Q&A: Membership Director & Development Manager Marianne Molland
Marianne Molland at the Western Folklife Center. Photo by Jessica Brandi Lifland
For almost 11 years, Marianne Molland was the Programs Administrator for the Western Folklife Center. She worked closely with Elko hotels, booked all travel and hotel rooms for the artists and staff for the Gathering, organized workshops, made sure everyone was fed during the week working with backstage catering and all the food vendors, ran our Instagram year-round, and was an integral part of our small staff and the Elko community. She left in January for a new job as a 911 dispatcher, but she came back a few months later to take on the role of Membership Director & Development Manager. In this Q&A, we talk to Marianne about her change in jobs, in roles, and what brought her back to the Folklife Center family.
When did you first join the Folklife Center and what was your role?
My husband and I moved our little family to Elko in 2012, so we signed up to volunteer for the 29th Gathering. We kept on volunteering, and when our girls started school in 2015 I was hired for the Programs Assistant position at the Folklife Center. Yay!
What prompted you to switch jobs last January?
We now live in Las Vegas, and I work remotely, traveling up to Elko for the Gathering every year. I wasn’t looking, but stumbled over an ad for a position I had never considered before. I decided I HAD to give it a shot, and I was accepted into the very competitive LVMPD Communications Academy for 911 dispatcher.
What did you discover about yourself or your work while you were away?
911 Employees are absolute heroes. I always work hard and enjoy helping people, but ultimately I decided that job was not right for me at this point. People who work 911 are amazing humans who will have my utmost respect forever.
Did working somewhere else change how you thought about the Folklife Center or its mission?
Yes. I am thankful to be back where the incoming phone calls are generally happy. I miss seeing my colleagues in person, that's one of the main drawbacks of remote work for me.
“The art is important, the culture is important, but the people are key to the whole thing.”
Is there a particular memory from your first time at the Folklife Center that you found yourself thinking about while you were away?
I missed the 2026 Gathering because of work. It's the only Gathering I've missed since moving to Elko, and it felt weird not being there. Callie and Jerod kept me posted, so I had some connection to what was going on.
Why does the Folklife Center still matter to you after all these years?
It is the people, first and foremost. The art is important, the culture is important, but the people are key to the whole thing. When we moved to Elko, as a born-and-raised Norwegian married to an American, the West and the whole cowboy world was rather exotic and exciting. And now I have been part of this world, working in this little non-profit outfit in rural NV for over a decade, and it feels like home for me too. Do I wish we had more funding, better pay, and better benefits? Absolutely! But do I feel that we’re doing something valuable that helps make the world a tiny bit better? Also absolutely. Arts and culture, and of course history, is super important, and our mission to share the American West with the world resonates and is on our mind always.
What are you most excited to work on in your new role?
Learning new things! Membership means new software to learn, procedures to figure out, tasks to accomplish. That’s exciting. But hands down my favorite thing is speaking with our members. They are, of course, the nicest people, and I can't wait to see many of them at the Gathering!
