ARTSblog

So when are all of those baby boomers working in the nonprofit arts sector going to retire? I keep reading about the fact that they are all retiring and there will be lots of opportunities for those who are younger, and that in fact, there is going to be a great need for new leaders.

Never mind that:

• Boomers’ retirement funds lost 30-50% of their value, and the very concept of organizations providing retirement dollars in the nonprofit arts sector wasn’t even thought of by the organizations they worked for then, or now, until they were into their ‘30s;
• These boomers decided to stay in a profession at lower pay when many of their colleagues quit the nonprofit arts sector in their late ‘30s and ‘40s, so now they don’t think that they will be able to afford retirement;
• The boomers’ kids are struggling to find work if they have finished college, or are in graduate school, and their younger kids are just starting college;
• Some boomers who would have become CEO’s lost out when it became fashionable a few years ago to hire people who had retired early from the for profit sector to be the new CEO, rather than an experienced, career professional in the arts;
• It seems that the only boomers who are able to retire are those who worked in state government or higher education which are part of larger retirement plans – rather than independent nonprofits.

I’m sure the boomers can find a few more items to add to the list.

Why would people want to step aside – when they have bills to pay, passion for their work, and years of productivity ahead? Why would they step aside “when they are,” as Degas said on his deathbed,” just starting to get it” (‘it’ meaning a better salary, the opportunity to do the work they have always dreamed of doing, being able to balance personal and professional time after years of long work weeks, or however you define ‘it’)? Read the rest of this entry »

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When I was a little girl I would watch cowboys on TV on Saturday mornings. Besides the dust, the visual images I most remember were that the good guys had white horses and the bad guys wore black hats.

This seemed like a great idea to me at the time.  I felt too inexperienced to reach those conclusions on my own, so the fact that someone else decided for me seemed like a great plan. As I acquired more worldly experience I also developed stronger feelings of independence and a much greater desire to reach my own conclusions about everything.

Words, gestures, labels, symbols — their meanings are sometimes so personal that I have no idea what they mean to someone else.  Sometimes they are destructive and other times they become a helpful kind of shorthand. Read the rest of this entry »

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Some observations about this set of blog exchanges.

1. Very little heat or disagreement. When Edward introduced 20UNDER40 to a dialogue on NECAP’s (New England Consortium of Arts-Educator Professionals) blog, there was a lot of reactivity against the very notion of the book. It was the most active blog outburst in their history. The anger seemed to come from some over-40 teaching artists who felt under-heard themselves and felt dissed by a book dedicated to younger voices.

Since this AftA blog appears under their Emerging Leaders banner, the participant pool seems much younger, and entirely accepting of Edward’s concept and project. Even the over-40s (I know some of you who are!) who have posted seem in support of the book. This blog-population seems entirely in support of the book.

2. Stephanie Evans at Americans for the Arts has been telling us that the participation in this blog has been extraordinarily high by their norms–not just the number of posts and responses but a huge number of page views that didn’t post messages. Even without controversy or burning issue. This suggests to me that we are looking at a lot of untapped energy around this topic. I have been calling it “a movement” with Edward to try to capture my amazement at the size and quality of the submission response to his call for chapter proposals.

So, young leaders, what are you going to do about it? Read the rest of this entry »

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I couldn’t be more excited by the updates from Stephanie noting the record breaking success of this blog event—as well as the onslaught of Facebook friend requests I’ve been receiving from so many of you.  However, another curious thing has been happening in my inbox this week. While the conversation rages on out here in the public blogosphere, I’ve received a couple of emails from emerging arts leaders saying they’d love to participate in this online discussion, but due to internal politics at their organizations—they have to remain in the proverbial closet.

Given the progress we’ve made through forums like this and all of the hullabaloo 20UNDER40 has caused, it saddens me to think that there are still young arts professionals out there who have opinions to express and stories to share—but must maintain their silence literally for fear of losing their jobs. Even worse is the idea that there are people in authority positions who may be trolling this blog right now, making sure their subordinates remain silent—remain subordinate.

The insecurity exercised in this field (though not entirely omnipresent) is oppressive. As tomorrow’s leaders (young and old) begin to reinvent the arts for the future, I’d like to offer a suggestion: that our industry’s inherent lack of confidence and fear-based business models be placed on top of the list of things that must change.

