Orlando Weekly's Al Krulick Emails Arts Community About UnitedArts Executive Director Search Committee
Orlando Weekly writer Al Krulick sent the email below to a slew of arts organizations, and The Daily City, about the United Arts of Central Florida search committee's inability to find a local replacement for the departed Executive Director. Its a long read but raises some interesting points.
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Al Krulick:
By now, many of you receiving this email have probably read, or at least heard about, the Orlando Sentinel’s front page article on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, by Matthew Palm, outlining the failure of the United Arts of Central Florida’s search committee to find a replacement for Margot Knight, its former Executive Director who left her post this past October.
The article states that out of the fifty local people who applied for the job, eight candidates were interviewed, yet none were deemed acceptable enough to the committee, which has now turned to an outside firm, Diversified Search of Philadelphia, to hunt for a replacement for Knight. That decision, according to the article, was lauded by a professor at the Stetson University School of Business Administration, seemingly giving it the imprimatur of an “expert.”
When I read the piece, it occurred to me that the committee’s failure to find a local arts administrator suitable enough for the job, was actually a tad insulting to the many fine and capable people right here in our community, several of whom could, in all probability, ably fill Ms. Knight’s shoes, and that its decision to seek succor outside this community betrayed a frame of mind inimical to the entire purpose of a local arts council.
So I am writing to you, as a twenty-year member of the Central Florida arts community, to register my disappointment with the committee’s choice to kick their decision “upstairs” and out of town, and suggest that there may be a better way in which to solve the dilemma of replacing Ms. Knight.
I have always believed, in whatever administrative role I have undertaken throughout my professional or political life, that the answers to the questions of “who should lead,” or “where do we go from here,” etc., are always better sought from the grassroots than from the “experts.” Did the search committee seek counsel from anyone in the arts community? I would guess not. (In fact, there is only one person on the committee who is even tangentially connected to the artists of Central Florida. The committee is mostly made up of business executives and so-called “community leaders.”) Did the search committee seek advice from the United Arts staff, which, better than they, might have excellent ideas about the best qualifications of the person who would lead them? Again, I would guess not.
I believe that the committee’s true failure, therefore, was in neglecting to seek advice and counsel, in the first place, from the very people that United Arts of Central Florida is supposed to serve: the artists and arts organizations of the council’s four county area – Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake - in other words, those of you reading this letter.
The good news is, it’s not too late. What I am asking from you, then, is the following: Contact the members of the search committee. Their emails are listed below. Tell them that you wish to be a part of the decision making process to choose the individual that you will be dealing with in the coming years. Tell them that the decision to hire a search firm is an admission, not necessarily of a failure of the committee members, nor the applicants who were turned away, but of the modus operandi of the committee’s selection procedure. Tell them that they are compounding their mistake by now resorting to a search firm who will find candidates with no ties to our community.
No doubt, the hired firm will produce some excellent candidates – that’s what it’s paid to do. But wouldn’t it be a better idea to get the consensus of the local arts community, find some worthy local candidate and not have to start from square one with a transplant from who knows where, who may or may not decide that living in Central Florida is a long-term commitment. It’s happened before folks – someone moves here to take a position because no one local is “good enough,” and before long that person realizes that it’s not his or her heart’s desire to settle here long-term. That person leaves town and the process begins anew.
Second, and this is completely and unabashedly self-serving: I have attached a copy of my original cover letter to the committee for your perusal, as I was one of the fifty original applicants, and although I did not receive a formal personal interview, I had two phone conversations with a ranking committee member concerning my candidacy. (By the way – during my initial conversation, I was told that the committee was looking for someone with “experience in city or county government.” I took that to mean they were looking for someone, who in addition to having an arts, business, and fundraising background, knew his or her way around the local political and governmental “scene,” and had a knack for, and knowledge of, how to leverage municipal monies as part of United Arts’ fundraising procedures. If that is, indeed, the case, how could a national search produce such a candidate?)
All that being said, if you feel that I am a qualified candidate for the position of Executive Director of United Arts of Central Florida, you have my complete approval to relay that choice to the committee, as well. If you don’t feel that way, that’s fine. You should still attempt to put in your two cents worth on the bigger issue of how these things get decided. The committee’s failure and, in my opinion, wrong-headed subsequent move, opens up an opportunity for your input. It’s up to you to raise their awareness by respectfully raising your voice in opposition to the status quo.
So, thank you for your kind attention. Please feel free to forward this missive to any and all members of the four-county arts community to whom it would be appropriate. Let’s shake things up a little. It’s what we artists do best.
