By ALLEN LAMAN
alaman@dcherald.com

Conway.

JASPER — Bryce Conway does it for the fun. He always has.

Acting in the theater productions as a boy, singing in the choirs and operas in college and later passing on his talents to a new generation — the 27-year-old man’s passion for the arts runs deep.

Later this month, Conway will bring that drive to Jasper’s arts department when he begins working as the group’s event coordinator.

“Really, probably about 75% of my life has been something that you could say is arts-related,” Conway said. “And I like to do a little bit of it all.”

Beginning Monday, Aug. 17, the Brownsburg native — who comes to Jasper from Marion — will be responsible for assisting with planning and executing special events, including arts festivals, special performances, film screenings, community events, trade shows, conferences, weddings, receptions and more for the local organization.

“I’m very excited to join such a thriving community that shows great support for its arts programs,” Conway said in a press release. “I look forward to meeting so many new people and working together to provide amazing events for the community.”

His passion for the arts comes from a longtime involvement in them. Conway discovered the stage as a boy through plays and musicals, and he branched beyond school performances to amateur and semi-professional theater work that would guide his career path.

He studied music education at Ball State University in Muncie. While there, Conway worked at Sursa Performance Hall, where he scheduled and worked backstage at fine arts department events.

For the past four years, he has taught choir and other music classes at Marion High School. After Conway and his wife — Jasper native Kate (Letterman) — welcomed their now 6-month-old daughter, Josephine, into the world, the couple decided they wanted to move to be near family — and then the events coordinator job opened up.

Conway replaces Corina Mack, who had previously held the coordinator position for a decade. He doesn’t want to rock the boat, but he hopes to bring new ideas and an outside perspective to the position.

“When I do a job in the arts field, I don’t feel like it’s a job,” the incoming coordinator said. “I feel like I’m just having fun and doing things that interest me and I always enjoy it. So, that’s kind of my motivation there.”

We might not all be star artists. But people should be able to explore their passions outside of their 9-5 jobs, Conway said. He believes community arts offer them outlets to do just that.

“I think everybody has some kind of passion for the arts,” Conway said. “Even if that’s just like watching movies and TV, or listening to music. And I know lots of people love to sing and play instruments and do artwork of some kind. So I think it’s important that people have that kind of outlet at some point in their life.”