the right administrator?

[rkoretzky]

This thread very likely belongs in the "Arts Administration" section, but I am posting it here because I expect it will receive a wider audience here. If one of the moderators feels it should be moved, so be it...but could it be in several places?

There is much rhetoric and emotion here in Saratoga over the appointment of Marcia White, currently a top aide to the most powerful Republican member of the state senate,(Joe Bruno, who also happens to represent the city of Saratoga Springs, and who found the $300,000 grant that was most helpful to the cause) as the new director of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Some of the articles, editorials and letters have made their way into our Links forum (thank you Ari and Mme. Hermine!), but there is more that cannot be linked here. However it is "more of the same"--every local newspaper has denounced this choice, not as a personal comment on Ms. White, but as a comment on her lack of experience in the arts, and as yet another example of the SPAC Board's utter disregard for the wishes of the community, and for input into these critical decisions. There was no national search, indeed there was no formal advertising of the position.

I have my own opinion on this question, but am very interested in knowing what all of you think of this latest development:

What are the necessary qualifications for such a position?

What is the role of politics with regard to the business of the arts?

What is the responsibility of a not-for-profit regarding employment?

What is the responsibility of a board to the members of an organization, and to the community at large?

And any other side issues raised by this news.....

[Ari]

I've been meaning to reply to this for a while now, but kept getting sidelined with other things. Apologies, rkoretzky!

You raise a lot of important issues, and I hope that others will jump in and contribute their thoughts. But I want to address a more specific topic, that is the choice of Ms. White to head SPAC.

I know nothing about the decision process involved here, so this is all speculation. But it seems to me that SPAC's most pressing need at the moment is MONEY. Chesbrough's attempt to get rid of the ballet was due to his desire to stop the flow of red ink, and the subsequent state audit revealed the organization's financial situation to be even graver than first thought. And in announcing White's appointment, SPAC officials stressed her familiarity with people and organizations that have the big bucks. It might be that her tenure at SPAC will be limited to however long it takes to get it back on its financial feet. I somehow doubt that White, with her lifelong background in politics, is much interested in a prolonged career as an arts administrator. But turning around a nonprofit organization financially would look very good on her CV.

As I said, however, all this is pure speculation. I'd be interested to hear what others think.

[carbro]

  I somehow doubt that White, with her lifelong background in politics, is much interested in a prolonged career as an arts administrator.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I beg to differ here on the career objective speculation. A lot of people who are seen as working in "Politics" arrive there from a desire to perform "Public Service." (I can see the smirks on your faces, but I've been there, and I know. ). SPAC falls under that rubric. Nat Leventhal, who'd been a deputy mayor in the 1960s-'70s, came to head Lincoln Center afterwards, a kind of prototype for Ms. White's path to this point.