Giving a warm welcome: Centrum names scholarship program for Port Townsend’s Vander Ven

She says she’s not a writer and has “no artistic ability,” but Carla Vander Ven, 49, has her name on a new scholarship program at Centrum, the nonprofit arts organization in Port Townsend.

“Jordan [Hartt, Centrum program director] asked me what I thought of a scholarship in my name,” she said. “I said I didn’t think I deserved it, but it was very sweet.”

The Centrum board recently agreed to establish a scholarship in her name, a rarity for a living person.

Vander Ven recently ended a 20-year career at Centrum that saw her rise from date entry clerk to assistant director and writers program director.

While she is humble about the scholarship honor, others sing her praise.

Integral part

“[She] was an integral part of the development of Centrum,” Hartt, said. “Her ability to anticipate and take care of the needs of people, both spoken and unspoken, transformed Centrum into the rigorous, yet nurturing community for artists that it remains.”

“Carla had an extraordinary impact on Centrum during her many years with the organization, especially in managing the writing program,” John MacElwee, Centrum executive director, said in a statement.

“We are delighted to honor her service to Centrum with this scholarship, which will be given annually to an aspiring writer, who might not otherwise be able to attend the annual conference.”

While many scholarships are memorials, this one honors a woman who is still very much alive, although no longer working for Centrum.

At least, not directly.

After having worked for Centrum out of the office at Fort Worden State Park for more than 20 years, in 2008 she took over the company that provides housekeeping services at the state park, Port Townsend Hospitality Service.

The job change took her all the way across the parking lot Centrum shares with the park’s laundry facility.

Now, instead of managing the writing program, she nurtures all Centrum participants by making sure they have clean, comfortable accommodations.

“It’s really interesting to be on the other side of things. Now I know why things are done the way they are,” she said.

With nearly 400 rooms, which fill up during the busy season, there’s no space for artists to ask to arrive early or check out late.

There is only a four-hour window between checkout and check-in to clean all those rooms.

“When all of them turn over in those four hours, it’s wild,” she said.

She does it with a staff of 15 cleaners, with a few more added for the summer.

“We work really hard in the summer, so we can get paid all winter,” she said.

Deepens understanding

Her new position deepens her understanding of an organization she has been involved with almost since coming to Port Townsend from Wyoming in 1981 when she was 20.

Shortly after arriving with her husband-to-be, she met a man who would shape the course of her life, Joseph F. Wheeler, founding director of Centrum.

He owned Maestro Burger and gave Vander Ven a job there.

Wheeler died last Nov. 2 at 77, just 10 days after being diagnosed with advanced cancer.

“He was a really awesome guy. He took me under his wing and taught me a lot,” Vander Ven said.

“He always encouraged me to do things that I didn’t think I could do. Whatever I needed, he was there.”

When Vander Ven and her husband moved to Bremerton briefly in the early 1980s, then returned to Port Townsend, Wheeler suggested she work at Centrum.

“‘What about that thing at Fort Worden?’ he said,” she recalled.

She began at Centrum in 1984 with a simple but laborious task: transferring the physical mailing list into a data base — a long way from her final position as assistant director.

“That’s the way Centrum works,” she said. “It sucks you in, and you never leave.”

She has worked in many areas of administration at Centrum, including bookkeeping, managing program contracts, making travel arrangements and booking rooms with the state park, which manages the facilities at Fort Worden.

Own business

Vander Ven also continues to own a sanitation company with her former husband called Good Man Sanitation.

“We used to joke that we covered the artsy and the fartsy,” she said.

The couple had two sons, Nathan, now 23, and Kelly, who died in a car accident outside Sequim in 2004 at 20.

Working with the Centrum “family” helped her through that time as she immersed herself in managing the writing program, meeting and befriending a wide variety of artists.

“I’ve met a lot of really great people. I’ve known some of them for 25 years — we were all pretty young when we started.”

Those artists included bassist John Clayton, now artistic director of the Centrum Jazz Program, pianist George Cables and writers William Stafford and Dorothy Allison.

