As the Arts Council’s first paid employee, Robert Head will be expected to raise money for the organization. He will seek out grants, maintain and expand its membership, and work on special projects. ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent

After existing for 31 years solely on the collective force of dedicated

volunteers, the Nantucket Arts Council has hired its first paid employee.

Robert R. Head will take on the duties of development coordinator for the council as of September.

Head's mission will be to search out grants for the council, maintain and expand its membership base and work on special projects as needed.

"I'm looking to raise money and help them flower," said Head in a telephone interview last week about the half-time position.

While sounding simple enough, the position marks an important border crossing for the NAC and says something about the permanence of the arts as a cultural and economic force on the island.

“I think [the NAC] is growing and they've been taking on ambitious projects, one after the other," said Head.

The latest was Shakespeare by the Sea, a free three-day event in early August that brought Shakespeare expert, cultural critic and Harvard professor Marjorie Garber to the Atheneum for a talk based on her most recent tome, "Shakespeare After All," and two of Shakespeare's plays to Children's Beach where they were performed by the traveling New England Shakespeare Festival.

The NAC provides grant support to other Nantucket arts organizations, maintains a scholarship fund for graduating high school seniors who plan to pursue careers in the arts, hosts a wellreceived Sunday afternoon classical music concert series, a winter film series and a Balinese dance program, as well as concerts, theater performances and author lectures and booksignings.

The fall Arts Festival may be the NAC’s signature event, which began out of the now-folded island newspaper the Nantucket Beacon and was adopted by the NAC.

“The scope of the activities that they are engaged in, the size and the number of presentations offered to the public is increasing, and steadily their budget has been growing over the years,” said Head.

In fact, the NAC's operating budget has more than tripled in one year. Last year it was $45,000 and this year it will be $170,000, according to NAC treasurer Phillip F. Stambaugh. Last year the NAC went over their projected budget, but they were able to spend more because they were able to generate more. This year, the NAC is assured they can raise the money needed to pull off the expanded events and services they are providing, he said.

Although Head made clear that his position is not to be a public relations figure, his focused duty may sharpen the persona of the NAC in the eyes of the community.

"There are numbers of things that they do. People don’t see the woods for the trees. There are so many services they provide," said Head. The NAC – which began in 1974 in an effort to bring community theater to the island — is the largest it has been in its history, in scope and budget, said its president Reginald Levine. "It has grown so in the last three years that we had to take on a paid employee who would be very much involved in the funding of the organization. It's too big for us. We do more and more in the community. There are more mechanics, and it gets far more complicated year after year," said Levine, adding that just keeping track of its membership has grown beyond what volunteers can handle.

Head has been living on the island for year. He and his wife Maggie Head moved here from Nashua, N.H. so that Maggie could take the position as the Nantucket Atheneum children's librarian.

Robert received a Master in Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of the Arts in Michigan and has done some development work. A painter, Web site designer, teacher and video producer, he has just begun to show his still life and landscapes paintings with the Artists' Association of Nantucket. He taught at the Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts this summer.

“For me this is a perfect fit. I love the arts and I'm at a stage in my life where I can commit to something I really love,” he said. “We're never leaving [the island]. Nantucket's a really good fit for us.”

They have lived in small communities in Michigan and Pennsylvania's Amish country and Head drew the similarity between those areas and the particular economic and cultural bubble of the island.

In another first for the NAC, on Sept. 1 it will occupy its first office at 3 Freedom Square, a space it will share with Habitat for Humanity.

“Now they have a footprint,” said Head.

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