Del Val

is excited about forming new connections with artists in the region’s international community. “We have this fabulous, growing, new American international community whose art is largely invisible,” she says. “We have access to so many cultures in this community and we aren’t connecting with them. And that’s a mistake. So I would love to think about how we might further connect.”

She’s seen how those connections can transform perspectives firsthand. “I taught at the college level for ten years and I almost only taught freshman English to international students,” she explains. “So my international travel experience is limited, but my understanding and connection to the international community was greatly expanded because I had students from all over the world. And it was just so powerful to have them say, ‘You think this because you’re American. But here’s our perspective. Here’s our culture.’”

Another major priority is the construction of a performing arts center. “We’re way beyond community size to not have one,” says Del Val. “The arts have more than proven their value. We need additional gathering space above and beyond the ability to perform there, but also to host events, to be a community asset.”

She sees a broader, more international perspective and a dedicated performing arts space as necessary steps to attract the next generation of workers who want to live in culturally vibrant cities. She’s also seen how a thriving art scene is a magnet for white collar professionals who are accustomed to diverse cultural options, students considering the Fargo-Moorhead area as a place to continue their studies at the university level, as well as blue collar workers who appreciate the creative outlet. We’re off to a great start, in her opinion. But it’s time to dream big.

“Fargo-Moorhead’s support for the arts ranks not only higher than comparable communities in the country, but higher than the national average,” says Del Val. “So that is good. That’s something to celebrate. My challenge now to the business community is think what more we could be doing with more resources. I had a businessman once say to me, ‘But if I give you more, you’ll just want more.’ And my short answer to that is, ‘Yes.’” And here she breaks out into a wide and winning grin.

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"My grandad was a ND state legislator in the 1960s; my grandma purchased this dress in Bismarck and wore it to the 1963 Governor’s Ball. I first wore it to my Junior Prom and am delighted that it still fits!"

“And my long answer is, I want more for the arts community because when the arts community can do more, it’s a direct asset to the business community,” she says. “So my goal for the business community is just to understand that investing in the arts is not charitable investing in the typical sense of the word, because what they put into us absolutely comes back to them multifold in their ability to grow their own business.”

This passion for her work and this commitment to cultivating connections appears to be hardwired into Del Val’s being. She admits that since her life and her work are so intertwined, it can be difficult to unplug completely. “I might physically leave my office. But it’s very, very rare that I’m not doing email right before bed and getting up way before work and starting up again,” she says with a shrug. “It’s integrated because it’s always been integrated.”

But that doesn’t mean that she’s all work and no play. When asked about what her perfect day would entail, she turns the fanciful question over in her mind, an expert storyteller mulling the possibilities, letting them unfold as she speaks. “Well, let’s assume that we can time travel or we can teleport,” she begins with a conspiratorial smile, before detailing a day that includes a trip to England for cream tea, scones and clotted cream (and maybe reading a little Jane Austen) with her mother. Then it’s off to swim in the warm ocean waters of Hawaii with her husband Mazz Marry and son Quinn, a college senior, orchestra musician and school newspaper editor who will graduate with physics, engineering and mathematics degrees next December.

After zipping back to North Dakota to explore downtown Fargo and do a little shopping for groceries at the market (a simple task Del Val adores), she’d return to a place she loves more than anywhere in the world — the neighborhood where she lives and works.

“Home is just down the street from here,” she says contentedly, gesturing to the leafless trees arching toward the gray morning sky outside her office window. “I brought my son home to a little house in the Hawthorne neighborhood. It’s a great little school district. Everything that has mattered to me has happened in the Hawthorne/Clara Barton neighborhood, including this job.”

She knows exactly how her perfect day would end. “My husband and my son and I would make dinner together,” she says, conjuring up a menu of quinoa, sweet potatoes and salmon for her, a “mostly vegetarian,” and steaks for the men in her life. “And we’d sit out on our back deck at our little table, which is my favorite, most decadent thing to do. I feel like the richest person in the world when we sit on our deck and eat supper together.”

Del Val knows how fortunate she is to be able to integrate her passions and purpose into life — to be able to use the skills she’s acquired over a lifetime to advance a cause she believes in. She remains quietly, profoundly grateful.

“I think I’m a really pretty basic person who just gets to do this really, really fabulous work,” she says. “I always say my theater degree is my most important degree. Because what you learn at the end of the day is to listen and to understand your audience. And I feel like that has just been key to my ability to see success at The Arts Partnership. I realized that being president of The Arts Partnership is the greatest role I’ve ever been cast in.”

The arts have brought joy and purpose to Del Val’s life. And she hopes to use her position to bring that same joy and purpose to the lives of others.

“At some point in almost every person’s life, they believed they were an artist, because they drew something that Grandma put up on the refrigerator, or they did a project in school that somebody commented on or they wrote something and won a contest or they just enjoyed it,” she says. “And somewhere along the way, that enjoyment, for many people, slips away. And I’m less interested in why and how and more interested in helping people regain that joy and understand that value.”

mandy b. anderson

is a speaker, author, certified life coach, and the CEO of Big Blue Couch Coaching. She also is a gifted encourager, an innovative business woman with a knack for product development, and a genuinely positive person. She lives in Bismarck, North Dakota, with her husband, Nate.