In our Leadership InSight series, we ask arts education leaders to share advice and the experiences that have helped them become successful leaders. Margaret Perry has served as executive director of the Armstrong Community Music School in Austin, TX for over 17 years. She is also an accomplished pianist, teacher, and arts advocate. She is a member of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame and received the 2012 National Guild Service Award.
 

LEADING AS A LISTENER: FINDING NEW WAYS TO LEARN FROM AND ENGAGE OUR CONSTITUENTS

My life in arts education, thankfully, started very young. I was incredibly fortunate to be raised in a family that highly valued the arts and knew that they should be a part of our daily experience. More than that, I was fortunate to be raised by a family who said, “you’ve been given some great gifts, and now you need to give them back to your community. For the rest of your life, you need to be engaged.” So music and, for the last 17 years, the Armstrong Community Music School, has been my vehicle for doing just that.

With almost two decades of experience as an executive director, I’ve started to feel a significant change in my role in the last year—and I think the shift will only continue in the future. Now more than ever, I have to step outside of the school to engage in conversations with the community, to hear what they need from us and from arts education. The results of these conversations often have challenged both my comfort level and my knowledge base. These conversations remind me that I must continue to rethink and reevaluate how my organization speaks to our stakeholders as our political environment changes. My staff and I have found that professional development on issues of poverty, violence, and the trauma of prejudice is a critical, ongoing necessity in our daily work, and it feels more vital every day. 

Making the Space to Listen
The conversations I’ve been having with arts leaders in my community suggest that, moving forward, real organizational leadership will require a truly new level of listening and direct engagement. We must connect with different segments of our communities and have real open-hearted conversations, not just with those who support us or those who need our offerings, but also with those who don’t understand or value our work. We must connect with people who may not have directly experienced the power of engaging in the arts and bring them to the table as equal partners. 

Of course, this work is time-consuming, difficult, and at times frustrating; but how else will we weave a fabric of common community and work toward a nation that values and supports the arts? Leaders in the coming years need to recognize that having difficult conversations with your community is the way to test assumptions and inspire ideas—ideas about how to approach our work and adapt based on the people that we seek to serve. 

Some executive directors in the field might argue that, moving forward, we may have to put all of our energy into keeping the lights on, and there may not be space to step outside of the day-to-day requirements of running an effective school. But I would suggest that we have to be realistic with our goals in this area and, importantly, we have to be kind to ourselves if we don’t always achieve success. I’ve found that, rather than having hundreds of individual conversations, community members are often willing to gather in a shared space to share their thoughts on a particular issue. So you can look to the community for help; you don’t have to go it alone. 

Advocating in a New Political Context
Looking toward the future, it is likely that demand for the arts will continue to outpace the services that we can provide. Our difficulties may never go away. However, effective leaders should recognize that difficult times can be the catalyst for everyone in the arts to embrace their personal leadership. Those of us who know the healing power and energizing beauty of the arts need to personally set goals for action. 

In some cases, that action may look like community organizing, as we seek to answer questions such as: who is resisting the value of the arts in our community, and what can we do personally and professionally to bring about positive and life changing conversations that translate into action in a difficult political climate? In other cases, it may be direct political engagement that draws on your knowledge of the arts. Before I leave for the school each morning, I send emails or make phone calls to our senators and legislators on issues concerning the arts. That way I have at least accomplished that small task before the whirlwind of each day hits me.

Difficult political climates, both now and in the future, will create uncertainty, confusion, and frustration. However, it is also an extraordinary moment for us to give careful thought to our work and to find new inspiration, truth, and energy in what we do each day.

In our Leadership InSight series, we ask arts education leaders to share advice and the experiences that have helped them become successful leaders. James Miles was recently appointed executive director of Arts Corps, a social justice-based organization in Seattle, WA. He is an educator and actor and previously was director of education at Urban Arts Partnership in New York City.
 

FUELING A PASSION: ARTS EDUCATION LEADERS AS COMMUNITY CATALYSTS

I come to this work as a teaching artist with a background as a professional actor. Like many in our field, when I wasn’t acting I turned to teaching and, eventually, I was turning down acting gigs to work in arts education. By 2013, I was working at Urban Arts Partnership (UAP) on a program called Fresh Prep, which trains K-12 teachers to use a hip-hop based curriculum, positioning youth culture at the center of student learning.

