Summit Artspace, the community arts center in downtown Akron, is getting a new executive director — Kamelia D. Fisher, who currently heads Big Brothers Big Sisters of Summit, Medina & Stark Counties.
Fisher “has the proven track record of strong administrative ability and visionary leadership that we have been seeking,” said Toby Ann Weber, Summit Artspace chairwoman, in a news release issued Friday.
Fisher will take over as executive director of the nonprofit Akron Area Arts Alliance, which does business as Summit Artspace, on Jan. 1.
She succeeds Joanne Green, who left the post in May, after about a year on the job.
Fisher will oversee a staff of 8 part-time workers, including contracted workers, Weber said in an interview.
Akron Arts Alliance was founded in 1991. Now operating as Summit Artspace, it has an annual budget of about $240,000.
Fisher has been executive director of the nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Summit, Medina & Stark Counties since 2012. She started in the BBBS organization in 2009 as president of CEO of the East Central Ohio chapter in New Philadelphia.
She will join Summit Artspace after its recent addition of Nine Muses Art Gallery and the Art Center on Tusc (ACoT), both in downtown Barberton. This new affiliation is a project of Summit Artspace, the Neighborhood Development Services (NDS) in Barberton, as well as the city of Barberton.
NDS launched the launched the Art Center on Tusc, at 571 W. Tuscarawas in Barberton in 2014 as part of the city's push to create an arts and entertainment district.
The Nine Muses gallery is inside the Kave Coffee Bar, at 584 W. Tuscarawas Ave., operated by NDS.
Summit Artspace’s main building is at 140 E. Market St. in downtown Akron, and houses galleries, artist studios, a business center for arts organizations and event/performance spaces.
This facility is a project of Summit Artspace and Summit County, which owns the building.
The building formerly housed the Akron Beacon Journal, the Akron Art Institute, the Akron Public Library and most recently the County of Summit Board of Developmental Disabilities.