Yours truly,
Al Krulick
hartleym@gtlaw.com; tony.jenkins@bcbsfl.com; hal.kantor@lowndes-law.com; bmcadam@darden.com; cmmccann@kpmg.com; jnowry@masseyservices.com; lpalermo@national.aaa.com; lisa.schultz@cnl.com; district4@ocfl.net; buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net; frank.billingsley@cityoforlando.net; mbrewer@cfcflorida.org; nancy.L.gidusko@disney.com; supt@ocps.net; dora.toro@laprensaorlando.com; autumn@artsandculturalalliance.org; swashington@Orlandomagic.com
*********************
Al Krulick:
By now, many of you receiving this email have probably read, or at least heard about, the Orlando Sentinel’s front page article on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, by Matthew Palm, outlining the failure of the United Arts of Central Florida’s search committee to find a replacement for Margot Knight, its former Executive Director who left her post this past October.
The article states that out of the fifty local people who applied for the job, eight candidates were interviewed, yet none were deemed acceptable enough to the committee, which has now turned to an outside firm, Diversified Search of Philadelphia, to hunt for a replacement for Knight. That decision, according to the article, was lauded by a professor at the Stetson University School of Business Administration, seemingly giving it the imprimatur of an “expert.”
When I read the piece, it occurred to me that the committee’s failure to find a local arts administrator suitable enough for the job, was actually a tad insulting to the many fine and capable people right here in our community, several of whom could, in all probability, ably fill Ms. Knight’s shoes, and that its decision to seek succor outside this community betrayed a frame of mind inimical to the entire purpose of a local arts council.
So I am writing to you, as a twenty-year member of the Central Florida arts community, to register my disappointment with the committee’s choice to kick their decision “upstairs” and out of town, and suggest that there may be a better way in which to solve the dilemma of replacing Ms. Knight.
I have always believed, in whatever administrative role I have undertaken throughout my professional or political life, that the answers to the questions of “who should lead,” or “where do we go from here,” etc., are always better sought from the grassroots than from the “experts.” Did the search committee seek counsel from anyone in the arts community? I would guess not. (In fact, there is only one person on the committee who is even tangentially connected to the artists of Central Florida. The committee is mostly made up of business executives and so-called “community leaders.”) Did the search committee seek advice from the United Arts staff, which, better than they, might have excellent ideas about the best qualifications of the person who would lead them? Again, I would guess not.
I believe that the committee’s true failure, therefore, was in neglecting to seek advice and counsel, in the first place, from the very people that United Arts of Central Florida is supposed to serve: the artists and arts organizations of the council’s four county area – Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake - in other words, those of you reading this letter.
The good news is, it’s not too late. What I am asking from you, then, is the following: Contact the members of the search committee. Their emails are listed below. Tell them that you wish to be a part of the decision making process to choose the individual that you will be dealing with in the coming years. Tell them that the decision to hire a search firm is an admission, not necessarily of a failure of the committee members, nor the applicants who were turned away, but of the modus operandi of the committee’s selection procedure. Tell them that they are compounding their mistake by now resorting to a search firm who will find candidates with no ties to our community.
No doubt, the hired firm will produce some excellent candidates – that’s what it’s paid to do. But wouldn’t it be a better idea to get the consensus of the local arts community, find some worthy local candidate and not have to start from square one with a transplant from who knows where, who may or may not decide that living in Central Florida is a long-term commitment. It’s happened before folks – someone moves here to take a position because no one local is “good enough,” and before long that person realizes that it’s not his or her heart’s desire to settle here long-term. That person leaves town and the process begins anew.
Second, and this is completely and unabashedly self-serving: I have attached a copy of my original cover letter to the committee for your perusal, as I was one of the fifty original applicants, and although I did not receive a formal personal interview, I had two phone conversations with a ranking committee member concerning my candidacy. (By the way – during my initial conversation, I was told that the committee was looking for someone with “experience in city or county government.” I took that to mean they were looking for someone, who in addition to having an arts, business, and fundraising background, knew his or her way around the local political and governmental “scene,” and had a knack for, and knowledge of, how to leverage municipal monies as part of United Arts’ fundraising procedures. If that is, indeed, the case, how could a national search produce such a candidate?)
All that being said, if you feel that I am a qualified candidate for the position of Executive Director of United Arts of Central Florida, you have my complete approval to relay that choice to the committee, as well. If you don’t feel that way, that’s fine. You should still attempt to put in your two cents worth on the bigger issue of how these things get decided. The committee’s failure and, in my opinion, wrong-headed subsequent move, opens up an opportunity for your input. It’s up to you to raise their awareness by respectfully raising your voice in opposition to the status quo.
So, thank you for your kind attention. Please feel free to forward this missive to any and all members of the four-county arts community to whom it would be appropriate. Let’s shake things up a little. It’s what we artists do best.
Yours truly,
Al Krulick
hartleym@gtlaw.com; tony.jenkins@bcbsfl.com; hal.kantor@lowndes-law.com; bmcadam@darden.com; cmmccann@kpmg.com; jnowry@masseyservices.com; lpalermo@national.aaa.com; lisa.schultz@cnl.com; district4@ocfl.net; buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net; frank.billingsley@cityoforlando.net; mbrewer@cfcflorida.org; nancy.L.gidusko@disney.com; supt@ocps.net; dora.toro@laprensaorlando.com; autumn@artsandculturalalliance.org; swashington@Orlandomagic.com