Portland actress and arts administrator Kimberly Howard (that’s her above, from an ad for Sojourn Theatre’s 2007 “Good,” which we can only pray she’ll parlay into a new statewide cultural philanthropy ad campaign – but we digress…) has resigned her position as managing director of the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center to accept a high-profile post as manager of the beleaguered Oregon Cultural Trust.
Adrienne Flagg, IFCC’s creative director, said in an e-mail message that Howard’s departure “happened suddenly and unexpectedly,” adding that the Center’s board was meeting this evening to decide whether to engage in a search process to find Howard’s successor, or whether they would even fill the open position at all.
The IFCC is currently engaged in an ongoing lobbying battle with the city of Portland to try and win back $80,000 of one-time, special project funding that it had received annually for many years. In an earlier interview with the Mercury, Flagg indicated she was unsure what sort of staff cuts might be on the boards for IFCC if the city did not award the requested monies again to the organization.
That Howard has left IFCC to become fundraiser-in-chief for the state’s cultural trust sure is interesting: only last month, the Trust was raided by the state Legislature to the tune of $1.8 million dollars to help plug a statewide budget gap, and last year’s Trust fundraising results were sluggish. The Trust, founded in 2002, has fallen far short of its heady ten-year, $200 million fundraising goal: to date, it has raised just over $17 million, with $12.5 million currently in its permanent endowment. Howard’s new position as Trust manager, overseeing a statewide multi-million dollar annual fundraising and awareness/advocacy campaign, is exactly her second in non-profit fundraising.
The OCT has struggled to keep people in the Trust manager position: Jim Cox (now in fundraising with Portland Opera) stayed on as Trust manager just over two years, and Carol Pelton, wife of Willamette University president Lee Pelton, was in the post for exactly 12 months before quitting.
Well, all we can say is good luck, Kimberly. It’s a dog-eat-dog cultural fundraising world out there – now go round up some Schnitzers and get to work or something.
hey stephen-
as a long-time colleague/friend of Kimberly’s, i of course have massive faith in her abilities to excel at this new position
but in direct response to one comment of yours-
” Howard’s new position as Trust manager, overseeing a statewide multi-million dollar annual fundraising and awareness/advocacy campaign, is exactly her second in non-profit fundraising.”
that is true
but
i want to ask you to consider the depth of experience Kimberly brings that your comment sort of reduces to one facet of her resume-
she’s been an ensemble member with Sojourn Theatre, an Oregon Not-for-profit, since 2003 and in that capacity, like other core ensemble members, she:
has been an active fundraiser, and every project we have carried out has been on budget, and we have never been in debt;
helped organize the Witness Our Schools statewide tour and helped build partnerships with many non-arts agencies around our state;
toured to Australia and represented Sojourn at a major convening of global funders and arts advocates;
worked with the CT state Legislature on issues of urban development and arts-based dialogue;
went to Washington DC as a presenter/participant at the Americans for the Arts Annual conference and spent time with Arts Council leadership from around the nation;
worked with not-for-profits and community groups on the ground in Ohio and Vermont that directly addressed arts advocacy and efficacy issues…
She is qualified in many ways to take on the daunting tasks ahead of her, and most significantly, she brings the combined assets and experiences of an artist and a manager to the table in a rare way…and that is, I think, what we need.
best, michael rohd
artistic director sojourn theatre
Stephen,
I’m another long time observer and participant in the Portland arts scene and I also want to comment on your blog on Ms. Howard’s appointment to the OCT. I’ve seen her work, both as an artist and as an arts administrator, and I’ve also worked with her in fundraising related work. In addition to the additional experience she has, which Mr. Rohd has detailed above (in some ways doing your homework for you as a ‘journalist’), I am also aware of her noted academic background as a college professor of the theatre arts. She indeed brings a lifelong committment to the arts – in particular, a profound committment to arts ‘by and for’ community life. This committment is known deeply by all who have known or worked with her. You may not have intended it as such, but your comment was something similar to the criticism of Presidential Candidate Obama’s lack of ‘experience’ or that he only was a ‘community organizer’. Simply put, OCT could not have found a better, more heart-felt committed and, yes, qualified trust manager than Ms. Howard.
Anyone who has had doubts about the future of the OCT, even in these uncertain economic times, should feel more hopeful now that they have Ms Howard.
…and all of us with some interest in the arts as a vital part of life in Oregon really should do our part as well; I am not in any way connected with OCT, but…if you are reading this, how about calling OCT and finding out ways to make Ms. Howard’s job just a bit easier? 😉