By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
“Welcome to my imagination.”
That sign is displayed on the desk of a creative person who manages a theater in small town Kansas, as she imagines how to engage more people in the arts.
Shannon Martin is the director of the Burford Theatre and Ark City Area Arts Council in Arkansas City. Her desk sports the sign, “Welcome to my imagination.”
Shannon went to high school in Iola and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pittsburg State. She is the mother to four sons: Micah, Riley, Wyatt, and Wade.
Shannon and her husband Grady now live in eastern Cowley County. Grady works for General Electric and runs a cow-calf operation. Their historic farm home, stone barn and rental cabins are near the rural community of Dexter, population 278 people. Now, that’s rural.
In 2017, Shannon took the position as director of the Ark City Area Arts Council and director of the historic Burford Theatre in downtown Arkansas City. Continue reading “Shannon Martin, Burford Theatre”