“What I learned about the truly great artists is that very few are prima-donna type of people. Most famous artists are just regular folks; ‘put your pants on and go to your job’ kind of people,” she told Hartt in an interview.

Hartt, a writer, took over the Writers Program directorship from Vander Ven when she moved on.

Vander Ven said working with the young participants in the youth programs at Centrum was one of her favorite aspects of the job.

“Watching them go from standing there alone when they first arrive to a big tear-fest at the end is a highlight,” she said.

Centrum hosts about 27,000 participants each year, with approximately one-third of those 18 or younger who stay for weeklong workshops in a variety of areas.

Vander Ven said she never considered herself a risk taker, but when the former owner of the hospitality service was retiring, her friends and family encouraged her to make the move.

Encouragement

Joe [Wheeler] and Thatcher Baily [former Centrum executive director)] encouraged me to do it. I put together a bid, thinking I wouldn’t get it, but I did,” she said.

“Then it was, holy crap — what now?”

Her years working with the housing at the park helped to familiarize her with the job in advance.

“I wasn’t going into it cold,” she said.

Her administrative work helped prepare her for the paperwork involved in running the business and working with participants helped her learn to handle employees.

The only problem, “My ‘mom mode’ comes up more than it should. I have to learn to be in ‘boss mode,'” she said.

Vander Ven said taking this job taught her things about herself she didn’t know or wasn’t sure of.

“I learned I can jump off the cliff and not splat,” she said.

_________________

Features Editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com. This article originally appeared in Peninsula Woman magazine on Feb. 28.

More in Life

NAY-Hospicedonation-PHOTO-PDN-240326
Jim’s Cares Monthly Charity named in Port Angeles

The Port Angeles Food Bank was the recipient of Jim’s Cares Monthly… Continue reading

“Sol Duc Solitude” by Kathie Cook of Sequim took first place in the PC Student Art & Digital Art division of the 2024 Tidepools Magazine contest. (Tidepools Magazine)
Tidepools Magazine announces contest winners

The 2024 Tidepools Magazine contest winners in the categories… Continue reading

The Parking Lot Pipers, seen performing at the Sequim Lavender Weekend in 2023, are a modern trio keeping up a historically rich musical art form. (Emily Matthiessen/for Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Bagpipe tradition forms family on Peninsula

Parking Lot Pipers keep Great Highland music marching on

A GROWING CONCERN: Learn your way around the cabbage patch

SINCE I STRAINED the limits last week trying to connect the madness… Continue reading

Deb Pavlich-Boaz and her husband Tony Boaz say strangers stop to feed her horses and it’s endangering their health. They care for aging equines and others with special dietary needs at their home off Old Olympic Highway in Agnew. (Karen Griffiths/for Peninsula Daily News)
HORSEPLAY: Hey, don’t touch the hay. Don’t feed strangers’ horses

“ONE BAD APPLE don’t spoil the whole bunch girl!” Today’s column is… Continue reading

Unity in Olympics program scheduled

Stephen Plummer will present “to health and healing” and… Continue reading

Sunday program set for OUUF

Joseph Bednarik will present “Figure Out Something” at 11… Continue reading

Easter services set for Trinity United Methodist

Trinity United Methodist Church has announced its schedule of services… Continue reading

The Rev. Pam Douglas-Smith.
Unity in Port Townsend planning for Sunday services

The Rev. Pam Douglas-Smith will present “Living Peace” at… Continue reading

ISSUES OF FAITH: Sow the seeds of faith in spring

IS IT TIME to plant sweet peas? I’m hoping so, because I… Continue reading

Vivian Matt's "The Emperor's Choice, the Peony" is among the paintings in Northwind Art's new installation at Jefferson Healthcare Hospital. (Vivian Matt)
New installation brings 40 paintings into Jefferson Healthcare hospital

“Street Music,” “Beach Walk” and “Sweet Cosmos Harmony” are… Continue reading

Easter programs slated at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church has announced its schedule of services… Continue reading