Sullivan earns promotion; will continue as manager of Solon Center for the Arts – cleveland.com

SOLON, Ohio -- Tracy Sullivan has worked 29 years for the city, but she had never been a director -- until now.

On Monday (April 6), City Council confirmed Mayor Ed Kraus appointment of Sullivan to the newly created position of director of community and cultural enrichment.

She also will continue in her role as manager of the Solon Center for the Arts, a position she has held since December 2014.

Sullivans salary is $79,000, plus 5 percent for longevity in service to the city, according to Nancy Stolarsky, the citys director of human resources.

For years, Tracy has managed the Solon Center for the Arts, but under the recreation department, Kraus said. Now this elevates the position to a directors level.

Kraus said the Solon Center for the Arts is returning to a stand-alone entity -- a status it held in the past -- as opposed to being under the umbrella of the recreation department.

The arts center is just bursting at the seams, and Tracy has been instrumental in the growth of the center, Kraus said. Our programming in terms of music, dance and art has been outstanding throughout the years under Tracys leadership.

Arts and culture is such a critical component to a community. This deserves to be a high-level director position.

Sullivan, a 1993 graduate of Solon High School who lives in the city, said shes excited about the promotion.

Its our chance to keep developing the arts center and branching out to some new programming and offerings for the community, she said.

For her entire career -- including 22 years as a full-time employee -- Sullivan has worked under Donald Holub, who retired March 31 after 31 years as the citys director of recreation.

She said in addition to continuing to oversee the arts center, she anticipates shell be working hand in hand with the recreation department, as well.

Sullivan served as a program coordinator at the Solon Community Center from 1997 until she was named manager of the arts center. In that role, she managed the citys summer camp, co-coordinated the Solon Home Days festival and supervised the after-school program, among other duties.

I still help out with programs at the Solon Community Center, even though Im no longer a program coordinator, she said. I still do Home Days and Fall Fest (the citys fall festival) and help with the summer camp.

Sullivan, 44, got her start with the city at age 15, working in concessions at the Solon Community Park and the outdoor swimming pool in 1991. She went on to work at the summer camp as a camp counselor and eventually as camp director.

I fell in love with the job and ended up changing my (college) major to the recreation field, said Sullivan, noting that she earned a bachelors degree in leisure service management from Kent State University in 1997.

It was perfect timing, because a spot opened up as a programmer (at the Solon Community Center), and I was hired as program coordinator for youth programs with the (recreation) department in 1997.

Sullivan said dealing with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for the Solon Center for the Arts. As a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, the arts center has been closed since March 14, along with the Solon Community Center and the Solon Senior Center.

We have gone virtual with a lot of our programming, she said, and we continue to keep adding weekly, turning more programs into virtual offerings for students and families.

Sullivan said the arts center offers a wide range of programs, mostly geared toward youth.

We offer a lot of things that the kids love, like dance and music, she said. But one of our goals is to continue to offer more programs and classes for adults and families and also seniors.

The arts are just a special thing, and its important to offer arts to a community, especially one like ours that is so culturally diverse.

Another goal for Sullivan in her new position is to increase community awareness of the arts center, to let everybody know were here and this is what we offer.

Some people in Solon might not even be aware that we exist, she said. We work side by side with the (recreation) department in a lot of community events, and I would like to continue that.

A Cleveland native, Sullivan grew up in Twinsburg and Solon. She and her husband, Dan, moved to Solon from Lakewood six years ago with their daughter, Mackenzie, 6.

Clearly, the Solon Schools were a big reason why I pushed to move back to Solon, she said. I wanted my daughter to have the same experience I had growing up -- the parks, the offerings of the (recreation) department, the summer camp.

Sullivan noted that her parents, Denise and Ken Hejduk, are both Solon High School graduates and still live in Solon.

My family is here, and Solon is still my hometown, she said. The community, the diversity, the schools -- all of it is important.

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Sullivan earns promotion; will continue as manager of Solon Center for the Arts - cleveland.com