This year I had the honor of stepping into the role of executive director at Arts Corps, an organization that works to have a deep impact on the creativity and leadership of young people in our region, but also to reshape our education system to include the arts and a more youth-centered approach to education. There are a number of skills that have allowed me to get to where I am today as a leader and that will help me advance Arts Corps in the coming years. To start, my work has always been rooted in collaboration. UAP’s success was dependent on identifying and developing a variety of partners to support the work (New Victory Theater, Lincoln Center, Disney) and on finding forums through which to share our success (South by Southwest, Google). I’ve also had to maximize the impact of my programs and demonstrate results while working with a relatively small budget. As nonprofit arts funding continues to decrease and our political environment remains uncertain, the ability to build a dedicated, mission-driven, and highly adaptive team will be increasingly critical. Finally, I’ve had experience and training in addressing social justice issues and have an enduring commitment to supporting students of color—central to Arts Corps’ mission and my own core values.

Becoming Embedded in the Community
As the director of a justice-oriented organization, I see future leaders in arts education finding innovative ways to be embedded in the communities that they serve.

True embeddedness requires a leader that is 1) constantly engaged with community members; and 2) providing opportunities for his or her staff to be engaged in a similar way. This means being on the ground as a leader and expanding one’s view about where the arts can play a role. The director of a community arts education organization should understand his or her community’s needs around health and safety, immigration, juvenile justice, and other pressing issues, while also developing relationships with the community members that are involved in these efforts. On a basic level, this may require a director, and, often, staff members, who can communicate with local community members in their native language(s). We have a staff member who is studying Spanish and Arabic (and also happens to be a fantastic emcee). She is an incredible asset to Arts Corp’s effort to build authentic community relationships that meet parents and students where they’re at and help make arts learning part of their everyday lives.

The ability to engage youth leaders in a sincere way is also critical to the future of our field because youth voice and leadership will be what moves our communities forward. We recently had an event that featured a young student sharing her perspective on issues of immigration enforcement. As she was talking, she was breaking down the issue in ways that left everyone in the room stunned. This experience, among many others, reinforces my belief that young people will be the ones holding our feet to the fire and creating change on issues that matter to them. Leaders of arts organizations have to be ready to step aside and make space for young people to hold positions of power. In my view, that’s the only way to ensure that our organizations are not only embedded in the community today, but also for generations to come.

Building a Committed and Innovative Staff
The next generation of leaders will have to be adept at managing a staff that, increasingly, has different expectations about 1) the distribution of power within an arts nonprofit and 2) the funda¬mental mission of arts education. It’s clear to me that the only way to attract and retain talented staff now and in the future is to not think about it as “how can this person plug into our system?” but rather as “how can my organization provide a platform for this person to do what they do best?” This frame changes the accountability structure so that I am, as a leader, responsible for making sure my staff is valued, supported, and given the freedom to constantly try new things.

In terms of mission, I’m confident that, more and more, talented teaching artists and administrators will be drawn to organizations that look beyond just their art form to think about how students can become whole, thriving individuals. The next generation recognizes that we need to be developing holistic young people that are multifaceted and, above all else, inspired. Thinking about my own path as an artist, I was not successful as an actor because I was always the best in the room. I was successful because there was a passion and an energy in my work that the arts had helped cultivate—a passion for trying new things, learning from my mistakes, and creating new opportunities. Sparking that passion in young people, by any means necessary, should be central to all of our work in the coming years.

Now in our 80th year, the National Guild is taking this opportunity to articulate new language that will form the foundation for our future as a leader in community arts education. After working closely with our board of trustees, members, and other valued stakeholders, the Guild has changed its vision, mission, and values to better reflect our belief in the power of creativity and the arts to transform individuals and communities, and our deep commitment to leadership, equity, and social and racial justice. Our 80th anniversary is a time to reflect on our remarkable past—but also a time to lay the groundwork for the next of 80 years of developing leaders, strengthening organizations, and advocating for community arts education. 
 

“Over the course of the past two years, the Guild has worked to clarify its own core values while also taking the time to articulate the change that we all hope to see in the world,” said Terry Hueneke, chair of the Guild’s board of trustees. “Maximizing creative potential, developing leaders in the field, building healthy communities, strengthening and sustaining organizations—this work, consistently approached through a lens of social and racial justice, will define the National Guild in the years to come.”

Beginning in 2015, the Guild’s staff and board began to identify increasing misalignment between our mission and vision language and the Guild’s dynamic impact in community arts education. While leadership development is at the heart of the Guild’s contribution to the field, our mission and vision language did not reflect its centrality in our work. Beyond that, while our mission spoke to the need for access, we knew that that language alone did not fully capture our commitment to racial and social justice in arts education. 
 