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Picturing America is a free initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities that helps teach American history and culture by bringing some of the country’s great art directly to classrooms and libraries. The upcoming webinar on October 27 will demonstrate how the visual arts are an effective tool in teaching history and how educators and arts professionals can extend and expand upon the initiative in their own communities.

The webinar is moderated by Randy Cohen, Vice President of Local Arts Advancement at Americans for the Arts and speakers include: Curtis Carter, PhD. Professor of Philosophy, Marquette University; and Theresa Cameron, Director of Membership, Americans for the Arts and former director, Arts and Humanities Council, Montgomery County, MD.

Picturing America will take place on October 27, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. EST and will be 75 minutes in length. Registration is free and open to the first 290 participants.

Click Here to Register.

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In response to Edward Clapp’s call for papers for 20Under40 and “This is our Emergency” open letter, I invited my brother to co-write a chapter proposal with me. We have been a screenwriting team for over ten years, and though we have had some success in writing for television, we have not had the success we wished for in film. He was the first to point this out to me: what do two people like us have to say about the state of working in film today? I believe we have everything to say, but his skepticism got to me: does not “making it” make us failures?  Does that mean we can’t be leaders, despite our continued attempts to break into the industry?

Like many younger sisters, I have spent my whole life looking up to my brother. He is the funniest person I know. He is able to tell stories visually, concisely, and always pull it off with humor and style. He is a perfectionist in the most devoted and irritating way—he will always push you to make what you have better, to see it a different way, or to entirely abandon it in pursuit of something much edgier and more unique. The thing is, he knows he is all of these things—he knows he is good at what he does. So why does he feel so powerless to speak about his craft? Is it him; is it the film industry specifically; is it the ambiguous state of success in the arts more broadly; or is it, as Edward Clapp and Eric Booth might say, a generational disempowerment perpetuated by an organizational structure borne from a field-wide complex? Read the rest of this entry »

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My name is Victoria Saunders and I’ve been following emerging leadership – what I call Next Generation Arts Leadership – issues for more than five years now. It started when I was at the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and talked our Executive Director into letting me plan and host a Creative Conversation. That led to the formation of an Emerging Leaders of Arts and Culture group that lasted for several years. There is a movement to regroup and strengthen the program, but I have moved on to other aspects of young arts leadership. Now an independent consultant, I am often asked to weigh in on various issues related to the next generation of arts leaders and I continue to explore this topic as a result.

A year ago I was hired to conduct statewide research around emerging arts leadership for The James Irvine Foundation, one of California’s largest philanthropic foundations and one that gives heavily and cares deeply about leadership and arts and culture. Without going into the details of the research or outcomes, I’d like to share a tidbit that resonated with my research partner Dewey Schott and me and continues to do so with me today. Read the rest of this entry »

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Check out my last post for some written histrionics about leadership. Check out this one for some personalized, written histrionics about leadership.

These are the lessons I’ve learned the hard way that contribute to whatever shred of leadership I’ve eked out over my brief and lucky career. Some have corollaries, hence the indented bullets.

1.    Listen.

• I’ve never been able to do enough of this. My friend once said, “P.A.D.T.H.A.I. People Are Different. They Have Amazing Ideas.” Sometimes people blow my mind.

2.    We need you.

• They need you. I need you. You need you. Work hard. Do right. It’s the only way to make a positive difference.

3.    Every dollar you spend is a vote for how you want the world to be.

• If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
• No one can solve every problem.
• Balancing these two truths is hard.

4.    Harmony is paramount. All interactions must end in harmony.

• Do not prioritize your goals above others’ feelings.
• Do not bully, intimidate, or be mean to get what you want.
• There will be new goals and new interactions coming soon. Those will be sour from the giddy up, if you do not prioritize harmony now.
• Mean people probably do not think they are behaving poorly, so don’t encourage them to act more hatefully by fighting with them. Everyone probably knows they’re mean anyway.

