Meet Jordan Knepper | Executive Director & Role Model for two amazing kids

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jordan Knepper and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jordan, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?

When you start as a single, unmarried executive director at right around thirty years old, you hear people talk about work life balance, but in that situation, who needs time for a life?

It wasn’t until about 5 years in that I felt burnout that I started to realize that work life balance was, and I needed to reevaluate how I was managing my time and the organization. These two absolutely amazing kids had some into my life. I wasn’t dating their mother, but she was one of my best friends in high school and we had reconnected about the time I started the job. Since I didn’t have kids of my own and she was a single mom, the kids became one of my biggest priorities. Five years into the job, they were 13 and 16. They needed help getting to and from school. They needed help with driving lessons and support during cheerleading, soccer, and track and field. They needed more people in their corner for band and choir concerts.

Their mom is amazing. Every day I’m thankful for our friendship and how it brought the kids into my life. But it also opened my eyes that I needed to look at my job a little differently. I’m sure there are people out there that will disagree with me, but my job pays me for a certain number of hours of my day. This is an exchange that I willingly agree to, but until this point, had allowed my job to abuse. I had to pull back at work. I had to demand more help or less programming. I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I found something in my life that needed those other hours.

Since those days, which are now five years in the past, both of the kids have graduated high school One is in the workforce with a daughter of his own, and the other is attending college and regularly on the honors list. I don’t miss many things that happen in their lives. Work will be there tomorrow, work will replace me if I leave, but their lives happen, and I have to be there for the events that matter.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

Rural Ohio isn’t always a Mecca for the arts. Some would even say that it is devoid of many art opportunities. They’re wrong.

The arts aren’t always the same in small towns as they are in the big cities. Obviously, we don’t have a contemporary art museum and we don’t have a nationally award-winning dance company like our neighbors to the south. That doesn’t mean that we can’t utilize the resources we have, build on the principles established by cities, and apply those ideas to our communities.

So, what’s the brand? I’m a creator of opportunity that specializes in the creative economy in rural environments. Using the arts, I attempt to create change in rural communities that unites and uplifts them. Whether it is a creative placemaking initiative that has already resulted in more than $20M in private investment in the community, with more to come. Or it is working on creating a home for the arts that also restores and preserves a piece of history in our downtown, the brand is about creating opportunity for the arts and artists.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We regularly have people in from out of town for workshops. Nationally recognized artists come to Piqua to teach, and we entertain them.

We never miss a chance to dine at 3 Joe’s in Piqua. The business features some of the best Italian food in the region and has been a family-owned operation for longer than I have been in town.

After that, we’ll probably stop in at Studio 446. Dennis Walker is a local creative that happens to own and operate a glass blowing studio. Taking artists outside of their comfort zone is always a great time and having them try their hands at new mediums. Dennis is a fantastic teacher and he guides you through the entire process ensuring the end result is something participants are proud to display.

If we have time, we will head south and see some friends in the art world. David Wion isn’t only the director of the Hayner Cultural Center in Troy, but he’s also an extremely accomplished pianist. The Dayton Art Institute is a fantastic opportunity to learn about art and art history. I’ve taken various artists through there over the years and listened to what they’ve had to share about the collection. Of course, a stop at Front Street Studios and a visit with Mike Elsass is a must. Nationally recognized for his abstract paintings on rusted steel, Mike is a shining gem in the Gem City.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I can never shout out my father enough. Over the years, I watched him do some of the most amazing things in life. He continues to achieve at the top of his profession of choice and because of him, I subscribe to the philosophy that “anything is possible, you just have to decide if you’re going to work hard enough to get it.”

Recently, he was inducted into his High School’s Hall of Fame for his contributions through his professional career. A career that spans multiple decades as an arts educator and now as a full-time professional artist. His work is shown in museums across the country, in the homes of some of the wealthiest people in the country and in the offices at one of the leading manufacturers of robotics and AI in the country.

We recently had a conversation about how I feel like I’m still behind (he has 20 years on me) and I named off several of his accomplishments from when I was in grade school, artist in residence experiences he brought students, organizing a student magic show that was presented for all of the Gifted and Talented Teachers in the State of Ohio, filming a guide to hand drawn animation techniques, in the same studio Gerald Ford gave presidential addresses from, that was used by teachers across the country and he did all of that before he was my current age (most of it before he was close to my age).

I genuinely believe I get my drive to do something bigger from him and the belief that it is possible.

Website: https://piquaartscouncil.org : https://www.conundrumsolutions.org

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