Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Arts Director topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County outlines new arts-and-culture director role; job will sit in tourism with no 2025 budget
Summary
Ulster County’s new director of arts, culture and open spaces will be a tourism-department position that reports to the director of tourism and county executive staff, has no dedicated 2025 operating budget and will pay $72,500 plus benefits, county officials said at a Kingston Arts Commission meeting.
Lisa Berger, director of Walter County Tourism, told the Kingston Arts Commission that the county has posted a new full-time position: director of arts, culture and open spaces.
“The position does not have an assigned budget for 2025,” Berger said. She said the salary is $72,500 a year and that benefits “raise it by another 25,000” in value, and that the county has received 65 applications for the job.
Berger said the role is housed in the tourism department and reports to the director of tourism and county executive leadership, not to the county legislature. That reporting structure, she said, is the source of confusion for some community members who asked how the post would relate to the legislature’s prior work on an arts plan.
Commission members pressed Berger on near-term priorities, staffing and authority. Berger said the county will work with the hired director to set three near-term goals in year one, midterm goals for years two to three and long-term objectives thereafter. She also said the position will not come with assigned support staff beyond existing tourism personnel.
Several commissioners raised questions about how the director would work with open-space stewards and public-works staff on site-specific projects such as art on county-controlled rail-trail property. Berger said some open-space parcels, where the county has use and control, might be appropriate for temporary or interpretive works, but she did not say the county intends to commission large, permanent works from the county operating budget at this time.
Commissioners also asked about an advisory body. Berger confirmed there will be an advisory board but emphasized it is advisory only; the position remains operationally within the executive branch. She urged commissioners to submit additional written comments to county staff after the meeting.
The discussion also covered practical timing: because the county needs budget requests for 2026 by June, Berger said the person hired in the coming months may have limited time to plan a fully developed 2026 budget request. She said the director will need outside cost estimates (for fabrication, site prep, installation and maintenance) to make credible budget requests in future cycles.
The commission agreed to send further input by email and to offer advisory support to the county once a hire is made.
