When Rowan Coates talks about arts and culture, she doesn’t start with ticket sales or headliners. She starts with a feeling.

“In Murray, arts and culture should feel like home,” she said. “You should feel comfortable with arts and culture. Arts and culture is meant for everybody. We don’t want to leave anybody out.”

Coates, who stepped into her new role in September, now leads Murray’s Cultural Arts division at a time of major transition and opportunity. With the city’s historic museum, theater and surrounding civic spaces all evolving, she sees her job as both caretaker and builder — preserving what works while thoughtfully expanding who gets to participate.

From museum roots to citywide stage

Coates’ path to leading Murray’s cultural programming began in a quieter corner of the arts world: the museum.

“I’ve been with the city since I was our part-time museum assistant,” she said. She later became full time as museum curator and events coordinator, gradually taking on more cultural programming before applying for the top job when the position opened. “It was a position that I had never seen myself in, but now that I’m here I can’t imagine doing anything super different.”

New Murray Cultural Arts Manager Rowan Coates goes over her year’s slate of activities. (Shaun Delliskave/City Journals)

Her academic background — a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Puget Sound — paired naturally with Murray’s deep pride in its past. She spent her early years with the city focused almost entirely on the museum, a grounding she believes still shapes how she approaches cultural work today.

“With my history background and being that the first truly three years that I worked with the city, that’s all I did was the museum,” she said. “I think it’s important to preserve what we can.”

Working inside the historic mansion that houses the museum has reinforced that mission. “This was a gem, the mansion that we were able to preserve,” Coates said. “We were so fortunate that it was kept in pretty decent condition considering how old it is….This gives people a place to come see that history.”

A restructured arts landscape

This year also marks a structural shift for Murray’s arts programs. The theater and cultural arts are now separate divisions, with Coates serving as cultural arts manager and a close partner to the theater’s leadership.

“We still run the amphitheater,” she explained. “But I work very closely with Katie (Lindquist). So I do a lot of the logistics for the plays at the theater. And she’s helping me book the bands at the amphitheater. So we’re still working really closely together. We’re just separate division heads.”

Under Coates’ umbrella fall arts education programs, city events, Fun Days, the amphitheater and support for local groups such as the symphony and concert band. It’s a wide-ranging portfolio, and after a year that saw multiple buildings open or reopen, she’s focused first on strengthening the foundation.

“With the last year and with the museum opening and the theater opening…some of our programming has fallen a little bit to the wayside because we’ve opened three buildings in a year,” she said. “This year we’re really wanting to make sure that our programming is up to the quality that we want it to be.”

Filling the gaps — especially for teens

One of Coates’ biggest priorities is reaching residents who have not traditionally been the focus of city arts offerings.

“In the past, the arts and cultural world in Murray has really touched on elementary school kids and the older generations,” she said. “But the teens…haven’t had maybe the recognition and that’s a large demographic. And so we really want to make sure that we’re giving opportunities to the teens that live in Murray.”

That includes launching a new drama camp for teenagers this summer to complement existing programs for younger children. It’s part of a broader strategy she describes as “filling a gap.”

“If we’re going to be putting in something new, I’d like it to fill a gap that we’ve identified,” Coates said. “What are people telling us that they actually want?”

New Murray Cultural Arts Manager Rowan Coates in the Murray Mansion parlor. (Shaun Delliskave/City Journals)

Balancing tradition and new voices

Murray residents are famously vocal about what they like — and don’t like — in arts programming. Coates knows she won’t make everyone happy, but she sees value in listening closely.

“Murray is a very passionate city full of citizens who care very deeply about what the city puts on,” she said. “You’re never going to please everybody…and you just have to do your best.”

At the amphitheater, that balancing act is especially visible, as tribute bands continue to draw large crowds while some residents call for more original or local acts. Coates hopes to gather more feedback directly from audiences and shape future seasons accordingly.

“We love hearing input,” she said. “Probably this September we’ll start kind of getting ideas from people for next September….What do the people who actually come want to see?”

Big ideas: history and handmade art

Asked what she would launch if given a “magic wand,” Coates’ ideas circle back to both history and local creativity.

One dream project is expanding the popular cemetery tours currently offered to schoolchildren into an immersive experience for adults, potentially involving student performers portraying figures from Murray’s past. “I think that would be so fun,” she said.

She also envisions more opportunities for local artists to showcase their work. “Murray’s got so many artists that just want to be seen,” Coates said. “If we could find a way to show off more of Murray’s artists, I think that would be amazing.”

Measuring success beyond numbers

While attendance figures and participation rates matter, Coates is quick to say they don’t tell the whole story.

“We want to make sure people are learning something new,” she said. “We want to make sure that the students that we’re giving a program to are learning confidence and things like that. Soft skills. We’re very soft-skills focused.”

Those outcomes can be harder to quantify, but to Coates, they are at the heart of what cultural arts should do: give people a place to express themselves, connect and feel like they belong.

Her vision for Murray’s cultural future isn’t built on one blockbuster event or a single headline act. It’s built on something quieter and more enduring.

“Arts and culture is meant for everybody,” she said again. “And in my mind, that is home and comfortability.”