One of the legacies of the lengthy recession we appear to be leaving behind us is that arts leaders are exhausted.
I have spoken with thousands of arts managers over the past six months and it is astonishing how many are considering leaving their positions in the relatively near future.
Very few of them are departing for wonderful new opportunities with other arts organizations. The vast majority are planning to leave their jobs with no new position on the horizon.
These managers are so tired of struggling to create interesting programming while balancing the budget and appeasing their (nervous) boards that they feel they need a break. For the past two years, they have felt pressured by both passionate artists who want to do their work regardless of the economic situation and conservative board members, many of whose own companies are in trouble. The challenge of appeasing both at the same time has been overwhelming.
That so many arts leaders are considering leaving their jobs (or the profession) at the same time cannot be good for the arts. These managers possess a wealth of experience and talent that will not be easily replaced. (One of the challenges of the arts is that few organizations have 'seconds in command' who are prepared to run an organization after the current leader departs. While corporations often have people ready to step into the leader's position, few arts organizations have the resources required to fund a 'number two.')
Many board members, tired and frustrated as well after the past two difficult years, harbor the belief that their organizations would benefit from new managerial blood. They believe that the current managers did not have the skills required to deal with the economic downturn, did not cut budgets quickly enough or deeply enough, were not able to market the organization effectively and did inadequate fundraising.
The truth is there is not a wealth of experienced arts managers waiting to take these leadership positions. Ironically, board members only realize this after the current leader departs and they face a negligible pool of willing and able applicants. Too often, board members opt for a financial person from the for-profit sector hoping their skills and discipline will help solve the organization's financial problems. (Of course, these board members are forgetting that financial people measure problems; they rarely solve them!)
I hope a massive hiring effort is not required in the coming year. That as the season comes to a close, these exhausted managers will use the summer to replenish themselves, to regain their excitement for their work and their passion for arts management. That many, if not most, of them will reconsider their plans and remain with the organizations that need them.
And I hope that board members will remember that the arts managers they employ have been through two of the most difficult years in their lives, and they need and deserve support, encouragement and gratitude.
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Any time someone wants to step aside from any capacity of arts leadership, I am ready and willing to step in. Part of the problem -- and with all due respect to you, but I don't see you addressing this issue -- is that too many arts leaders and managers stay too long, thus preventing newer, and dare I say younger, more innovative leaders from rising into the fray.
Visit my LinkedIn profile or my blog, The Clyde Fitch Report, to learn more about me. I'd jump at the chance to work at an arts organization in any capacity -- public affairs, policy, marketing.
If arts leaders are tired, Mr. Kaiser, please remember that there is a long, long, long line of people out there, with MA's in Arts Administration and many not, who never will be.
I do wonder...i
I understand that people have to 'pay their dues' and an arts manager in one job for 15-20 years at one institution is going to understand certain in's and out's better than someone that is green but the world is getting smaller not larger.
I believe the 'portfolio' career of today's arts manager bears further consideration by board members, employers and HR departments. There are many experienced arts managers out there...bu
The systemic issue is that my salary is completely in line with others in NYC at my level in comparable institutions (it's probably a little higher). There is a culture of long hours and low pay in the arts that is causing an exodus of talented individuals.
The recession isn't the problem -- it just made issues that have been around more evident. Yes, board members can be annoying at times, but they aren't the reason arts managers are considering leaving the arts. The issue is that arts staffers feel compelled to work long hours for an inadequate wage and no appreciation. Why do that when you could work a 9-5 corporate job that pays much better and leaves time to have a life outside of work?
It's a sad state of affairs.
I'm interested to know if you think this represents a departure from business as usual. Aren't we arts managers always complaining that we feel burnt out? It seems like we spend the first half of our careers thinking about law school and the second half thinking about retiring to Martha's Vineyard until we realize we're too old for the former and too poor for the latter.
And are we really more burnt out than our counterparts in the for-profit sector? Do we deserve to be?
His advice that we rest and replenish is sound. But he would do well to recall that the overwhelming majority of people working in the non-profit arts do not have anything like his level of income with which to do so.
I recognize that his is a demanding job, and I'm thankful for his advocacy on behalf of the sector, but according to a recent article in the Times (NYT "Major Earners in the Cultural World", 4/25/10), his 2008 salary was over $1.1M. At the more typical $40,000/year level, most of us would have to work over 27 years to make that much, are as he suggests working at places that are badly understaffed even during good times, and quite simply do not have the resources of time or money to draw upon for the R & R he rightly suggests we need.
The problem is that we all want to be fairly paid in a country, possible a world, that values the live arts less and less.
It breaks my heart.