As curator and executive director of
Westcott House, Marta Wojcik has been an integral part of Springfield’s arts and culture scene for 20 years, helping to preserve Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House. Now she’s joining
CreativeOhio’s Inaugural Advocacy Leadership Institute to develop her advocacy skills, legislative insights, and statewide connections to champion Ohio’s creative sector.
CreativeOhio is a statewide advocacy organization focused on creatives and the creative economy. Their goal is to establish creativity as a core economic driver in Ohio, while supporting and connecting members of the creative community to one another.
The Advocacy Leadership Institute is designed to give arts and culture leaders across the state the tools and knowledge to advocate for the creative sector. It launches in May of 2025 and lasts for six months.
Hub Springfield sat down with Marta Wojcik to learn more about her work, the Advocacy Leadership Institute, and what she hopes to bring back to Springfield.
![]()
Frank Lloyd Wright's Westcott HouseHub Springfield: What brought you to Springfield?
Marta Wojcik: I moved in May of 2005 to take this job. I first joined the team as a curator of interpretation, and in 2010, I became the executive director and curator. I moved to Springfield because of the job, and soon after, I found myself just, you know, I'm really getting to know so many people. It's such a wonderful community with people who embraced me and really helped me out. I was actually an immigrant. I was originally from Poland. I really consider Springfield my home now, and we have two kids, and it's just like we are part of this community. We feel very much a part of it.
Hub: Can you tell us a little bit about your work at the Westcott House?
MW: This fall, we celebrate 20 years. It's really a wonderful opportunity to look back and see the impact Westcott has had on the community over the last two decades. I joined the team shortly before we opened to the public, and we opened to the public in October 2005.
It was such an exciting opportunity because the house was to be open to the public for the very first time after years of being a family home and then divided into apartments, and dramatically changed over the years. It was building up this excitement of four years of really major restoration that completely transformed the house back to its original design. As I hear from people, because I wasn't here when it all started, but people told me how difficult it was to witness the house fall apart, knowing its significance because of the architect. Some people felt like it was beyond repair.
In time, the community came together and figured out a plan, and as a result, we opened to the public in 2005. It was just really wonderful to be part of that team and figure out what it means to be a public site opening at that time and what it means for Springfield and what it means nationally. So I just appreciate so much this opportunity to be part of that kind of dreaming up what the house can be.
Hub: How did you get involved in the Advocacy Leadership Institute?
MW: Westcott is a member of CreativeOhio. They have an organizational membership. All the arts and culture organizations around the state are encouraged to be active members because it helps on a state level to support the efforts of cultural organizations and the arts. We've been active in the sense that we support their efforts, and they support everyone else. They really are connected throughout the state, and they make us connect.
It all just makes a lot of sense for us to be involved. This is new program really focuses on, uh, arming us with skills and knowledge to really be more effective to be spokespeople for arts in our community. This is the first time they have offered the Advocacy Leadership Institute, so we are guinea pigs, but they prepared it so well.
Hub: Why is it important to you to be involved in this type of advocacy work now?
MW: The timing for Advocacy Leadership Institute could not be more urgent. As we speak, the agencies and resources that have helped organizations like ours accomplish the most incredible things face tremendous uncertainty. The funding structure for all the arts and culture organizations in our state and across the country requires maintaining a delicate balance and until now we have been very fortunate to count on the support from government agencies, private and community foundations, businesses and individuals – all of whom serve a crucial role in this interconnected funding ecosystem. My organization is a proud recipient of grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for Humanities – three
federal agencies whose work has been critically important to the health of the arts and culture across the country. And since the combined budget for IMLS, NEH, and NEA amounts to less than 0.01% of the overall federal budget, we are talking here about agencies – and their beneficiaries – that are doing some of the most efficient and effective work. The status of these federal agencies directly affects the health of our beloved state agencies – the Ohio Arts Council and Ohio Humanities.
I am grateful to CreativeOhio for creating the Advocacy Leadership Institute as an opportunity to arm ourselves with more knowledge and skills to help with the advocacy work for the agencies that have been a lifeline to us.
![]()
The Westcott House's Executive Director Marta WojcikHub: You’re one of 25 cohorts, representing 15 cities across Ohio. How do you feel about the opportunity to network with peers?
MW: I know just a few of them, so I’m going to be meeting some new faces from very different organizations. They vary in size, location, and experience, so it's just amazing. Our first session will be in May, and you know, I'm just excited to be part of 25 people from all around the state, and just learn from everyone.
Hub: Are you hoping to bring back what you learn and share it with fellow Springfield arts organizations?
MW: Absolutely. It's been on and off over the years with how we connect and talk. It's often very informal, or it's on the occasion of a particular partnership, but lately we've been getting together in a more organized fashion. We've held two meetings, one in December and one in January, about specifically gathering all the arts organizations.
It's not related to this institute. It was more of a need to get together. We felt the need to come together and figure out if we can do something productive together, on a very basic level, to help well-being, because last fall was a really difficult time, but also to get together and develop a strategy in terms of like identity and perception of Springfield. We were concerned that our reputation could be tarnished for no reason. You know, over the last 20 years, I've been a witness to how incredible Springfield has become.
We've been getting together and now we have this somewhat organized network, and I'm hoping that I can pass this on, and also have our local arts leaders be a resource for the Institute. Hopefully, there is a pipeline of leaders from our community into that Institute as they continue with it.