula, said Alexander.
Participating in the arts “will make people richer, but not in a monetary sense,” said Alexander.
“It’s good for our souls, in every aspect.”
