Lifelong West Side resident Sharon Morgan has worked tirelessly in the Austin community, helping to educate its youth.
Her career began as a parish administrator for the since-closed Our Lady Help of Christians Parish before working with the Christian Brothers of De LaSalle to open their second San Miguel School’s Gary Comer Campus on Leamington and Chicago Avenue in the Austin neighborhood in 2001.
In 2006 Morgan began a long tenure with the Catalyst Schools Network, starting as a Community Outreach Coordinator and going on to help open Catalyst Howland School in North Lawndale and Catalyst Circle Rock, a campus partner to Circle Urban Ministries and Rock Church in her beloved Austin neighborhood. While at Circle Rock, Morgan began a Graduate Support Program which assisted 8th graders and their parents in navigating the high school application process. She was also instrumental in launching the Renaissance Fine Arts program with weekly in-school arts programming with the community and not-for-profit organizational partnerships.
Other endeavors Sharon holds close to the heart include serving on the Board of Directors for Austin Coming Together, the Towers of Excellence Foundation, and helping create the Sistema Ravinia, a student orchestra that the Ravinia Women’s Group funds.
Her latest endeavor has been helping to conceptualize and restore the Kehrein Center for the Arts, a state-of-the-art facility in the Austin neighborhood that seats nearly a thousand people. In addition, she is responsible for working with not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in the space that has hosted various plays, productions, musicals, dance, and more since its opening in 2019.
N’DIGO recently sat down with the native West Sider to talk about serving others, the importance of art in schools, and all things Kehrein Center for the Arts.
N’DIGO: In your own words, who is Sharon Morgan?
Sharon Morgan: I, Sharon Morgan, am a Black woman who has always wanted our black children to have the same advantages as any other race. Knowing that education is the key, I have endeavored to do my best to level the playing field.
Did you always know that you wanted to work in service of others?
I grew up an only child, so I was a lonely child who knew that being with others brought me comfort. So I gravitated to my relative’s homes with children and always helped them as a way of fitting in because of my shyness.
Please tell our readers about the Kehrein Center for the Arts.
The Kehrein Center for the Arts is a home for storytelling by our community, which can be told through the arts of music, dance, theater, and spoken word. It is where a novice can spread their wings and a professional can educate.
Can you talk a little about the space itself and its history?
The Kehrein Center is in a building built in 1930 to house a Catholic all-girls high school in the Austin neighborhood. The Siena High School was closed in 1973. The building then housed the Austin High School freshmen for two years and afterward stood empty until Catalyst Schools opened a charter school in 2006. A $5 million renovation restored the space that now seats 850 people and has theatrical lighting, audio-visual systems and acoustical panels, and a two-story lobby with a hanging catwalk. All event spaces are wheelchair accessible.
What has the reception to the space been like in the neighborhood, and what has it meant to the Austin community?
The neighborhood is very appreciative of our new theater. Everyone who comes in the first time their mouths drop open, as it’s such a beautiful space in a neighborhood with daily challenges. They are very proud that this space is just steps away from their homes.
What are some of your day-to-day duties with the Center?
My day-to-day duties include welcoming potential clients to our space and showing them the spaces that they can rent. I am responsible for sitting down with clients and talking over their plans for production and guiding them through the process from start to finish. I answer queries on emails and telephone calls and put them in touch with the staff members that I work with to ensure that their production will be a success.
Please share your thoughts on the importance of making sure we keep the arts in the budgets of our schools.
Fine Arts are so important in our schools, and I am so proud that Circle Rock Charter School has made this a priority in their budget every year. Fine Arts help to make a child a well-rounded student that will go beyond the academic curriculum.
What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?
People would be surprised that I am a shy person by nature. So I chose community outreach to make myself meet and greet people and stand in the corner by myself.
Best advice or words of wisdom to the youth?
To the youth of the world, I say, don’t limit yourself. Instead, try new things and experience things outside of your neighborhood or family circle.
Favorite quote or affirmation?
My favorite affirmation is “never block your blessings.” I don’t know where it came from, but it means ”don’t be afraid to try.”
What’s next for Sharon Morgan and the Kehrein Center for the Arts?
I want to be a part of making the Kehrein Center for the Arts the showpiece of the Austin Community. A place where a student of the art can realize their dream of either producing, directing, or starring in a body of work that will go down in history.
For more information on the Kehrein Center for the Arts, please visit www.kehreincenter.com.
