Ben Ahlvers came to Lawrence in 2004 to “make clay heads for a year” as the Lawrence Arts Center’s inaugural ceramics artist-in-residence, he said. Now, he’s the newly appointed executive director.

But Ahlvers never actually served as an artist-in-residence at the center.

As his graduate program at Ohio University was winding down, Ahlvers was getting no bites from academia job applications. A peer forwarded him an email about a new residency program at the Lawrence Arts Center, in a town he’d never visited, and he decided to pack up his young family — two small children and all — for the unpaid gig. He’d make money teaching classes and get a key to the shiny new downtown facility, which the arts center opened in 2002 after moving out of the Carnegie Building. 

“I was supposed to be that first guy. I never did it,” he said. “… My former colleagues used to introduce me as the first resident. I’m not the first resident.”

A paid opportunity as studio manager opened up a week into his residency, and Ahlvers pounced on the healthier financial opportunity.

Now, Ahlvers has worked under every executive director in LAC history. By 2010, he left the studio manager schtick for an exhibitions director position. Come July 2025, he doubled up his responsibilities as interim executive director. This month, LAC announced that Ahlvers would officially take the helm as executive director.

Ahlvers said he’s steering the ship during a time of “seismic evolution.” Early last year, the center laid off six staff members amid a budget crisis.

His solution is to build a future where the center can be flexible but not fragile.

Ahlvers sat down with Wulfe Wulfemeyer of the Lawrence Times to talk about budget recovery and funding streams, what LAC means to the Lawrence community and growth opportunities for the organization in the years to come. This interview transcript has been edited and condensed.

LT: You’ve been interim director for about seven months, which apparently hasn’t scared you off. Why did you decide to take on the full brunt of the job? 

BEN AHLVERS: It’s not a straight answer. There’s a lot to it. The challenge of the position is intriguing to me. I’ve invested 20-plus years into this place in lots of different capacities. This opportunity seemed unique in and of itself, but also unique in my career. I’ve worked for every executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center that they’ve ever had. I’ve never once applied before for different reasons. Seven months ago when the interim part started, our plan — the board and myself — was to touch base in January-ish, and to talk about how it’s going, both from their vantage point, but also, how am I feeling about what I’m able to contribute? It’s the investment and the challenge and the commitment that I’ve got to the place, all sewn together.

LT: So many organizations have an executive director, and that means something different for each one. What does it mean for you to be executive director, and what is that challenge that you’re up against?

BEN AHLVERS: Challenges. It’s not a big secret that there were financial challenges within the last couple of years at the arts center. The challenge that’s the front burner is a decent amount of regrouping. I’ve worked in this organization at times where the health of the place is such that artists get to take risks. We get to work with and hire and collaborate with artists, which is then reflected in the classrooms, the studios, the stage, et cetera, and it’s pretty unique. Lawrence Arts Center’s a very unique organization within the context of art centers anywhere that I’ve ever been, and I think that’s a real asset.

It’s also the challenge, right? The challenges that are there, I think in part that’s it, like, who are we? What are we for the community? And how do we best do that? And then, how do we grow? How do we get to a position where we’re thriving? All those examples are what I’m looking at on the horizon of where we could be. We are healthier than we were a year and a half ago, for sure, but the world isn’t making it any easier on us.

LT: Let’s talk more about your background. Obviously, you’ve been involved in LAC and have been an artist yourself for many years. Can you tell me about that trajectory?

BEN AHLVERS: My approach to the arts center (as a studio manager) was I looked at this place as, holy shit, this place is big and it’s brand new, and there’s lots of people in here from preschoolers all the way up through adults. There’s something going on here that’s really interesting. And my background in ceramics, I thought there’s something that could maybe happen here. There’s a great clay community in the region, and so why can’t the arts center be a big part of that? And so that was my singular approach when I first started, was ceramics. We wrote grants and overhauled the studio, and we started ceramic symposiums where we had artists coming in from all over the country, and partnered with KU on several things. That’s something I’m proud of.

I was also curating some exhibitions because of my experience and connections within the clay world. I was bringing some of those artists in here to show. That spurred on some of the gallery work that I eventually started doing. This was all on my own time. I asked permission from the then-gallery director. So I have to give credit to a lot of people around here over the years who allowed me to do several different things.

In late ‘09 or early 2010, the exhibitions director retired, and I applied to that position. So then I’ve been running the exhibitions program and that’s been incredibly rewarding. I’ve loved working with artists and helping them present their ideas, from local to international. 

LT: LAC has its fingers in so many pies. You’ve got children coming in here for preschool, you’ve got retired seniors coming in for classes. Is that unique for an organization like LAC and a community of this size?

