Taking the Stage

Henderson Area Arts Alliance Celebrates 30 Years

Photos by: Darin Phegley

Since 1994, the Henderson Area Arts Alliance (HAAA), a nonprofit organization, has been bringing the arts to the Henderson community providing smiles, laughs, tears and joy to all of those who have walked through the doors of the Preston Arts Center. Originally created as an umbrella to support and provide funds to host events such as the W.C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival and the Sandy Lee Watkins Songwriters Festival, it has changed and evolved over the years as those events have grown. Now, HAAA is less about being an umbrella organization and more about supporting arts organizations for all ages.

Coming Full Circle 

The Henderson Area Arts Alliance’s first show was the Louisville Orchestra. Fast forward to their 30th anniversary, the 2024-2025 season opened with the Louisville Orchestra again. It was a full circle moment as this organization celebrates 30 years and all the shows it has been able to bring to the community from then until now! 

The Louisville Orchestra was an entirely grant funded program starting last year. They hit the ground running, promoting their free show to organizations such as HAAA. There was no hesitation in bringing in a show that was not only HAAA’s very first show ever, but one that was provided for free to our community. Kensington Eck, the new Executive Director of HAAA, said, “It was one of those magical things where everything aligned in a perfect way.” 

New Year, New Leadership

On August 22, 2024, the Henderson Area Arts Alliance announced Kensington Eck as its new Executive Director. Kensington has come with an abundance of experience in the arts, but she has been a familiar face with HAAA for the last couple of years serving as the Patron Services and Events Manager beginning in November 2022. In this position, Kensington assisted with the cast, travel arrangements, food, box office assistance and volunteers. Her new role manages more of the big picture tasks such as meeting with agents and scheduling shows. 

What is most challenging in this role is the same as her favorite part – it’s transitioning from all of these incredible relationships with people who were helping HAAA through food donations, tickets, and showing up at their shows to now saying, “Hey, I know you had been talking to me in this capacity but now let’s switch gears and talk in this capacity and doing bigger asks – especially big financial asks,” Kensington explained.

Kensington grew up in Evansville, IN. She graduated with a Bachelors from USI and lived in New York for a year after college doing some off-broadway shows. Before she came to HAAA, she was a creative drama teacher for the public school system in Evansville. Although she can have many roles, her favorite is being the proud mother to her daughter, Starling (10). 

Kensington’s entire career has involved working in the arts in some capacity. From owning her own theatre company, Think PINK productions, to teaching kids K-8 to producing, directing and acting, the arts have always been a part of her life. 

Thinking back to when her love of performing first blossomed, Kensington vividly remembers in kindergarten she was the lead bunny in the “Bunny Hop”. She remembers thinking, “I like everybody looking at me. I like being in charge. I’ve always liked leading things and managing things and feeling like I was in some kind of leadership position. Like most people in the arts, I had my kindergarten teacher who saw it and she nurtured it. Anytime I get to talk about the arts, anytime I get to go on stage and thank our sponsors. It’s such a gift to have the platform to do it.” 

Think PINK Productions 

Kensington founded Think PINK productions and ran this organization from 2010-2019. It was her venture into producing, directing and performing at the same time. They developed their own following, and her organization brought amazing moments and memories. 

It was creating a space where you could see shows you weren’t going to see on the community theatre level. One of her stage managers now runs a show in Las Vegas. One of her actors is in London performing. They worked with the best of the best. She jokes that Think PINK was her first child. With Think PINK, she was doing everything by herself without the support of a board and now she has a board behind her who are well connected in the community and who can assist her, which she appreciates so much. 

Experiencing the Arts 

Before working at Lincoln School in Evansville, Kensington had always worked at places such as acting schools or performing arts schools. At Lincoln, she was part of their fine arts program, and not all of the students were excited or wanted to be in her drama class. Kensington expressed how there are natural theatre kids who flocked to that, but there were others who weren’t interested. She had to ask, “How do you relate to children who don’t want to be there? How do you make theatre relevant for children who are embarrassed by all of that?”

When Kensington goes out into the community to talk about the arts in education, she always shares her favorite moment she experienced as a creative drama teacher. “I took a group of kids to Louisville to the Derby Dinner Playhouse to see “Newsies” because I think that getting out of your school and seeing a show, it matters because not every kid will get to do that. These kids had been in my class all year long. We had been watching shows and answering critiques and felt like I had prepared them.” Kensington noted “Newsies” is fun and fluffy. It’s a great Disney kind of show. They are walking out and one of her middle school kids is sobbing. The student expressed how she didn’t know this existed and that’s why she was crying. Even though they had been watching videos all year, the student told Kensingon it was so different in person. 

Post-Covid, kids were learning about theatre through streaming. At a booking conference Kensington recently attended, they referred to streaming as “the fast food of the theatre industry” because you are getting that quick need met, but you aren’t getting the intimacy. Kensington said, “She (the student) got to sit in a room with a couple other 100 people and laugh together and cry together and be scared together and have reactions, which is something you can only do in a live setting. I had several kids who had that kind of feeling and really bridges the gap into this because our educational focus with HAAA waivered I think post-Covid primarily due to funding. Prices have gone up substantially. We can only do what we can do. But – I do think our community is begging for that now,” the excited director stated. 

