PEORIA MAGAZINE September 2023

Doug Oberhelman, board chairman of the Gilmore Foundation

Romain said that in their free time, her family enjoys Peoria’s Riverfront Museum, the parks, the Peoria Sym phony Orchestra and Heartland Festival Orchestra, community theater, the riverfront and its Farmers Market. “As I’ve lived in big cities, I’ve spent a lot of money on rent and a lot of money on parking and a lot of time in traffic,” she said. “Why would you choose that when you can breathe, have free time and spend your money on other things? “I’ve lived a very nomadic life and this is the first time I’ve ever felt at home, because of the people who live here,” said Romain, “The people are so wel coming. You can find your tribe here.” THE GOAL The goal of the campaign is 25 exec utive hires. In the first two months, the campaign has the first two under its belt. Besides those successes, the foun dation expects to leave behind a cam paign infrastructure that will continue to attract and deliver high-caliber talent to the Peoria area. “It just needed a big push of money to get it started and the strategy,” said Cullinan. Laura Cullinan, president of the Gilmore Foundation

Sometimes, local chatter produces a lot of negativity. The city’s crime rate, for example, can bring out a lot of that. “The negatives are everywhere for any city,” said Oberhelman. “We just have to work on those things. I know the city, the mayor and many of us in the community are working hard to do that. We can’t give up.” “We can acknowledge it’s not a per fect place to live, but it’s a pretty darn good place to live,” said Cullinan. “The people are great here. We need to start talking about that and lean into the positives that we have.” ‘YOU CAN FIND YOUR TRIBE HERE’ Nikki Romain, a performing artist, had lived in no less than five large cities before moving to Peoria eight years ago, when she married Jonathan Romain, an artist and Peoria resident. ‘THERE WERE A LOT OF THINGS CULTURALLY THAT AS A BLACK WOMAN I FIGURED I WOULD NOT GET HERE’ — Nikki Romain She admits to having been apprehen sive about moving to Peoria. “I’d only lived in big cities,” she said, adding that she was nervous about moving to Peoria as a Black woman

with a preconceived notion that the city was not diverse. “There were a lot of things culturally that as a Black woman I figured I would not get here. “I thought it would be very racist, quite honestly,” Romain said. Romain was pregnant when she moved to Peoria. “The first six months were really rough for me. My husband traveled a lot for art shows, I had the baby to care for and I didn’t know anyone here,” she recalled. She started feeling at home in Peoria when she met a new friend of her age and background. “It was just a breath of fresh air to meet someone who was like-minded, who had children, knew other people with children and knew where people with children hung out.” Romain and her husband were both moved to do something when they read in the media about the 24/7 Wall St. website naming Peoria as one of the worst cities in America for Black residents. “Jonathon and I, separately from each other, were both saved by the arts,” said Romain. The couple began thinking about how they could use art to make a difference in Peoria. Together they started the non-profit Artists ReEnvisioning Tomorrow (Art, Inc) in the former Greeley School building, where they lead after-school programming for first through eighth grades.

Linda Smith Brown is a 37-year veteran of the newspaper industry, retiring as publisher of Times Newspapers in the Peoria area

SEPTEMBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 23