Everything I Learn Belongs Here.

I've been trying to write this for a few weeks now, and every version felt like it was answering the wrong question.

The question most people seem to be asking is whether I'm leaving Ely. Some have even wondered whether I'm leaving Northern Lakes Arts Association. I understand why. In a small town, information travels quickly, and by the time it reaches everyone, it often becomes a different story than the one that actually happened.

So I'd rather tell you mine.

This fall, I'll begin a Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy at Carthage College while continuing to serve as Executive Artistic Director of Northern Lakes Arts Association. During the academic year, I'll be living in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and returning to Ely regularly for extended work weekends, productions, meetings, fundraising, and the work that simply can't happen anywhere else.

The simplest way I can say it is this: I'm going to graduate school. I'm not leaving NLAA.

That distinction matters to me because Ely has never been just the place where I live. It's the place that shaped me. My parents taught in the schools here. Music was always part of our home. We grew up around church choirs, piano lessons, and high school theatre. My dad spent decades directing productions, and somewhere along the way I stopped thinking of the theatre as a building and started thinking of it as another home.

Maybe that's why this decision has felt more significant than simply choosing a graduate program.

Over the past year, I found myself running into the edges of my own knowledge in ways I hadn't before. It became especially clear while directing Annie. We had first-time performers, returning performers, and people with remarkable natural ability. More than once, I could hear where a singer was capable of going, but I couldn't always offer the best path to get them there. I knew enough to recognize the potential. I wanted to know enough to help unlock it.

That realization stayed with me long after rehearsals ended.

It wasn't discouraging, but it was clarifying. If I want Northern Lakes Arts Association to continue growing, I can't assume that my own education is finished simply because I've reached a leadership role. The organization deserves a leader who continues learning, just as our students deserve teachers who continue learning.

That's ultimately why I'm pursuing this degree.

People sometimes hear "vocal pedagogy" and think it's only about teaching someone how to sing. It certainly includes that, but to me it's also about helping people discover confidence, expression, and a sense of freedom in their own voice. I've watched children surprise themselves. I've watched adults return to the stage after years away. Those moments have very little to do with perfect technique and everything to do with discovering something about yourself that you didn't know was there.

That's the work I want to become better at.

When I return from Kenosha every few weeks, I won't simply be bringing home another credential. I'll be bringing home new ways of teaching, new ways of listening, and new ways of helping artists grow. I want that to show up in youth theatre, in Broadway in the Boundary Waters, in community productions, and in every rehearsal room where someone is brave enough to try something for the first time.

Everything I learn belongs here.

Ian Francis Lah