LEXINGTON, KY – The Rotary Club of Lexington held its weekly meeting Thursday, February 16, at the Mane on Main, Chase Bank building on Main St. The program’s guest speaker was Nick Covault, Executive Director, Kentucky’s Governnor’s School for the Arts.
This meeting was also be on Zoom. For the Zoom link please email, trafton@rotarylexky.org.
If you would like to have lunch, please contact Jenny@rotarylexky.org to reserve your meal.
Nick Covault is the Executive Director of Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA); he is also the first GSA alumnus to hold the position. A native of LaGrange, KY (Oldham County), Nick exhibited a strong interest in music early in childhood. He was accepted into GSA’s 2002 Vocal Music program, where he experienced the life-changing affirmation of being surrounded by other young people who were just as passionate about the arts as he was. Attending GSA was also the first time he realized he could pursue the arts professionally, and that artists are indeed important and vital members of any community or culture.
Nick attended the University of Kentucky, earning degrees in both Vocal Music Performance and Arts Administration. For the internship credits required by his Arts Administration degree, Nick spent three summers returning to GSA as administrative support, as well as two other summers in the artistic department of Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York. Between college and his early career, Nick spent six years based in Lexington, including jobs with LexArts and UK’s College of Fine Arts.
However, Nick couldn’t stay away from GSA for long. In 2010 he relocated to Louisville to start a full time position as GSA’s Alumni Coordinator. As he settled into his new community and Kentucky Performing Arts (KPA; GSA’s parent institution), he eventually transitioned into the role of Programming & Community Engagement Manager for KPA, where he managed touring artist schedules, designed artist residencies, and navigated the triangular relationship between artists, community members, and theatrical venues. As part of his community building and network expanding initiatives, Nick became a founding Steering Committee Member for the Kentucky Rural Urban Exchange, participated in the Emerging Leader Institute of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and was accepted into the Global Fellowship Program of the International Society for the Performing Arts. He was also listed as one of Business First of Louisville’s 2016 “Forty Under 40” honorees.
Since being announced as GSA’s Executive Director in October 2016, Nick has overseen a period of historic program growth and transition. Nick brokered the transition of GSA’s summer program from the campus of Centre College to the University of Kentucky, where the program is contracted to take place through 2025. Last year, GSA received $2.85 million from the Kentucky Department of Education to double the size of the summer program for three years. In this newly expanded model, GSA is undoubtedly the largest tuition-free arts program of its kind in the entire nation. The program now serves over 500 students each summer, with an ever growing alumni body of nearly 7,500.
Nick now focuses on the future of GSA, including building community support to sustain the expanded program well beyond the three years of the current funding. With a personal and powerful passion for empowering the next generation of creative leadership, he has never been so certain that now is the time to invest in young artists across every corner of the Commonwealth.
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