The Rexburg Arts Council received a grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts in August to establish a paid position and help breathe new life into the organization.

Rexburg local Ronalee Flansburg was hired to organize events around the city at locations like the Rexburg Tabernacle on Center Street and the Romance Theatre on Main Street.

“The Arts Council used to be a volunteer committee,” Flansburg said. “But I’ve been hired by the city to run it, so it’s going to be kicked up a notch.”

According to its mission statement, the Arts Council was established almost a decade ago in part to “enhance the visual and performing arts in our community by increasing visibility and awareness of current programming.”

Flansburg has already begun to “increase visibility and awareness” of the arts in Rexburg with productions of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Nutcracker” at the Romance Theatre. She is already making plans for the new year.

“Another new project we have is a Mexican folkdance team called Tradiciones that we’ve started. They’ll perform next month at the Theatre. We also have an orchestra that plays in the Tabernacle,” Flansburg said.

Flansburg is open to new ideas.

“If anyone has ideas for events or wants to do something, they can talk to me and we can figure out if there’s something we can do,” she said.

She can be contacted at ronalee.flansburg@rexburg.org or 208-359-3020 ext. 2481.