Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Cathy Stephen with me. Welcome, Cathy.
Cathy Stephen: Thank you, Toni. I’m happy to be here.
Toni: Well, we’re happy to have you. So, take a moment and tell us just a little bit about yourself.
Cathy: Absolutely. Well, I think a lot of people in the community know me as the Director of the Miller Center at Reading Area Community College. Quickly, my background. I am very much a creative soul. All arts background. I am a transplant to Berks County. I’m originally from Maine. Came about Berks County from the DC area, but originally first visited Berks County because my brother went to F&M, and he was married in Reading. Prior to actually moving here, I had visited Berks County, and was really impressed by the architecture and the beauty of the area. That’s a little bit about my background.
Toni: We’re happy to have you here. Let’s go into the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Cathy: I think inspiration means to me, getting excited about something. Thinking about the possibilities of something. When I feel inspired, I feel excited. I have to take action. If I can't take action, I write it down. Inspiration to me is something that moves me and energizes me to take action.
Toni: Do you remember the last time you were inspired?
Cathy: Oh my gosh. I would say I get inspired all the time. I think because my background is in the arts, I’m pretty…how do I want to say this? Anything that touches my senses is what really gets me going. It’s also talking with other people and seeing some of the success stories of folks around. Some of the work studies I’ve had at the college, some of these young students have done things. They’ve succeeded in circumstances that really were playing against them.
When it comes to things that inspire me, it’s a multitude. It depends on what we’re talking about. If it’s something that’s spiritual, is it something that’s a project, an idea that just is a project I know I have to take on? Or, is it somebody or a success story through somebody I knew directly that I’ve taken pride in knowing who that person is?
Toni: There’s so much passion and enthusiasm around the word inspiration coming from you.
Cathy: Absolutely.
Toni: Good for you. So, how do you take all of that and put that into practice here in Berks County?
Cathy: I think that what happens in my job, my primary responsibilities as the Director of the Miller Center, is to bring artists into the community. We bring artists into the community for on stage, but we do take it the extra step by bringing them into the community to work with different groups. I’m inspired by groups that I see, groups that I hear about, and how our community can benefit from having them be in our community for a couple of days. For us, it’s a beautiful dance piece. It’s maybe some music that I just get excited about and say, “We have to bring that to the community, because I know it’s going to make a really neat connection.”
Toni: When you say you bring it to the community, it feels like there’s a collaborative thing that happens there. Can you just give a quick example of what that is that inspiration sparks the collaboration?
Cathy: Absolutely. Let’s see. Let’s think of a group we brought in. A few years back, there was a group called Parallel Exit that was out of the New York City area. Their type of performance was all non-talking. No talking at all. It was all situational slapstick comedy. I had heard of the group. I had seen them, and was inspired by the performance, but the second element in that was that one of the performer’s mothers was a teacher in Reading School District.
It ended up becoming this wonderful collaboration where the group was in the city, in the community, for about two or three days. We had them working with different students, different schools within the Reading School District, and touched over 600 students in that two- to three-day period that they were in the community. As a result, when we had the performance on stage, it was a very large audience with a strong percentage being younger people; college age or younger. So, when we can inspire younger people to see something live without any dialogue, that it’s just all an experience, I get inspired by that. I feel happy. I feel that this is what we should be doing, and I’m happy that we are able to make this connection.
Toni: You are paying that inspiration forward then, in doing so. That’s pretty cool. So, who in Berks County inspires you?
Cathy: Oh my. I’ve been at the Miller Center since the start. When I first started at RACC, I was working at the Foundation. I was there for just a handful of months, but during that time period, Gust Zogas, who came on board back at the college to fill in as an Executive Director for the Foundation was a real treat for me. I had not met Gust. I had not worked with Gust, but he took me under his wing. His vision and his passion for the community is infectious. I would have to say Gust was a tremendous support and inspiration to me.
I will say there have been a few students that have been work studies through our program that have worked at the Miller Center who have succeeded, as I said, beyond where they should have succeeded. I shouldn’t say “should have” but the tenacity, the persistence, and the resilience of some of the students that I’ve seen come through the college is inspiring.
Toni: Wow. It’s great work that you do. It really is.
Cathy: Thank you.
Toni: What do you want your legacy to be?
Cathy: I would like my legacy to be known as one of the people that has elevated the art scene and the culture in Berks County through the exchange of artists that come through its doors and the programs that it’s brought to the community, to folks of all ages from the outreach that we do with groups like maybe the Olivets, the schools, partnerships with Yocum Institute, Berks Ballet, to understand that Berks County is worthy of the many wonderful artists that we bring through that have a national and international reputation.
Toni: So you are living your legacy.
Cathy: I am. I’m very, very thankful, and I’m very fortunate to be in a line of work that really does inspire me every day. I look forward to going to work every day.
Toni: Thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project, and also inspiring us with your story.
Cathy: Thank you, Toni.
