Arts Centre Manager Strives to Be a Voice for the Arts

Manager of the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre Cindy Dubois wears many hats in her position, including developing programming, scheduling of the facility and rentals and she oversees all art displays and exhibitions, to name just a few of her duties.

Also, as part of her job, Dubois is a grant writer, and she said the Art Centre received a $20,000 grant from the Missouri Arts Council this year.

Dubois said the city wanted the Arts Centre operating at a zero deficit and wants them to be a self-sustaining facility. Thanks to the grant, the Arts Centre will be a self-sustaining operation this year for the first time.

 Currently, the Centre is gearing up for summer art camps, which will start the second week of June and go until the middle of August. Dubois said what will make this summer’s art camps so special is that kids will now be able to utilize the Rec Plex as well as the Arts Centre.

“People will drive by and be able to see kids outside painting with easels" she said. "There will be over 1,000 children here over the summer and the camps are taught by art teachers.”

With the Arts Centre being in a new facility and the monetary help of the grant, Dubois is optimistic about the future of the arts in the city.

“I feel like this year is going to be the year for the arts in St. Peters,” she said.

Part of what has made Dubois so successful in her current position is her background. She holds a bachelor’s in communications from Lindenwood University and is currently pursuing her MFA in Writing at Lindenwood.

 Her writing skills and background in communications has helped Dubois become the first journalistic editor for Lindenwood University’s inaugural volume of their literary publication, Lindenwood Review.

Before she began working for the City of St. Peters 14 years ago, Dubois worked in a few different fields before realizing her love of the arts. She got her first job at 16, as a shoe cobbler, but it wasn’t until she went to work for a bank, that she got a good understanding of art. She said the CEO of the bank gave her art lessons by pointing out a painting in the bank and explaining it to her.

After learning so much about art and paintings, she knew a career in the arts field was for her. Eventually, after marriage and starting a family, Dubois said she went to work for herself as an art appraiser. 

Through her work at the Arts Centre and other experience, Dubois said she sees herself as someone who can use her skills, background and love for the arts as a marketer for artists, both those starting out and those who have many years of experience.

 “My goal is to help an artist market themself and sell their pieces,” Dubois said.