All Pawtucket All The Time

Historic Landmark Enters New Phase with New, Re-energized Board Pawtucket, RI (October 6, 2008) — Yvonne Seggerman has accepted the position of executive director of the Pawtucket Armory Association (PAA), according to PAA Board President Coline Covington. Seggerman has been managing director of The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) since February 2003 and is now executive director of both Pawtucket Armory Association and The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre. The Pawtucket Armory located at 172 Exchange St. is home to The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre and Jacqueline M. Walsh School for Performing and Visual Arts.

Seggerman is a native of Los Angeles, CA and currently lives in Cumberland, RI. She began her career as a professional dancer and choreographer in New York City in the 1980’s. As managing director of The Gamm, she supervised the non-profit theater’s 600% budget growth over four seasons, with balanced operating results. She also managed the company’s five-year strategic plan which facilitated its transition into a fully professional company with Actors Equity Association, the union that governs professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Under her watch, membership at The Gamm grew from 94 subscribers to over 1850 subscribers in five seasons.

Seggerman spent seven seasons as director of sales and marketing for Trinity Repertory Company, a world renowned regional resident theater company, working under then-Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, from 1995- 2002. She also worked as director of development for WaterFire Providence. Seggerman serves on the board of the Arts and Business Council of Rhode Island and as vice president for RI Citizens for the Arts. She is a graduate of the 2004 Omega Class of Leadership RI and is the state captain for Rhode Island for Americans for the Arts.

Seggerman will be working very closely with Gamm Artistic Director Tony Estrella and Jacqueline M. Walsh School Principal John Haidemenos to create the cultural plan that will become the blueprint for Pawtucket Armory activity in future years. The Pawtucket Armory Association is the legal entity that owns and is renovating the 40,000-square-foot building into a professional arts complex. The PAA is joining forces with The Gamm to complete the final phase of the project by transforming the majestic 11,000-square-foot drill hall into a 340-seat theater. Strategic planning, including a sustainable business plan and market research, is underway.

Infused with talented new board members, The PAA is preparing for a major capital campaign. New PAA Board President Covington says, “We are pleased to be entering this new phase. The PAA has had tremendous success in arranging for the sale of historic tax credits and raising government grants and we are preparing for the next step forward. Having worked with Seggerman over the last six years at The Gamm, I feel strongly that she is the right person at the right time for our organization. Her ties to the community, affinity for The Gamm and proven management and fundraising successes have made our board very pleased to bring her on as executive director of this ambitious project.”

PAA Executive Director Seggerman says she is “very happy to step into this extraordinary opportunity. The Gamm has been the cornerstone organization in Pawtucket’s rebirth and the final phase of the drill hall renovation is key to the economic development and arts education growth that the City needs. We are planning for audiences for cultural events at the armory to grow from about 36,000 to 80,000 in the first season alone. We feel that this is a great thing for the City and that we are fulfilling The Gamm Theatre’s original mission of moving from Providence to Pawtucket, as well as offering a great space for other performing groups.”

Gamm Artistic Director Estrella says, “The Gamm plans on using the drill hall theater probably about 30% in the first season, allowing for plenty of time for the Walsh School and outside arts companies to take advantage of this resource in keeping with the PAA’s vision. We are thinking about how this building will become a community asset, and bring life and joy to the City 30 years from now, long after we have all moved on. We have a long vision.”

• New PAA board members as of July 2008 are:
• Coline Covington, President Providence, RI
• Former Editor in Chief, Conde Nast Publications
• Samuel F. Babbitt, Vice President Providence, RI Retired Vice President, Development, Brown University
• Robert Martin, Treasurer Pawtucket, RI
• Director of Finance, Tockwotton Home
• Leon Boghossian III, Secretary & Development Committee Chair Pawtucket, RI
• Partner, Hinckley Allen and Snyder Luz Bravo-Gleicher, Strategic Planning Committee Chair Providence, RI and Becket, MA
• Retired Michael Cassidy Pawtucket, RI Director, Pawtucket Department of Planning and Redevelopment
• Eliza Greene Chace Collins, Marketing Committee Chair Providence, RI
• Writer and Editor Jan Faust Dane Pawtucket, RI
• Writer and PR consultant Anthony Estrella Providence, RI
• Artistic Director, The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre Kenric Pettis Lincoln, RI
• Assistant Vice President, Amica Mutual Insurance Company Dr. Albert Scheiner, Human Resources Committee Chair Providence, RI
• Developmental Pediatrician Yvonne Seggerman Cumberland, RI
• Executive Director, Pawtucket Armory Association Kathleen Swann, PhD, Committee on Directors Chair West Greenwich, RI
• President and CEO, Leadership RI Peter Troy, Building Committee Chair Seekonk, MA
• Principal, Troy, Pires and Allen Insurance, LLC About the Pawtucket Armory Association

The mission of the Pawtucket Armory Association (PAA), founded in 2002, is the rehabilitation and management of the historic Pawtucket National Guard Armory on Exchange Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The continuing rehabilitation, started in 2002, will see the conversion of the Armory into an active and vibrant center for the arts. This center will be administrated by the PAA to provide market and/or below market-value rental space for its current tenants, as well as many potential new users for a variety of performing arts, cultural and educational activities