WashArts gets a new president
The Washington Community Arts and Cultural Center has a new president.
Bart Christner, a 44-year-old Mt. Lebanon native and specialist in digital technology, is taking the helm of the 10-year-old organization, known in shorthand as WashArts, following a recent vote by its board of directors. Christner is replacing Sandee Umbach, WashArts’ founder, who lately has been spending time in Nashville to help launch the musical career of her son, Jordan Umbach, and her own recently published book of poetry.
“She’s excited and still involved,” Chistner explained this week. He characterized Umbach’s time away from WashArts as “a sabbatical.”
Though Christner has been on WashArts’ board since January, he’s no stranger to the organization. He taught digital technology classes at WashArts earlier in its history, an entry on a resume that also contains a teaching stint at Daytona State College in Daytona Beach, Fla., and developing the website for Dick’s Sporting Goods, based in Robinson Township in Allegheny County. A book by Christner, “Digital Media: A Visual Encyclopedia,” is tentatively set to arrive in May.
Christner’s term will last one year. His goals over the next 12 months include launching a performing arts theater and strengthening WashArts’ film and video offerings. To that end, Christner will be working with Frank Johnson, the director of the recently released “Amazing Racer,” a girl-and-her-horse movie that was filmed in Washington County almost five years ago under the title “Shannon’s Rainbow,” but was shelved due to legal tangles. Johnson hopes to make additional movies in the area and employ area residents in technical capacities. A film and video program operated under the aegis of WashArts would be able to “launch careers,” Christner explained.
He also hopes to lasso a $1 million donor for a film production and digital studio for WashArts and, perhaps, have a speaker series built around individuals who work in the film industry.