Fred Wong - Lynnwood's loss is Shoreline - LFP's gain

Nancy Frey

The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council Board of Directors invites the community to a reception in honor of retiring Executive Director Nancy Frey and new Executive Director Fred Wong.

The reception will be held Wednesday, December 7, 2011 from 6 to 7 pm, in the Alumni Room at the south end of the Shoreline Center. 18560 1st Ave NE, Shoreline. 

The public is invited to attend.

Nancy Frey has been the Executive Director for five years. She replaced the original director, Ros Bird, who retired briefly before being recruited to a part-time job as arts coordinator for the Shoreline Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services department.

Nancy kept the Arts Council on a solid footing financially and in the hearts of the community, continuing and expanding the Shoreline Arts Festival, and opening a new gallery in LFP Towne Centre while expanding the Shoreline gallery in City Hall.

In 2007 she instituted an annual Poetry Month Celebration funded by Humanities Washington.

See our previous story.

Fred Wong

In the meantime, Lynnwood, faced with severe budget shortages, chose to fund police services and defund the arts. This left their esteemed arts director, Fred Wong, available just as Nancy was retiring.

This was good news for Shoreline-LFP, which gained an innovative and energetic Arts Director, but the final straw for the Lynnwood Arts Commission. According to our News Partner Mike Murphy in Lynnwood Today, four of the seven arts commissioners resigned in protest when Fred left Lynnwood.

See Mike's complete story.