To begin to rearticulate our mission and vision, the Guild looked to a central philosophy of the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI)—the importance of clarifying one’s core values before taking meaningful action. Understanding our values as an organization, particularly in regards to our voice on issues of social and racial justice, required internal discussion as well as engagement with external stakeholders that offered tools and expertise. Internal reflection included, amongst other activities, a task force composed of board and staff members that was formed to investigate how our stated values could align more closely with our programmatic commitment to equity. Engagement with external stakeholders included an anti-racism training with full board and staff led by diversity and equity consultant Dr. Derrick Gay. 
 
Through this multifaceted process we clarified our values as an organization—Leadership, Equity, Creativity, and Community—and were better equipped to articulate a mission and vision that aligned with those values. We believe that the revised vision, mission, and values statements more clearly express the ultimate impact of our work while providing a clear compass to help guide us in the future. 
 
“Over the course of 80 years, the Guild has found myriad ways to strengthen the field, but—at the core of our impact—is a commitment to maximizing the creative potential of our communities through transformative initiatives: CAELI, Creative Youth Development, Creative Aging, the Conference for Community Arts Education, timely and responsive online learning, robust national networks, and the list goes on,” says Jonathan Herman, executive director at the Guild. “Our rearticulated vision, mission, and values offer a clearer picture of who we are as an organization and the change that we will affect for years to come.”

The National Guild for Community Arts Education, on behalf of a coalition of national partners, has been awarded an NEA Collective Impact grant for $100,000. The grant will support the implementation of the National Blueprint for Creative Youth Development (CYD), a guiding document to be released in December 2017 that will map opportunities for cross-sector advancement of creative youth development and provide strategic recommendations for policy, partnership, and field-building.

The funds are part of the NEA’s second round of funding in FY 2017, which will award 1,195 grants totaling $82.06 million to support organizations in all 50 states and five U.S. jurisdictions. “The arts reflect the vision, energy, and talent of America’s artists and arts organizations,” said NEA chairman Jane Chu. “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support organizations such as the National Guild for Community Arts Education in serving their communities by providing excellent and accessible arts experiences.”

The funded project will support implementation of the National Blueprint for CYD’s strategies for achieving shared goals to increase access to arts education for youth during out-of-school time. Strategies include adopting effective business models; developing revenue sources; documenting and communicating the benefit of CYD programs for youth; using shared terminology, data, and assessment tools; and connecting programs with in-school arts education and non-arts community development initiatives. Under the leadership of the Guild as the backbone organization, the National CYD Partnership, with key stakeholders from the arts, humanities, youth development and CYD-related sectors such as community development and workforce development, will coordinate and foster participation and engagement of local and national community stakeholders through active working groups and online platforms that promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, and data collection.

Creative youth development is a recent term that unifies a longstanding community of practice that intentionally integrates the arts, humanities, and sciences with youth development principles, sparking young people’s creativity and building critical learning and life skills. In 2014, representatives of the CYD field came together to form its first-ever national policy and advocacy agenda and charged a national partnership to oversee its implementation. Current partners in the Creative Youth Development National Partnershipinclude the National Guild (which serves as a backbone organization), Americans for the Arts, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and Massachusetts Cultural Council. The partnership—which is supported by a cross-sector, 12-member national advisory committee and a 10-member steering committee of CYD practitioners—aims to expand and diversify to include 2-4 additional partners from allied sectors.

Speaking in June 2016 at an event to celebrate the National Guild's 2016 Collective Impact grant in support of creation of the CYD Blueprint, chairman Jane Chu cited the importance of the Blueprint and its capacity "to identify the gaps and locate the opportunities to develop creative arts programs that include collaborations with other sectors, and help our young people across the nation succeed. It’s important to nurture and cultivate the pipeline of children and youth to be engaged in the arts, because the arts are helping to draw out their potential to live more fully."

The National Guild’s strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency have earned it a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. This is the first time that the National Guild has earned this top distinction.

Since 2002, using objective analysis, Charity Navigator has awarded only the most fiscally responsible organizations a 4-star rating. In 2011, Charity Navigator increased the metrics it uses in its ratings methodology, increasing its focus on governance and ethical practices as well as measures of openness. These Accountability & Transparency metrics, which account for 50 percent of a charity’s overall rating, reveal which charities operate in accordance with industry best practices and whether they are open with their donors and stakeholders. 

“The National Guild’s exceptional 4-star rating sets it apart from its peers and demonstrates its trustworthiness to the public,” said Michael Thatcher, President and CEO of Charity Navigator. “Only a quarter of charities rated by us receive this distinction. This adds the National Guild to a preeminent group of charities working to overcome our world’s most pressing challenges, and means people can trust that their donations are going to a financially responsible and ethical organization.”
 
