ArtHaus welcomes new co-directors

For the first time ever, ArtHaus, Decorah's home for the arts, has new leadership.

Co-founders Kristen Underwood and Leah Donhowe are passing the reins to two new co-directors who begin work on Monday--Jenni Brant and Eric Petersen.

The two new co-directors, who had been living in Nebraska, tell decorahnews.com they had decided they wanted to move back to this area to be closer to Jenni's family in Keeler, Wisconsin, near Platteville.  When they saw an on-line notice about the opening at ArtHaus, Jenni says, "I squealed out loud."

The feeling was mutual.  Underwood says the couple was "everything we were looking for--and more."  She says the fact that people as qualified as Brant and Peterson were interested in the job meant that it was "the best possible time" to pass the reins to someone else.  "This is the indication it's so right," she tells decorahnews.com.

Brant and Peterson have a lot of experience in the arts.  She is a UW-Whitewater graduate with an MFA in ceramics who worked in arts administration, most recently in Nebraska City.  He is a geology major at the University of Nebraska who got into sculpting and ceramics and taught classes at the Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln.

When the two of them wanted to leave Nebraska, they started looking for communities to move to and liked the fact that Decorah is "culturally vibrant" and is interested in sustainability.  They tell decorahnews.com they're surprised by the amount of community support for the arts in a small town like Decorah.

Says Eric, "It didn't take long...before we knew this was the place we wanted to come."