Steve Penhollow might be an East Coast transplant, but he’s set his roots in Fort Wayne and works to make the arts scene blossom.

Coming to the Summit City in 1996 as an arts and entertainment reporter for The Journal Gazette, Penhollow worked to promote a scene that was not as robust as it is today.

“I was really trying to champion the people that were doing really cool stuff and didn’t have a lot of money to do it,” Penhollow said. “People who would do an event, and it was kind of Popsicle sticks and Scotch Tape, just trying to get this thing going. There were lots of people like that.”

Penhollow remained at The Journal Gazette until 2012, when he took on freelance work — including for Whatzup — before joining Fort Wayne Magazine as managing editor in 2022.

His efforts have not been overlooked, as he’s a 2024 recipient of the H. Stanley Liddell Award, presented by Whatzup to those who have promoted the arts in northeast Indiana.

“I’m speechless about it, and I’m not often speechless,” Penhollow said of the award, named after the late owner of Piere’s whose advertising was instrumental to Whatzup. “It’s a huge honor. It’s that whole love affair. I feel loved back by Fort Wayne with this award, and it’s not like I haven’t felt the love before. 

“This is like getting hugged back by Fort Wayne. I’m just a very lucky person.”

Reaching the Summit City

Studying at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, situated in the area near Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke colleges, Penhollow’s original ambitions did not include journalism.

“I was in a grad program for fiction writing, and I was miserable,” he said. “I really just hated everything about it. I started to get into the old New Yorker writers like A.J. Liebling, (James) Thurber, and S.J. Perelman. I sort of got obsessed with those guys.”

Out of school, he joined a weekly alternative newspaper. After a time there, he came to the conclusion a major shakeup was needed.

“Started freelancing, responsibilities grew to point where I was like, ‘I have to get a real job,’ ” he said about the weekly. “It was all kind of piece-mealing, because I was also DJing. I had three jobs and just barely making ends meet.”

Looking for a journalism job in the mid-90s, Penhollow would go to a cybercafé to look for jobs as well as the library to browse open positions posted in Editor & Publisher. 

“I was really into pop culture, really into movies,” he said. “I just felt like that was my wheelhouse. I told myself, ‘I’m going to apply wherever. I don’t care where I go. I just want to take the next step.’ ”

Eventually, he got a bite.

“Fort Wayne is the one that came through, and I knew nothing about Fort Wayne,” Penhollow said about the arts and entertainment position at The Journal Gazette. “A girl I was dating at the time had been sent to Fort Wayne for a business trip, and she was like, ‘Don’t go to there. There’s nothing there.’ ”

His girlfriend was not the only one sharing that sentiment.

“That was the attitude, ‘Don’t go to the Midwest. Just don’t do it,’ ” he said. “I was like, ‘This is kind of my dream job.’ So, I came out to Fort Wayne and I didn’t know anybody out in this area at all. I had no relatives close, no friends. I just started working at the morning paper.”

Following a couple months in Fort Wayne, he began to realize what his friends had been talking about.

“It was a bit of a culture shock, because Fort Wayne, at that time, and still is, kind of a Rust Belt Jr. city,” he said. “Not as much going on then as there is now. The first couple months were tough. I really thought, ‘Did I make a mistake here?’ ”

Renewed vigor 

That sentiment changed abruptly thanks in large part to IPFW drama and film professor Neil LaBute. His film In the Company of Men was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in 1997 where it won awards — which Penhollow was there to report on.

“The paper sent me to the Sundance Film Festival,” he said. “I was a film buff, and it was a dream to be able to go to the Sundance Film Festival — all expenses paid. 

“I was just a pig in mud, I really was. It was so much fun, and so much work. Back then, electronically sending stories — I can’t even describe to you what that process is like. It was nuts.”

He returned to Fort Wayne on a mission.

“Soon after that, I just became very passionate about Fort Wayne — very passionate about my job,” he said. “I just fell in love with Fort Wayne. And it’s a love affair that hasn’t faded at all.”

Among those that fueled him in the city were alternative artist Janette Lu and her partner, Matthew; slam poet John Commorato; the eclectic band Rupert Bomb; Matt Kelley’s shows at Columbia Street West; Al and Jill Mozena’s Toast and Jam; Sal Soto’s Avant-Garde Gallery; The Brass Rail’s ability to attract national musical acts; and Diane Groenert’s Art Factory, a converted factory that became a venue for art and music.

“It was just very industrial, but you’d have art hanging in what was essentially this abandoned factory,” he said. “Then there’s bands playing. It was just a really cool vibe.”

There were also those groups that are still around today.

“There was a very vibrant arts community,” he said. “You had Arena, you had the Civic for theater. You had IPFW. There was a small theater, an excellent theater back then, called The Grey Lite Players that went away. There was the Ballet, the Philharmonic. 

“What there wasn’t was the alternative stuff. It was harder to find back then, but there was plenty to write about.”

Appreciation

In his current capacity at Fort Wayne Magazine, Penhollow continues to promote the arts — be them well-known or those that, for whatever reason, remain in the shadows.

He is still friends with plenty of people on both coasts who are dumbfounded by the cost of living in Fort Wayne. When conversing with them, he remains proud of the scene in Fort Wayne and what could be on the horizon.

“I say this to a lot of artists, and when I say artists, I mean anyone who makes some kind of art: ‘You don’t have to live in Portland. You don’t have to live in Seattle. Find a place that gives you the freedom to do your art as many hours of the day as possible, where you’re not struggling to survive,’ ” he said. “That’s what’s so great about Fort Wayne. I wouldn’t blame anyone for wanting to get out of here, but at the same time, this is a great place. If you’re just trying to become a great artist, this is a great place to stay. You’re not shoving yourself into a two-bedroom apartment with six other people. You have some freedom to do your art.”

So, it appears he made the right decision to move to the Midwest all those years ago — for himself and the city.

“I can now say moving to Fort Wayne is the greatest thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “Hands down, the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It’s been an embarrassment of riches.”