No one can call her pretentious as she sits in her office surrounded by scattered packets of videotapes, compacts discs, photographs and open cans of Canada Dry.
But it seems everyone is trying to get Margaret Lawrence's attention these days since she started her role at Dartmouth as the new programming director of the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts.
She said while to many people working with the arts "sounds really glamorous," much of the time she spends sorting through mail from artists vying for coveted places in the Hopkins Center's events.
Lawrence is responsible for coordinating the artistic programming at the Hopkins Center. She is currently planning events spanning a wide range of the arts.
She officially began her position last December 1, filling in a spot vacated by Norman Frisch when he resigned last January.
"It will be a nice blend of different genres," she said. "That range won't change as markedly."
Lawrence said some aspects of the Hopkins Center's programming will remain the same and include ethnic-related programs, musical events, classical and modern dance and family events.
"The challenge for me now is to get a good season in place ... there will be a lot of opportunities for outreach by these artists -- lots of collaborative efforts," she said.
But Lawrence does not intend to merely recycle and dish out events which have no connection to the community in her vision for her new post -- to enact "a mandate to unite a passion for the arts."
"My style was that the Hop can be a resource for students as well as individuals, organizations, campus organizations, the community and the faculty," she added.
When asked how she is adjusting to life here in the Upper Valley, Lawrence commented on the constant amazement she feels "enjoying the sense of history" and living in about a 200-year old house in Thetford, Vt. -- on the "crossroads on a hill"
But she has come a long way since making her trek out East. Much of Lawrence's experiences in her home states of California and Oregon have developed her commitment and expertise in the arts.
Born, raised and educated in California, she said she was able to experience a "culturally and geographically diverse" region.
Of the University of California at Berkeley, Lawrence said her alma mater was "a fascinating place to be, intensely diverse, intensely political ... and a time to be exposed to performances."
At Berkeley, she fostered her appreciation in the arts by being active in music groups and playing the piano and the violin. She also began running a student committee and gained an understanding of arts administration there.
After graduation, Lawrence had dreams of traveling in Europe for several months but as fate would have it, she was surprised to land a strong job as associate director of programming at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon.
Her experiences in forming collaborative artistic events among diverse constituencies such as public school kids, senior citizens and other grass-roots organizations prepared her for the new task of working at Dartmouth.
Dartmouth and the Hanover area is definitely a sort of a "cultural center," she said. The variety and profusion of events at the Hop such as the dramatic productions show that "the quality that is here and the amount is really amazing."
She said while there may be a more diverse and greater number of artistic events elsewhere, Dartmouth is well advanced as a college campus.
While Lawrence has only been at the College for about a month and during interim, she said she has extremely positive impressions of the Dartmouth community.
She said the students at Dartmouth are "first rate ... they're very sharp and have good ideas. There's a lot of creativity here."
She wanted to remind students to expose themselves to many forms of art while they are still in school "when you can afford it."
And as the woman from out West embarks on her new journey in the East, Lawrence will provide the Dartmouth community with the product of her diverse experiences.
"It's an exciting experience being here," she said.
