Effingham's Arts Connection

Effingham is amazing community. When a group of local businessmen decided that the city would benefit by having an arts and performance center they raised the money and built one! Later when the economy and other factors threatened to close the doors the local community stepped up and made the arts center public to ensure is long term feasibility. In this interview I speak with Janie Oldfield, director of the arts center.

Janie came to Effingham, IL in January 2009 to direct the activities of The Rosebud Theatre. Today she is Executive Director of the Arts Connection of Central Illinois, operator of the not-for-profit Effingham Performance Center. Her career spans more than three decades and includes three + years as Director of Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge, LA; seventeen years, including five years as Director of Performing Arts, at the McAninch Arts Center at College of Du Page, a suburban Chicago public community college; five years coordinating arts and lectures programs at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and four years in student activities programming at Northern Illinois and Illinois State Universities. She earned a Bachelor’s degree at De Pauw University in Greencastle, IN and a Masters Degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia. This is truly an amazing city and the story of the arts center is more proof that Effingham is a can do community. To watch the entire interview with Janie Oldfield CLICK HERE.