5.    There will be another meeting. [I heard this at an Emerging Leader conference!]

• You might not have made the progress you wanted to, but you did something good. Try to identify what that something was.
• Ideas take some time to sink in. Try again in a few months or next year and see if the conversation is different.
• The reason to let go of frustration is because you’re not solely responsible for making something work; other people have a hand in it and sometimes they see it differently.
• Another reason to let go is because you’ll age poorly, get heart disease, or lose sleep if you don’t let bothersome things go.

My father would be disappointed if I didn’t add this one:

6.    “How do you eat an elephant? … One bite at a time.”

• Break daunting tasks up into achievable steps.
• It’s not my strongest suit, but patience is invaluable.

We need a #7! Someone pitch in a #7! Everyone, pitch in a #7!

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In response to this particular statement from your last post; “The problem is the field is not allowing room for these individuals to utilize their more complex mental structures. The result is that young leaders experience a disconnect between their mental complexity and their (in)ability to exercise their agency within the field.”  I have to be quite colloquial in my response to your post, Edward— quit already…with the black and white generalizations about my generational cohort.

Wow, that statement is a complete over-generalization and quite an insult to those of us who do give emerging leaders as much space as we can to help them create the viable, on-going, and administratively sound programming they envision. And might I add, through the structures that we created with our own use of our “complex mental structures” or more to the point our 60 hour weeks, agile minds, on-going burn-out and increasing frustration that we can’t do more to bring the exciting new ideas forward..

I have only hired young emerging leaders in the past ten years and have given them full reign to use their “complex mental structures.”  You’re personal experience is in no way how all “old farts,” to quote Eric Booth, approach their work. Furthermore, I have pushed them with my own ‘aged’ ‘complex mental structures’ and sprinkled the much needed dose of wisdom to help their visions become real from the ground up.   Read the rest of this entry »

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We spend a great deal of time working to make the case for the power and value of the arts to communities.  That is why it was great to learn that the American Planning Association (APA) is looking at the role of arts in planning. As part of a collaborative project with the RMC Corporation and with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, APA’s Planning and Community Health Research Center is developing a series of briefing papers to illustrate how planners use arts and culture strategies to achieve economic, social, environmental, and community goals. The briefing papers will provide a comprehensive definition and overview of the arts, culture, and creativity field and explore four topic areas: community engagement and participation; community pride; economic development; and cultural values, heritage, and history.

This framework will help support the work of policymakers, planners, and economic development and community development professionals, as well as professionals in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, arts, culture, and creativity in the creation and development of healthy communities. Read the rest of this entry »

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Greeting Emerging Leaders and the women (and men) that love them.

My name is Adam Thurman.  I’m 33.  Been working professionally in the arts since I was 26.  In that time I’ve been the Executive Director of a small theatre, the Marketing Director of a large theatre, a teacher, a consultant, a Board member, a grant panelist, etc.

During my career I’ve had good days, bad days and ”want to punch somebody in the face” days, so I can relate to pretty much any emotion you are going through right now. It’s in that spirit that I want to share the single most useful piece of advice I was ever given about a career in the arts:

Stop thinking about it as the arts.

I’ll explain.

Read the rest of this entry »

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John Elliot posted a response to my blog post “Ask me what I don’t bring.” He said, “What’s going to keep us from being set in our ways, and help us build and refine organizations to a point where the ‘lack of loyalty’ is a thing of the past?”

Upon reflection, I find the answer is not as rose-colored as I would like it to be. I think that loyalty is a victim of economy. Unfortunately, we are for the foreseeable future in a decline, and until the economy rights itself, it will be difficult to reinvigorate a sense of loyalty. Emerging Leaders have watched our grandparents lose their pensions after 20-30+ years of service to an organization.  We have watched our parents get downsized. We have watched our friends hover in limbo unable to find jobs.  We have watched fresh faced students fighting with former Executive Directors vying for jobs at Barnes & Noble.  It is a sad state we are in…

Now, how do we make a change?  Two big ideas that come to mind:

