The Bowlus Fine Arts Center is on the search for a new executive director. Daniel Kays announced this week he is leaving at the end of the month for a position in Topeka.
Jennifer Taylor, USD 257 board chair who also serves on the Bowlus Commission, said Kays “has led the Bowlus Fine Arts Center so successfully for the years he has been here,” and that trustees “are so grateful for his leadership, vision, and hard work. He will be greatly missed. We wish him and his family the very best moving forward.”
The district will advertise the position until Sept. 24, after which it will review applications and schedule interviews. The top two or three candidates will be asked to visit the community and the fine arts center, with tours and a presentation, likely in mid-October. The goal is to have someone in place by the end of November, Taylor said.
KAYS accepted a position with venuworks, which manages the Topeka Performing Arts Center for the City of Topeka.
During the gap here in Iola, Kays said he will be available on a consulting basis. The Bowlus opens its season with a 60th anniversary gala next Saturday, Sept. 14. The evening includes a dinner, live and silent auctions, and a concert with Abbamania, a tribute band from Canada.
“We’re right at the beginning of the season, so everything is set up,” Kays said. He credited “a small but mighty” staff that can be trusted to keep the shows going.
Kays joined the Bowlus in October 2018 after a career as a stage manager, technical director and managing director for performing arts venues in California. He led a nine-year, $12.5 million amphitheatre project in Vista, Calif., then served as operations manager for the Mountain View Center of the Performing Art before coming to the Bowlus.
He and his wife, Laura, moved to Humboldt with their sons, who are now adults.
“We’re a very faithful family. God calls us to the things God calls us to. When an opportunity is there, you open your ears and listen,” he said.
“I tell my boys, it’s your story. There’s always going to be a page to turn that will lead you to another chapter.”
During his tenure at the Bowlus, Kays doubled the number of shows from five or six per year to 14 within four categories: a family series, music series, recitals and speakers. He developed a corporate sponsorship program, encouraging industries and businesses to support the arts. His first season collected $20,000. This year, the fund is expected to top $70,000.
A “Raise the Curtain” campaign targeted individual donors. Last season, the campaign raised more than $20,000. His goal this year is $35,000.
Last year, the Bowlus saw an increase in rental events for private parties and conferences. He has addressed a few infrastructure issues at a hefty cost, such as improvements to heating and cooling, fire systems, roofs and sewage. He anticipates more on the horizon. For example, the original tile floor contains asbestos and needs to be replaced.
Kays said he was proud to promote the Bowlus to a larger audience, with advertising reaching as far as Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Those efforts paid off, as the Bowlus saw more visitors from several states.
KAYS led the Bowlus through the COVID-19 pandemic, and managed to continue to offer performances using social distancing, reduced audience size and increased sanitation. It was one of the few venues in the country to remain open through the 2020-21 season.
That will be the most memorable part of his time in Allen County, he said.
He especially enjoyed “the fun process” of creating a new parking lot. It required moving a house from the lot. It also included adding two artistic metal sculptures, aided by donations, that feature images from the Kansas plains and giant butterflies. At night, they glow with a variety of colorful lights.
Kays said hopes the next director appreciates and honors Tom Bowlus’s vision and “this unique gift that Tom gave to this community that spurred private trusts in the 1980s, that then spurred support from the county and city.”
He would tell the next director: “You have a strong foundation and an opportunity here to take risks. Tom’s vision was to bring culture to this community with the exposure to jazz and new artists who have a voice that needs to be heard. This venue is perfect for that.”
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