Imagine Harmon Greenblatt, director of the Evanston Arts Council, with pompoms and you’ll see his enthusiasm for what he calls “his life.”

“I’m the main cheerleader for the arts,” Greenblatt said.

And with the pep rally — better known as the Arts Week Evanston — coming up, he said he does not think he will be sleeping much for the next nine days.

The second annual week, which kicks off Saturday and runs until Oct. 13, includes open houses and a bus tour of local art. After being forgotten about in the ’80s, Greenblatt said he and others decided last year to resurrect the event.

“We did it because we felt the arts in Evanston were so incredibly rich, but a lot of people didn’t know what was going on,” said Greenblatt, who has been director of the arts council for two years. “So the whole idea is to give the people in Evanston a chance to experience the rich diversity of art in Evanston.”

Compared with other North Shore suburbs, Evanston — because of the academic, arts-friendly attitude of Northwestern — is considered by some to have a unique cultural niche.

“People move (to Evanston) because of the arts,” Greenblatt said.

Greenblatt also is the director of the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., an old school building that was turned into a central location for about 30 artists and art groups to do their work. There are few places like it in the Midwest, said Lea Pinsky, Arts Week Evanston coordinator.

“Evanston has a very thriving arts community,” Pinsky said.

Other Evanston gems include the Next Theatre, 927 Noyes St.; Giordano’s Dance Center, 614 Davis St.; a symphony orchestra, and frequent events at NU. These venues and more are included in the arts week, which has a volunteer team of about 30 people working behind the scene.

But Valerie Schiff, a local sculptor and former Chicago public school art teacher, is less positive about Evanston’s support of the arts and more skeptical about whether or not the week will be a success. Although she said the arts week is a step in the right direction, she said she still feels the city should have done more to promote the event and and that the city should offer more help to independent artists.

“I’m very skeptical about whether Evanston is a city for the arts,” Schiff said. “They say it, but I don’t see it because there’s no advertisement, no publicity.”

Her seminar, “Bronze Casting and Recent Work of Valerie Schiff,” will be held at the Noyes center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 12. Schiff said a prospective buyer is scheduled to meet her at the Noyes center open house Oct. 5, and if that sale happens it would be her first in a long time.

“It’s just really hard to promote yourself and put in the time working,” she said. “I’m a 71-year-old undiscovered artist.”

Schiff is one of several independent artists being showcased during the week. Local museums also will get a free public relations boost.

Brett Neiman, spokesman for the Evanston Arts Center, 2603 Sheridan Road, which leases its building at a low rate from the city, said the city could always improve on its support for the arts.

“I think the city benefits as a whole when it thinks of Evanston as an arts destination,” Neiman said.