ABOVE: Blake Potthoff, executive director of the Fairmont Opera House, has recently celebrated his 7th year in the position.

FAIRMONT- December 16 began Blake Potthoff’s seventh year as executive director at the Fairmont Opera House.

For Potthoff the opportunity to work in his role was an unexpected chance to work in the arts while staying close to home. Over the course of his tenure he said he’s worked on nearly two hundred performances and met thousands of artists and agents.

“It’s mind boggling to think that a kid that grew up on a farm here locally can have that type of impact. It’s something I’ve never dreamed of,” said Potthoff.

Potthoff originally planned to work on his family farm with his brother, but after receiving encouragement from his father, studied Vocal Performance Opera at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Before graduating he had planned to become a music teacher but after completing college he worked with a youth mentoring program and worked in radio sales for Lakes FM.

While Potthoff had been involved in community theater for more than a decade, his professional experiences with the Fairmont Opera House began after a board member asked him to help unload props for a magic show in January of 2016.

“That night I talked to the previous Executive Director, Dr. Jonas Nissen. We talked until 2 or 3 in the morning about the opera house, what goes on here, and what the impact could be in the community and he hired me as stage manager that night,” said Potthoff.

Over the course of his first year Potthoff transitioned from stage manager to technical director before becoming Interim Executive Director after Nissen was hired as a high school teacher by Fairmont Area Schools. Potthoff held the position of interim director from August to December of 2016 when he was brought on full time at the end of that year.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in his fourth year at the Fairmont Opera House brought with it a series of unexpected challenges for Pothoff and the opera house. At the time Potthoff was the chair of the Minnesota Presenters Network, an association of several dozen arts organizations across the state, and participated in several conversations centering around how performance arts could continue after the beginning of the pandemic.

Potthoff said he has laid out several goals for the future. He said he’s striving to make the Fairmont Opera House the most prominent arts and culture center in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa by providing better quality performances that remain affordable.

“Really there isn’t a facility our size in (a sixty mile radius) that does what we do,” said Potthoff.

Another of Potthoff’s goals is to make the Fairmont Opera House more accessible for all members of the area community.

“Whatever qualifier you want to put on a person, they deserve to be here, and finding ways to keep including people who might not feel at home here, that’s really important,” said Potthoff.

He also expressed interest in pursuing a building renovation or expansion which could perform much needed essential maintenance on the 122 year old building while ensuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The final major goal Potthoff described was to ensure the opera house’s programming is of interest to the area community.

“I would love if my inbox, our Facebook page, and everything was flooded with ideas for things people wanted to see. Are there bands you saw when you were on vacation in Arizona? Is there a group you listen to on YouTube that you think would be cool to see here? Is there a screening of a show that was produced in England that you want to see here on the stage? … What kind of show do you want to perform in in community theater? Those types of things really make it the community’s facility,” said Potthoff.

While Potthoff continues to be the Fairmont Opera House’s executive director, he also wanted to highlight the importance of community participation in ensuring the current and future success of the opera house and its operations.

“This building was going to be torn down … and it is because of the community that it exists today. It’s because of the community that believed in it then that I have a job now. That is not lost on me. … We are the reason this place is here, so show up, show out, and give your ideas,” said Potthoff.