#pocleadership

[awepdx-blog]

We are asking for equity in the RACC Executive Director search!

On April 28, 2017, Arts Workers for Equity sent this email message calling for Portland-area arts and cultural workers to advocate for transparent and equitable practices within the search for the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s new Executive Director. 

Advocacy works. On May 3, we received the following response from Mike Golub, the former chair of RACC’s Search Committee:

AWE,

We at RACC wanted to provide an update to you and your constituents on our search for a new RACC Executive Director. We saw your recent email and wanted to respond to you directly and begin a direct dialogue.

Firstly, thank you for your interest, concern and input. We are extremely encouraged by the high level of interest and engagement from many corners of our community. We agree with you that this is a critical hire and we are in concurrence with the principles you espoused in the email you sent out. We are not only committed to bringing in a dynamic new leader who can ably lead RACC in to the future, but we are also committed to conducting the search process in an equitable and inclusive fashion that is consistent with the equity beliefs of our organization and the greater arts community whom we serve.

Here’s an update on the process:

Public updates continue to be posted to https://racc.org/2017/04/18/executive-director-search-update/, and a link to this page appears prominently on RACC’s homepage. The latest update was posted on April 18.

Our search committee is as follows: Verlea Briggs, Jamie Dunphy (Nick Fish’s Office), Pollyanne Faith Birge (Commissioner Eudaly’s Office), Mike Golub, Phillip Hillaire, Linda, McGeady, Carole Morse, Jan Robertson, Steve Rosenbaum, Anita Yap. All of us our board members, but for Jamie, Pollyanne and Carole, who is a former RACC Chair.

The RACC search committee has hired executive search firm Aspen Leadership Group to lead the process to find the successor to outgoing executive director Eloise Damrosch, who will be retiring June 30. The committee considered several search firms and was most impressed with Aspen’s diversity experience, extensive network and impressive track record of high level arts searches, including many successful arts appointments in Oregon.

Aspen Leadership Group’s lead project manager, Anne Johnson, was in Portland on May 1 and 2 to meet the Search Committee and representatives of RACC staff and the arts community to begin the formal due diligence process.  Jeff would be happy to share the names of the arts community representatives who participated.

As you point out, we have distributed an online questionnaire, open to anybody interested in providing input on the search for RACC’s next Executive Director. The Search Survey was sent to more than 2,000 direct constituents, including all who have applied for RACC funding – regardless of whether they received a grant or not. Commissioner Fish shared the survey opportunity with his listserv as well. To date, 190 community members have participated in the survey, and an executive summary of responses will be shared broadly soon after the survey closes on May 10.

Updates on the search also appear in Art Notes, the RACC e-newsletter that is distributed on the first day of each month.

Lastly, prior the position being officially posted we are finalizing a position prospectus. Attached is a draft. We welcome your input.  Please send to Jeff any feedback you have.  We are looking to post the middle of next week, so if you can provide your feedback by COB Monday, May 8th it would be appreciated.

Feel free to share any or all of the information laid out above. All of this information is public.  Also, the Search Committee would be happy to meet with you in person at any stage in the process.  

After deliberation and reviewing the prospectus, AWE sent the following response on May 11:

Dear Mike,

Thank you for reaching out and for being open to this important dialogue. We appreciate RACC’s transparency in disclosing the names of the search committee and for making all information easily accessible on the RACC website. We hope that RACC will continue to provide regular and consistent updates on the search process.  

To ensure that the search process is as equitable as possible, we would recommend that RACC add more people of color and generational diversity to the search committee. To include voices from the greater community in this search, we would also suggest including committee members outside of RACC’s immediate circles and networks.

Our group has had an opportunity to review the Prospectus draft. We have immediate concerns regarding the lack of focus around diversity, equity and inclusion. As the draft currently stands, DEI feels like an aside, tacked on at the end in the Diversity and Inclusion section. The suggestions that we’ve included below weave the DEI lens throughout the Prospectus.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion language should be included within the first three paragraphs of the prospective narrative, in the Principal Opportunities section, and in each of the Primary Responsibilities sections. The easiest way would be to integrate language from RACC’s Diversity and Equity Statement throughout and link RACC’s Diversity and Equity Statement within the Prospectus.

The Candidate Qualifications and Qualities should include real-world or lived-in experiences and perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Unique cultural experiences should be considered an imperative to this kind of work, and it is important to acknowledge how a leader with these qualities will bring a diverse lens to the role.

The Candidate Qualifications and Qualities should also include the knowledge of the region’s historical inequities, as well as an understanding of the region’s unique cultural and artistic needs. This knowledge will be necessary to move DEI work forward sensitively and successfully in the area.

Our group would be happy to continue this conversation in further detail with you or anyone from the Search Committee who has additional questions. The easiest way to reach us immediately is to contact Toni Tabora Roberts. For your reference, all the AWE members are also included here in this email.

Thank you again for all your care and hard work in this important search.

Sincerely,

Arts Workers for Equity (AWE) Committee:

Roya Amirsoleymani, PICA Rebecca Burrell, Open Signal Jenny Chu, Write Around Portland Nick Fenster, Northwest Children’s Theater & School Damien Geter, Catlin Gabel Candace Kita, APANO André Middleton, Friends of Noise Toni Tabora Roberts, Esper House

Continue to ask for equity, and sign up here for email updates on AWE’s efforts.