An interesting facet of spending more time in the local berg after an absence of nearly 20 years is to find and gauge the level of dynamism in the arts community. Sadly, arts organizations around the world are suffering from a lack of funding, brought about by a dearth of societal and consequently governmental interest. What used to garner even occasional public interest is now co-opted by the internet, social media, and 157 channels of cable TV in every home.
With all that, arts organizations are soldiering on. Locally at least, not very many new on the scene, but those with which I was familiar either through participation or financial support, are surviving, even if in a reduced state.
And, even 20 years on, very many of them continue to be reliant on a familiar cadre of names, for financial support and also for governance. Familiarity with a number of those who over time have wormed their way into positions of influence with many of the arts organizations, moving from one to the other and then back again, is a worrying phenomenon. Although probably not unique to Fresno, that a very few people seem to control what goes on in the arts functions to exclude participation by very many others, and goodness knows, with the meteoric growth in population locally, the pool of talented potential board members and active participants has doubtless increased. Not everyone is home watching TV.
‘Give, get, or get off’ is, or should be, the simple by word of non-profit boards of any stripe, but not subscribed to by very many local board members. It was the other evening at dinner out my misfortune to sit, by happenstance, at a table adjacent to one of these serial board members, whose financial contributions have always been, shall we say, limited. He is convinced, as he has repeated to me many times, that the boards he sits on would be unable to function without the valuable advice he provides to the professional management. Hmmm… He once told me he would clandestinely approach management below the executive director level to let them know that, if they had any problems, they could approach him directly for an assist and guidance. As well, this fellow will gleefully tell new board members that, since they’re new, their contributions to the board may not be as useful as his, given his long tenure. Divisive, dismisssive and interfering, he would hardly be considered a dream director, yet he’s served on at least half dozen prominent local boards.
I suppose what one has to get over is that, while arts organizations need money, endemically, they don’t need all that much advice, and certainly not much from those who are not arts professionals. This hasn’t occurred to my ‘dream director’, or to a number of others, nor has it occurred to any one that direct outreach to potential directors can’t be limited to just one’s circle of board cronies.