Sue Symons will lead the Coupeville Arts Center into its 20th year of offering classes to talented students.

She took the helm of the nonprofit arts school in October. Now she’s ready to work with the board of directors to chart a successful future for the center.

“I want to make this school nationally known,” she said.

The center has lacked an executive director since 2001.

Margaret Livermore, the center’s treasurer and one of its founders, is thankful such a talented person decided to move to Coupeville.

“Sue is a fabulous director. She’s well organized and has a great history in business,” Livermore said.

For 20 years, Symons ran a marketing and consulting firm in Georgia, and for another seven years she ran a marketing and management consulting firm in Montana. She also served as Strategic Leader for the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, Mont., doubled its membership, established an art acquisition fund and created a strategic vision for the museum’s growth.

These accomplishments dovetail into her new role. She’ll apply for grants and pursue other funding. Ideally, she wants three big fund-raising events per year.

Her first event, the annual Taste of Coupeville, is coming Dec. 10.

But in September 2006, the center will host the first annual Plein Air U.S. Open. This three-day event will bring artists from across the country to paint outdoors on Whidbey Island. It will include a competion and prize money, gala dinner, plus a sale to benefit the center.

In 2007, an art auction may be added to the lineup of money makers.

Keeping a watchful eye on spending is also important. The center is almost in the black, recovering from earlier financial problems.

Livermore said the budget for 2006 will run about $240,000, modest in comparison to early expansionist years when the operating budget hovered around $750,000.

Livermore said current operation levels are about the right scale. This year about 800 students took classes through the center, with a modest increase expected in 2006. By 2007, plans call for accommodating 1,000 students.

Symons wants to attract students in the off-season, as it helps pump tourism dollars into the local economy. And developing an arts museum or gallery at the center to showcase students’ work could be another attraction for visitors.

“It’s good for the whole island,” she said.

Since 2001, a group of board members divided up the executive director’s job, while dedicated staff kept the center running smoothly.

“The staff did incredibly well,” Symons said.

They are Randy Emmons, Bev McQuary, Otto Schwartz and Irene Turner.

Life on Whidbey Island suits the Symons family.

Symons and her husband James Moore, an accomplished artist, moved to Whidbey in 2003. He prefers painting outdoors and the weather in Montana was too limiting. He paints maritime scenes, architecture and other landscape subjects. He also paints still life. His style is impressionistic.

The Symons’ enjoy the island’s military overtones. Both of their fathers were Navy captains.

Sue Symons is passionate about horses, so they chose a home site on Crockett Lake that provides pasture. Her home also is close to the Whidbey Equestrian Center, so she transports her horse to the center for training in dressage.

Symons said the arts center will win national recognition if it offers continuing education for professional artists and for talented amateurs.

“We need great instructors who attract great students. Then the center will support itself and the community will support building an endowment fund,” she said.