BEN AHLVERS: Yes. It’s our blessing and it’s our challenge that we’ve got such a diverse range of programs available under one roof. Oftentimes in other cities, there’s performing art centers, there’s ceramic centers, there’s gallery spaces. It’s pretty rare to have everything under one roof. The folks that were involved with starting the arts center in 1974 — fast forward to the late ‘90s, when they had outgrown the Carnegie Building. What a great problem to have, right? There’s so many people that want to utilize this space that we’ve outgrown it. I think the fact that they built this building in this location, right in the middle of downtown, it’s pretty bold. I think downtown is such a dynamic situation that doesn’t really exist anywhere else. I think in some ways we’re kind of a backdrop to Massachusetts Street, but in other ways, we are the destination for a lot of people. 

It’s bold, it’s ambitious and it’s evolved over years, both in types of programs, but like, what does the community want? It’s different than it was 25 years ago, when they opened. Next year, this building will be 25. I just gave a tour where every time we went into one of the studio spaces that we’ve changed physically, like knocked out a wall or something, it’s because there was a need for a certain type of equipment or process that we didn’t have before. So how could an organization think 25 years down the line in terms of what will people be interested in taking? I do know that people will want to create, period. We help provide that platform or that opportunity for people, and that’s no different than 1974. The space and the tools and the output, they’ll always be evolving. I would love to be able to help set this place up in a way that it’s flexible, but it’s not fragile. I think those can exist at the same time.

LT: Earlier you mentioned that you’re asking, “What is LAC for the community?” I’m wondering if you can put words to that. What is LAC to the community? What is the center doing really well that you want to propagate?

BEN AHLVERS: I would start by shining a light on programs that I think are anchors around here. The early childhood program here, preschool, kindergarten. There are hundreds, if not thousands of kids who have gone through that, and I think of that as a cornerstone around here. I think the Summer Youth Theater program is another one. Those conduits for young people, especially, I think are quite unique and special. I think of them as a staple. The dance program, every session there are hundreds of kids that come through here. Not just kids — all sorts of people come through here. It’s not just about volume, but the dance program has been built over decades, and it is of a high quality. I like that range that we have here. 

I love the possibility that an exhibition like (“We Buy White Albums” by Rutherford Chang) can be immediately followed up with the early childhood exhibition or the public school exhibition. Same space, same people helping to facilitate. That’s one thing that I think distinguishes the arts center. We’re not a museum. This is not a knock on museums. You don’t see a lot of public school exhibitions and museums because they have a slightly different mission.

When I first started as exhibitions director, I was like, we’re going to be the biggest and the best contemporary space. And yes, we can have those ambitions, and we also have these ambitions to embrace and foster and help grow those opportunities for younger artists and less experienced artists.

LT: As you brought up, in the past, LAC has struggled with its budget and making expense cuts. How are you thinking about the LAC budget going forward with an eye toward longevity for both the community and the staff?

BEN AHLVERS: The most recent iteration of that was tough. I’ve thought about it as, you know, organizations evolve. This feels more seismic, in a way, than other evolutions.

There’s two lanes here. One is being better and efficient and smarter with the resources that we do have, and resource is not just money, it’s the stuff, and it’s the people that use the stuff to make the thing. Some of that happens in the back office. We’re part of this Bloomberg program (which helps with) sharpening up some of the in-house stuff that doesn’t cost you as much to operate the organization. Coupled with that is the funding ecosystem that is there. We have an incredible base of people in this community that do contribute to the art center financially, (but) in lots of other ways too. The galleries are full of 177 pieces of art that artists donated to the cause. There’s a lot of really generous and supportive people in this town. There are also a lot of organizations in this town that are worthy of support, and we are one.

I think it’s diversifying how we fundraise. And fundraising could be donations, it can be grants, it can be partnerships with either civic entities or other other entities within the region. That’s where I think I’ll be spending a lot of my time, is fostering that. Like any other human relationship, it has to be maintained and built upon. I’m not starting from scratch. There’s 50 years of support, and there are still people involved who were here at the beginning of the Carnegie Building. Pretty cool.

LT: What’s happening around LAC now or on the horizon that you want to highlight for readers?

BEN AHLVERS: We purchased the old Salvation Army building next door and there are lots of ideas on the table, all of which are very elementary, and nothing is jumping out as like, “That’s what we’ll do.” It’s a very unique opportunity, and I feel, again, challenged by it. I feel excited to figure out what this could be. Getting back to the fragility of a place with finances, I look at the potential for that space to be more of a factor within stability. Not that it’s purely just gonna generate money. (If we wanted that) we could turn it into a pickleball court or something.

We’ll have to make some decisions on what we’re going to do with that space in the next couple of years. The conversations are already happening, both internally and externally. I think that space can maybe help us shift a little bit into a more sustainable model.

The silent auction portion of the Lawrence Arts Center’s 2026 Art Auction is open online.

Doors for the live action open at 6 p.m. with the event starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11 at the center, 940 New Hampshire St.

Learn more, view the available pieces and get tickets to the in-person event at this link.

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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