Jacksonville Center for the Arts Board adds two new directors, elects VP

The Jacksonville Center for the Arts Board, whose mission is to create a multi-purpose civic center with performing arts facilities serving as a community hub and economic engine, has elected two new directors: Katie McDannald, student and community engagement coordinator at Lincoln Land Community College, and Pam Martin, recently retired director of the Jacksonville Memorial Hospital Foundation. Current Board member Gary Mather was elected vice president.

An alumna of Ken Bradbury musical productions during her school years, McDannald also serves as play director at Triopia Junior-Senior High. She also serves on the Jacksonville Promise Foundation Board, the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Membership Committee, and Green Pastures Christian Campground Board. In addition, she organizes and runs the Concord Fish Fry every summer. When she’s not working, directing, or volunteering, McDannald likes to bake and practice yoga. During weekends in June, she serves as counselor at Green Pastures’ Christian Performing Arts Camp. This year marked her 27th season. McDannald lives in South Jacksonville with three cats and a coonhound, who will welcome her daughter this fall.

As JMH Foundation director, Martin was instrumental in cultivating lasting donor relationships and guiding philanthropic resources to address emerging healthcare needs across the hospital’s five-county service area. Her volunteer leadership has extended to several organizations including the Kiwanis Club of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Ag Division, JREDC, Jacksonville Country Club, and Illinois College’s David A. Smith House. With a nod to her dairy-farming heritage, she is an annual competitor in the Illinois State Fair’s mini butter cow contest, which she has won in three of the past five years. Martin and her husband Gary proudly continue the legacy of their fifth-generation family farm.

Mather, whose retail management career has spanned four decades, has assumed the vice presidency of the JCA Board. Recently retired as manager of The Home Depot, Mather now serves as lead estimator for Sutton’s in Springfield. In addition to his work with JCA, Mather has served on the boards for Brooklyn United Methodist Church, TRE Limited, and the Fulton, MO, Chamber of Commerce. He has also served on various committees for MacMurray College, the Salvation Army, and other volunteer organizations. Mather and his wife Sharon, both Jacksonville natives, are parents of three sons and grandparents of eleven. Mather is looking forward to fulfilling his leadership role with JCA as it moves ahead with its plan to realize a premier center for the arts.

McDannald, Martin and Mather join President Larry Kuster, Secretary Drew Snodgrass, Treasurer Mary Fergurson, and directors Richard Basden, Gene Fergurson, and Cathy Randall on the JCA Board, and bring their extensive skills to bear in the JCA’s effort to bring its exciting effort to fruition.

President Kuster said, “JCA enthusiastically welcomes Katie and Pam and deeply appreciates Gary’s leadership role on a board dedicated to making a civic center a reality for our community.”

The JCA’s new impetus comes as the result of an extensive utilization and support analysis and a timely opportunity to create a multifunctional center capitalizing upon a resurgent downtown.