1. Better work/life balance – Offer better benefits. I don’t mean tangible benefits (not to downplay the importance of good health insurance and paid time off), but little things like paid lunch hours, flex time, telecommuting, onsite services, volunteer opportunities, which add value to the worker’s quality of life.  Maybe it’s a better time off policy for new fathers, maybe it is a innovative use of the 4/10 workweek model, maybe it is a communal hierarchy versus the standard business model of management, maybe it’s being able to bring your baby or dog to work. Just offer something – ANYTHING – that makes us feel like we aren’t going to be tossed aside like yesterday’s trash when the tough times squeeze the organizations we love and to which we want – truly WANT – to be devoted. Read the rest of this entry »

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I graduated at the top of my class at a top university. On graduation day, I sat next to my friends who had clear paths to their next steps. Emily was going into banking and had a job lined up in Chicago. Rob planned to work in a medical research lab for two years while applying to medical school. Ross and Jeff were off to law school in the fall. David was working in hotel management and had already looked into opening his own hotel. They knew where they were going next, and they were relieved and excited to be done with a chapter of their lives that they felt they were growing out of.

I sat on the roof of my college apartment in a panic for the weeks before graduation, looking down at College Ave, wishing I could start over. This time I would do it right, take relevant classes, market myself. I wondered why I was the only one so apprehensive about moving on. Did I just love college more than my friends did? Did I need school structure to feel direction? Grades to feel purpose? One of my writing teachers asked what my post-graduation plans were. I told her I was moving back home with my parents to finish the novel I began in her class, until it was time to pay back student loans. “Great, but what are you going to do?” I froze. All the books I had read about writing said you needed to give yourself time and commit to it like a job, and I expected her to be pleased with my dedication to my craft.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about working to support myself—of course I had.  But I expected that whatever job I chose would be a form of permission to continue my creative work. What I did not expect was the discomfort of not having a clear professional path, the confusion about what kind of job best suited the creative lifestyle, and the guilt about holding onto a dream that felt less and less important each time I heard about Emily’s promotions, Rob’s med school acceptances, and David’s new hotel. They weren’t just on a path—they were making it happen. They were adults. I was a kid. I was stuck in my college memories, and they had work friends and business suits. I could not get a job as an unpaid intern at a magazine, and they had 501Ks and health insurance.  Read the rest of this entry »

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As I thought about this blog, I began to think about what I wished someone had told me when I was an emerging leader.  Here’s my list so far:

•    Most people are doing the best they can do at any given moment. What they are doing may not be OK with you. It may not meet your standards. It may not be something that you want in your life or your arts organization, and you don’t have to agree with or support their actions — but it’s my observation that no one gets up in the morning asking themselves how they can screw up.

•    People who don’t have any appreciation for the arts in any form aren’t wrong. They aren’t bad. They aren’t stupid. They don’t need to be scolded, shot, or stamped out. They just don’t share your opinion. Allow room in the world for wonderful people who don’t appreciate the arts the way that you do.

This was a hard lesson for me. And the more passion I had about something, the more I pushed. Many years ago a board member took me aside after an advocacy meeting and shared his observation that when people disagreed with me, I raised the volume of my voice and repeated myself.  “It’s not that they didn’t hear you, Ramona. They heard you.  They just didn’t agree with you.” Read the rest of this entry »

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As I read through the many posts that have already flooded the blog this week, I feel reassured.  I, like others asked to discuss this topic of “emerging leader” feel that I may have fallen into the role.  I went to undergrad for painting.  The entire four years I was there, I knew that I didn’t want to attempt the profession of “studio artist.”  I always knew I would be an administrator but didn’t really know what that entailed.

Following college, I got lucky enough to be hired as a gallery assistant at a new gallery with a growing reputation for quality.  This allowed me to network with older colleagues in the field and pretend I knew what I was doing administratively.  Unfortunately, the gallery closed and I had to find another job – quick!  It just so happened that a fantastic community arts center was looking to hire an Exhibition Manager to coordinate for their two gallery spaces.  Again, I somehow convinced them that I knew what I was doing and learned on the job.

After two years, I decided it was time to drop everything I was doing and return to school.  I didn’t want to be in a gallery, I wanted more from the arts.  The problem was that I didn’t know what I wanted.  My writing sample for my grad application was basically a statement such as this – “The arts are where I need to be.  In what form?  I have no idea.  I want to be in your Arts Management program so that I have the opportunity to dabble in a couple of areas.” Read the rest of this entry »

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