“I love everything about it--working with a great proactive board of directors and the opportunity to meet new artists,” said arts council administrator and board member Sonja Waller. As the administrator and board secretary, Sonja is the one person who knows the most about what is going on in the organization. She is the point of contact for all committees and often the first face of the arts council to the public.
Before assuming her current duties in 2017, she worked primarily in administration at the Summerland Review, the Summerland Chamber of Commerce, and Kettle Valley Railway. She was in-charge of member services and events coordination for the chamber and organized the Festival of Lights for two years and the 2009 Canada Day Celebrations. At Kettle Valley she did marketing and managed the gift shop.
In May after finishing high school, the Winnipeg native hopped a GreyHound bus bound for Penticton. “When I got off the bus, I was wearing snow boots and the locals were in shorts. I never went back,” said Sonja, who had intended to spend only the summer in the Okanagan.
The Covid-19 pandemic and renovations of the SCAC building on Wharton Street have resulted in the closure of the arts council programs and the move to temporary quarters in the basement of Municipal Hall. “Hopefully, we will be able to resume our usual programming as the pandemic decreases and the renovations of the building are completed in the coming months,” she said.