Ann Tenold Rogan was born and raised in Monmouth, and is excited to return to the Maple City to serve as executive director of the Buchanan Center for the Arts.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said.
“I found myself coming back more often as I got older, and there was just something about Monmouth that felt comfortable. It wasn’t really nostalgia. It was just more of being part of a community.”
Rogan graduated from Monmouth High School in 1988. She has bachelors and masters degrees in art history and a masters in arts administration.
But she is not an artist.
“My mother was a potter, and my dad did woodcarving as a hobby when he retired from the bench. I have a great appreciation for it but no talent of my own,” she said.
Rogan said her mother’s works were displayed in exhibits at the BCA, and her father sat on the organization’s board.
Her parents’ artistic skills got Rogan thinking about creating an intergenerational program at the BCA.
“Where grandparents and parents can bring their kids, and the older generations can teach the younger generations what their talents are, whether it be quilting or photography or storytelling. I just think there’s a lot of room for a lot of community events. That’s what I’m really looking forward to,” Rogan said.
She would also like to do outreach programs for other communities in the region that don’t have an arts center.
She is amazed by the amount of programming being done by the BCA’s staff.
“It is a small staff, but it is a mighty staff,” Rogan said.
She thinks the BCA is an incredible space, especially for such a small town.
Rogan believes the space will become even more incredible once renovations are completed on the second floor. She said the renovations, which were underway before she arrived, will allow the BCA to host more performing arts events and will also include children’s classrooms.
Rogan started at the BCA on July 14. She replaced Kristyne Gilbert, who led the BCA for a decade. Gilbert stepped down at the end of January to become the first director of the performing arts center at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Ky.
Rogan is working parttime at the BCA through the end of the calendar year while she continues to work with American Frontier Culture Foundation in Virginia, where she’s been since 2009.
She will begin fulltime at the BCA in 2026.
Rogan said the BCA welcomes anyone to stop in.
“You don’t need to know anything about art. It is more about creating a shared memory or experience, seeing something new. It’s not an intimidating place at all. It’s just a place where you can really enjoy yourself and whoever you come in with,” she said.
In that vein, the Buchanan Center will be open during the Maple City Cruise In, which begins at 4 p.m. on Friday, August 1. Rogan said people can cool off in the arts center, and they will have bottled water and a children’s table with car-themed crafts.
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