Shellee Frazee, the Beverly Arts Center’s new artistic director
The Beverly Arts Center (BAC), incubator for community arts programming in the southwest corner of the Chicago metro area, has named Shellee Frazee as the first artistic director in the organization’s history. The BAC opened in 1968, and in 2002 expanded into their current 40,000-square-foot facility in Beverly/Morgan Park. Says Frazee, “Over the past ten years, there’d been an ebb and flow in our organization, and for the past five years we’d been fairly small. Now we’re building things up to where we want them to be.” Part of this strengthening is through more staff to tend to specific aspects of the BAC’s mission and the cultural services they provide. In February of this year, Heather Ireland Robinson was made the organization’s executive director, and with Frazee’s start as the artistic director, they have appointed four coordinators to oversee their different arts areas: theater, dance and fitness, music and visual art/additional arts. Additionally, Carla Winterbottom will continue as the BAC’s gallery curator. With this increased staff, the BAC aims to create two tracks in the classes they make available. “We have who I lovingly call our ‘dabblers.’ We also have people who show up and know their passion,” explains Frazee. She aims to develop a “conservatory-like curriculum” that will allow their students to develop a focused approach to their art forms, alongside the current variety of offerings. Frazee’s passion for her new role is grounded in a care for their local community, “The BAC is a treasured resource here on the South Side. We have an obligation to give more through our programming in order to show that the arts aren’t frivolous; they’re essential.” (Matt Morris)