“It’s important our donors trust that we’re using their donations wisely to advance equitable access to lifelong learning in the arts,” said Jonathan Herman, Executive Director of the National Guild. “Our 4-star rating on Charity Navigator demonstrates to our supporters our good governance and financial accountability.”

The National Guild’s rating and other information about charitable giving can be found here. More-detailed information about the National Guild’s rating is available to Charity Navigator visitors who become free registered users.

In our Leadership InSight series, we ask arts education leaders to share advice and the experiences that have helped them become successful leaders. Jessica Mele is a program officer in performing arts at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She has also served as executive director at Performing Arts Workshop in San Francisco, CA.

What led you into the field of community arts education, and how long have you been at your current position?

I've been at the Hewlett Foundation for about a year and a half now, and it’s my first time working for a charitable foundation. Before that I was executive director at Performing Arts Workshop in San Francisco for four and a half years. It was my mom that led me into arts education. She was an early childhood educator and dancer and storyteller, so when I was a kid, every learning experience was a creative learning experience. She was really thoughtful about that. And those were some of the most important learning moments of my life—being creative, making plays, making up stories and songs, and learning things through stories and songs.

So when I came to a crossroad in my professional life after college, after graduate school in education, it occurred to me that that was really the most important part of my education, and everyone deserved that kind of learning experience. That's what brought me to arts education and specifically community arts education. At the same time I moved to San Francisco and found Performing Arts Workshop, whose mission is to help young people develop critical thinking, creative expression, and learning skills through the arts. That matched up so well with my experience and values. So I found my home at Performing Arts Workshop, which is also a Guild member.

Are there specific qualities you find necessary to being a leader in community arts education that are unique or different from those qualities needed in other fields?

Oh, I don't know that they're so different from qualities needed in other fields. But I do think that in this field you need to have an orientation toward collaboration, and in order to do that you need to be a good listener and empathize and understand the needs of partner organizations or partner schools or partner community organizations. It's a very collaborative field and sometimes that doesn't make good business sense. But it does make for a stronger field, and in many cases it makes better programs for kids.

So it helps to have that kind of collaborative consensus-based approach to leadership. But in addition you need a strong sense of how to make the business model work, because it's a really tricky business model. The financials in community arts education rarely look great unless you're starting off with a lot of money. So I think those are the two things. You need to combine that kind of empathetic listening and collaborative mindset with some business common sense. Those two things can be really hard to hold at the same time.

What professional projects or training experiences that you've been a part of were impactful on your leadership development?

Let' see. CAELI [the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute] helped me stop and take a breath and be reflective of my own experience and what I bring as a leader. In particular when I first started as an executive director, I focused a lot on what I didn't have and what I didn't have in comparison with my predecessor. CAELI helped me focus on what I did bring to the table and valuing that and helping project that value when I was working with other people in the organization. 

I was also an organizer with the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers years ago when I was just starting out. That work was really affirmative for me because the union was 80 percent female, very consensus-based. I was assigned to the education school and museums, and my job was essentially walking around the campus and talking to people. And doing that you learn a lot of patience and you learn how to talk to just about anyone. That was a really valuable learning experience that I took into my current field.
 

What was one piece of advice on leadership that particularly resonated with you and how have you put that into practice in your work?

There are a lot of things. But there’s something I remember Ronnie Brooks saying at CAELI that has stuck with me—and part of the reason it stuck with me is I didn't initially really understand it. She said you will be blamed for everything, for the good and the bad as an executive. You're bearing the responsibility for that. 

Her point was that you might as well just take credit for the good stuff, don't deflect compliments or positive comments about your performance because you're going to get all the bad stuff too. So you might as well appreciate and leverage the points of positive recognition you get. That has stuck with me because I had a really hard time being generous and kind to myself when I was first in that role as an executive director. 

For you personally what does it take to be a strong leader?

For me personally, an important thing to remember is if you feel like you should talk, you probably shouldn't. And when you feel afraid to talk, you probably should. A critical element of being a strong or effective leader is understanding when you need to speak up and use your voice and when you need to not do that.

And it doesn't always align with what you're feeling at the moment. There are a whole lot of other things that it takes to be a strong leader, but I lead with that one because it also embodies supporting other people to be their best selves—and helping bring people together has a lot to do with how you see yourself. Respecting yourself and what you bring to a room doesn't mean you have to take up the whole room. Taking over a room is how a lot of people expect a leader to show up, but it's not necessarily what makes an effective leader.

In our Leadership InSight series, we ask arts education leaders to share advice and the experiences that have helped them become successful leaders. Noah Bloom is director of programs at Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT. He has also served as associate director at Church Street School for Music and Art, and has been a professional musician and music instructor.
 

