Admin Staff

Holley Johnson is the executive director of the Holmes Center for the Arts. Holley was a professional ballerina and teacher before becoming an administrator. She trained as a dancer at Dance Arts (Valdosta, Georgia), The Academy of Dance (Hampton, VA), The Ballett Schuller (Oldenburg, Germany), and more. Holley attended summer dance programs at Joffrey Ballet School (New York), North Carolina School of the Arts, The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, Ballet West Conservatory, the Georgia Governor's Honors Program, and Ballet Magnificat. She continued her education by attending the University of Utah where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Ballet and a performance emphasis. While there, she received full dance and academic scholarships including the Presidential Scholarship for the arts and was selected to be a member of the Utah Ballet and the Character Dance Ensemble. After college, she danced professionally with the Atlanta Ballet and the Lexington Ballet. She performed at such venues as the Royal Festival Hall in London, England, the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, the Olympic Centennial Park in Atlanta, and the Opera House in Lexington, KY. Holley has taught all levels of ballet for 20 years. While in Lexington, Holley was the office manager for the Lexington Ballet Company. After moving to Holmes County and teaching for many years, Holley became the founding executive director for Holmes Center for the Arts where she has served for the last 7 years. She and her husband and three children live in Holmes County.

Cathie Lynch holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education from Cleveland State University. She taught K-12 art for 31 years, 30 of those years in Holmes County. Since her retirement from the public schools in 2015, Catherine has been teaching classes in portrait drawing and acrylic painting for HCA as well as some classes and camps for children and teens. Catherine also is a grant writer for the arts center and has taken on the role as Outreach Director. She is excited to make the arts accessible to those who might not otherwise be able to participate. Catherine lives at Lake Buckhorn with her husband, Kevin where she enjoys walking and finding time to draw and paint, her lifelong passions. She and Kevin have two grown sons.

LoriMae has been the Project Administrator for the Holmes Center for the Arts new home since 2018. LoriMae holds a BA in Social Welfare and a BS in Meteorology. After serving in Desert Storm she married and had two wonderful sons. Her husband, Alan, continued serving in the USAF and the family ended up in Minot, ND. While in Minot, LoriMae became president of Habitat for Humanity and built their first two homes. She became a professional chocolatier when her family opened a chocolate shop in Minot. LoriMae has been involved in dance, theater and music her entire life starting with ballet and tap at the age of 3, sewing and designing costumes in high school, performing in theater in college and volunteering as a costumer, choreographer, dancer, or stage manager for Bright Life Players, WacPac, and the HCA since 2015. She also plays eight different instruments and performed at the Ford Theater in Washington DC with the Greenfield Symphonic band. She has been an event planner for many events including military balls, weddings, fundraisers for most of her adult life. After moving with her family to Ohio, she started ballroom dancing in 2012, and competed in the Buckeye Open 2014 with her husband where they won 1st place in all competed categories. LoriMae now oversees the new building and events at HCA.

A local to Holmes County, Sophia Beachy began her dance training at the age of 11 at Holmes Center for the Arts under the instruction of Holley Johnson. She attended multiple summer intensive programs through the University of Utah and Ballet Magnificat! in Mississippi. In her senior year of high school, Sophia began dancing with a nonprofit ballet company, North Pointe Ballet, out of Cleveland, OH. With the mission, “to make classical ballet accessible to everyone in our community”. Daily outreaches to local schools and nursing homes are part of what inspired Sophia to continue using the arts as an outlet of expression and learning. Returning to Holmes Center for the Arts as an instructor and working with such talented and lovely students has been an honor! Sophia grew up working in her family's restaurant business and now is thrilled to be using those hospitality and managing skills to assist the executive director in all daily tasks.