Described as a “10 year labor of love,” Svoboda first began work on “Odysseus DOA” while a graduate student. The play had a run at the Red House Arts Center in Syracuse, and went on to a production in New York City at the Lion Theatre at Theatre Row in March 2011. (shown here, courtesy of Stephen Svoboda).

Name: Stephen Svoboda

Age: 34

Residence: Tupper Lake

Hometown: From Westchester County; grew up coming to Tupper Lake on family vacations.

Job title: Executive Director, Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts

What brought him back to the region: After eight years of teaching and running the playwriting and directing program at University of Miami, Svoboda was ready for a change. When he heard through his network about the opening at the arts center, where he had interned 15 years ago, he saw it as the perfect opportunity to return to the region.

“I wanted to do more with my everyday life that contributed to the community,” he said.

Career Accomplishments: Svoboda became a professor at 23 year, fresh out of grad school and a stint working on soap opera “Guiding Light.” An active playwright, Svoboda has seen a few of his plays premier in New York City.Now in his third year as Arts Center director, Svoboda is proud to report that through his efforts, the budget doubled, programming has tripled and there has been a 600 percent increase of participation.

“We’ve taken the arts center which is a great resource, and watched that combination of art and hard work pay off in the community.”

What do you love about living in the Adirondack region? “I often compare it to a community in Tanzania that I do volunteer work in … the people are incredibly connected to each other. I find that to be the most rewarding aspect of what I do.”

He cited the big impact performances have in smaller communities. For example, 500 people attended a recent show of “Rockin to Oz,” a rock-n-roll Wizard of Oz that featured 15 adults with disabilities from Sunmount in Tupper Lake and Long Lake School children. That’s a big showing, considering Long Lake only has 364 residents. The Sunmount actors are part of the Living Able Series that the Arts Center created.

What are some of the challenges here for recruiting young professionals? “We face an even bigger hurdle, in that it’s hard to attract people to live here and accept lower-paying jobs,” he said. Since coming on board, Svoboda has raised salaries and added 3 positions.

The center still runs its summer intern program, this year will house 12 20-30 year olds in Long Lake. “It’s a great merging of styles and getting more people to be invested in the Adirondacks. After they are done, they are more invested in wanting to keep this community going.”

If you could change anything about living here, what would it be? “It’s imperative that we think of the entire Adirondack (region) as one community. We are working to get people out of the silo mentality.”