The Arts for Children 

Kensington developed the only theatre program in a K-8 public school in the state of Indiana. Her hope is for HAAA to develop those opportunities for children here, too. “I want them to see that the program that I developed, I want that to be an extension out here into the community because the program was all about how do we empower children through their imagination and let them see that everything theatre does translates into a different job. If you can get onstage and speak you can get out and be a CEO of a company, you can do sales, you can be successful in really any career if you have some form of theatre background. So, working at Lincoln was invaluable. I had excellent leadership support until my very last day.”

Currently, HAAA offers a free summer camp through the Missoula Children’s program. What she would love to do for future initiatives is offer some arts education. “We have some incredible teaching artists here. I think we can bring in some local people, which will make things more affordable for us as an organization and also give us free opportunities.”

She encourages parents to find opportunities to get their kid on stage in whatever capacity they can – whether that be through their school, through local programs such as dance, through places like HAAA who offer summer camps, church programs, etc. “Do whatever you can and don’t be afraid to ask questions. There are organizations who will support these creative, amazing kids, and there are so many different ways to get your kid on stage.” Kensington said there is a place for everybody in theatre, and it builds confidence and empathy. 

She said she always told her students at Lincoln, “I’m not here to turn you into an actor. I am here to turn you into an appreciator of the arts. All I want you to do is be able to watch a show and see the value of the show. Be able to say. ‘I loved it, or I hated it,’ and be able to tell me why. Be able to critically think. Be able to develop your own opinion. It can help you in literally any career you decide to go into.”

Community Relationships 

“We need our community partners”, expressed Kensington. It is hard being a nonprofit, and it is so important to HAAA to support other organizations within our community, too. One way they have done this is by reaching out to local nonprofits to come work the concessions during HAAA shows and having them keep all the money they make. “That is us being able to give back because that matters so much. I want to give back in any way that we can.” OVAL, the Henderson County Public Library, the Volunteer and Information Center, Matthew 25 and more have or are signed up to work their concessions throughout the 2024-2025 season. “Come to me and let me know if you want to do this. I’d love to have a different nonprofit at each show,” Kensington said. 

HAAA also likes to have local talent come in and perform in the lobby. “We want to highlight local. Whatever we can do to make the community feel seen.” They currently work with the SoFA program at Henderson County High School where SoFA sends some of their students to usher at events. Beaming with a smile, Kensington stated, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a lot of these kids!” 

Kensington sees herself in a servant-leadership role, and it is important for her to find ways to do that through the arts by working with community partners. Whether it be tickets for a silent auction or a gift basket, it’s important to HAAA to provide support just as their gracious, individual donors have been to them, stepping up for them year after year. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Kensington asked, “Have you ever done a puzzle that’s the color pink with 1000 pieces? That’s what programming is!” Her role involves booking conferences. Some start at 8am and end at midnight. They involve meeting with agents and managers. They attend artists showcases, which can be part of professional development. It is vital to create relationships with agents because they can give better deals if you are able to work around their tour. These conferences include shows, talking, booking, and figuring out how to bring the best of the best. Then after returning, it’s emailing dozens of agents by saying, “I want my season to look like this, and this is my budget. What do you have?” 

Once she has communicated with the agents, she has to go to the technical director and find out what HAAA can afford with hotels, food, etc. She expressed how all of these puzzle pieces have to fit to make it work. Then you have to start over. “It’s a lot of conversations and talking to people. It can be disappointing when you think you have it figured out, and then an agent calls back and asks to switch the date. It’s a 12,000 step process she said, but it is so worth it once it comes together! 

The Next 30 Years

“We are fresh and ever-evolving. We are going to get programming in here where we can get out into the schools and find ways to make a difference in the community. I want those numbers to build up because people can’t wait to see what we have to offer.” Kensington expressed how Henderson is a well-rounded and diverse community. I think it really matters to know that anybody can come here and feel artistically at home and welcome.” Laughing she said, “I don’t want you to cross that money saving bridge. I want you to stay here in this amazing town.” 

An enormous challenge is climbing back financially from Covid. This year – they are hitting the ground hard for all of their corporate sponsorships and grants. “This is our year of financial stability,” Kensington stated as she spoke of how hard HAAA and all the arts were hit during Covid. HAAA lost 12 to 18 months of funding during and post-Covid. Many arts organizations are still in the process of closing because they can’t get their foothold anymore. Prices have gone up on everything, and everyone is suffering from it. 

“We are working so hard to bring the highest quality of arts here. It is so important to us to bring in world class performances because we want to keep the arts here, and we want to keep the arts affordable. We also want Henderson to know we are listening. If there is a kind of show you want to see, we want you to tell us that. We want to know, and we want to serve everybody. I hope that they will be involved with us because we can’t function without community support. Being here really feels like home. And gosh, Henderson is amazing. This community is beautiful and embracing. Everybody wants to help everybody. I am finding that at every turn.” 

For questions about this upcoming season or to learn ways you can get involved with HAAA, you may contact Kensington at 270-831-9659 or kensington.eck@haaa.org.