Cailan Matthews’s appreciation for how the arts bring people together is taking center stage in her new role as Sioux Center’s new Arts Director.
“Beauty and creativity have always been really important to me, especially in how these can promote community and connection,” Matthews said. “My mind is always in the details, and I am so excited to organize events and create opportunities for people of all ages to connect with each other and the arts.”
Matthews will organize Sioux Center Arts events, productions, and programs; provide educational arts opportunities; and collaborate with other organizations to promote the arts.
“Cailan has some great plans and ideas for the future. She’ll be a great leader for our Arts Department,” said All Seasons Center and Recreation Director David Egdorf. “I’m excited to work with her and see how the Arts Department can keep growing in our community.”
Matthews’ first event in the works is an end-of-summer Arts Picnic, Thursday, Aug. 25, at Children’s Park, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. There will be food trucks with good eats for sale, live music, craft vendors, swing dancing, and free face painting.
When she’s not directing arts events, Matthews hosts an Instagram interior design account @thehousecricket, highlighting “character, color, and everything secondhand.” She also enjoys photography and bakes cakes on the weekends.
“Reading aloud to my kids is always the best part of my day,” she added.
She and her husband Josh Matthews, a professor in Dordt University’s English department, live in Sioux Center with their four children: Elias, 15, Gideon, 13, Calliope 13, and Titus, 8.
The Sioux Center Arts office is inside the Children’s Park main shelter house. To learn more about Sioux Center Arts, visit the Sioux Center Arts page on Facebook and www.siouxcenter.org/arts. Matthews can be reached via email.