What led you into the field of community arts education and how long have you been in your current position at your organization?

My passion for music education began at a young age after hearing numerous stories about the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia which was co-founded by my great grandmother—my mom's grandma. Stories about her were relayed to me with intense family pride, so I was deeply attracted to the idea of working in this environment. But before I got into the world of arts administration, I worked as a performer and teaching artist for many years. The transition to arts administration was logical for me because although I love making art, I realized very early on that I didn't want to devote my life to being a professional musician. In addition, every place I ever taught I was always thinking about how the institution could better serve their teaching artists and make deeper community connections. Arts education provides a great platform for me to explore my love for people, education, arts, and community. So that's pretty much how I got into this field.

I came to Neighborhood Music School from New York’s Church Street School for Music and Art in 2012 as the first ever director of programs. I served one year here as the interim Executive Director but now am happily back in my role as director of programs.

Are there qualities you find necessary to being a leader in community arts education that are unique or different from those qualities needed in other fields?

The whole perspective that is required of a leader in community arts education is unique, particularly with old schools like Neighborhood Music School. Your eye has to be on the long game and building relationships, and that takes a lot of patience and optimism. Neither the business model nor the culture allows for sudden U-turns, unlike leading a startup or a sports team where the mentality is “it's my way or the highway” and you can make big trades or cuts and start over.

The culture that you find within a community arts school is unique because there is a strong, complex, and amazing web of faculty, staff, donors, students, parents, and community members that are all intertwined. It takes time to understand the culture at a community arts school, especially at a place like Neighborhood, which has been around for 106 years.

The makeup of the school faculty is particularly unique. Many of our faculty have been here between 25 and 50 years. NMS is a huge part of their lives, yet because of the nature of teaching, most on a part time basis. It's also only part of their professional lives. The only way to lead in this particular environment is to build trust, which only happens over time. It takes a lot of time.
 

What professional projects or training experiences that you’ve been a part of were impactful on your leadership development?

Being a professional musician contributed a great deal to my philosophy of collaboration. Unless you're blessed with a really sexy belly button or something that will sell videos, being a professional musician requires freelancing, which requires adapting to many different situations. As a band leader in New York, I was really lucky to get to hire some incredibly talented musicians, and that process taught me a lot about leadership. It taught me to have conviction in my own ideas and to be open to all of the other talent in the room—when to lead, when to listen, and when to give others a chance to shine. As a performing jazz musician, collaboration skills are refined on the bandstand. And as an administrator, my approach is definitely informed by those same things.

I've also been blessed to work under great mentors like Lisa Ecklund-Flores, who founded and runs Church Street School for Music and Art. She is a great example of leading through both innovation and perspiration. I remember many times watching her teaching a packed class, meeting with local politicians, fixing the toilet or a light bulb, finding time for teachers or parents, and writing grants all within one day. She did whatever was required with no ego whatsoever and that inspired me and taught me a lot about leadership.

In addition, I attended CAELI [the Guild’s Community Arts Education Leadership Institute] in 2013 and that was a major turning point in my life. I learned to better understand my own nature and lead from a position of strength. There are obviously so many ways to go about things. Personally, I like having interactive conversations much better than making speeches. I like asking questions. I like the process of building consensus rather than dictating a plan. CAELI taught me that my style was not only acceptable, but a valuable way to lead. It crystallized my desire to always work to grow into my better self.

What was one piece of advice on leadership that particularly resonated with you and how have you put that into practice in your work?

One piece of advice that stuck with me is to make space for things to move around. One day at CAELI we were given an example of one of those little plastic puzzles that has a picture on them and you shuffle the pieces to put it all back together. This only works because there is one piece missing which creates space. The example we were given is that you need that space for things to shuffle and move around, but most of us are on the floor looking for a missing piece to put back in; yet things can only move around because there is space. I love that metaphor. 

For me this translates to creating a reflective practice of renewal and making space and time for myself. My dad is a Buddhist practitioner who meditates every day, and as a musician I practiced the trumpet for hours and hours, for years and years, so I thought I knew what it meant to make time. But I when I looked at my current life several years ago, I realized I rarely allowed myself to slow down and take time to reflect.

There was one memorable day at CAELI when we were asked to take some time to sit quietly and write in a journal. As I began to write, I grew so uncomfortable with the silence that I actually tried to sneak back into the dorm and take a nap. But James Horton [the Guild’s director of learning and leadership development] caught me and held me to task. This was really eye opening, because I'm asked to serve people every single day, but I had forgotten how to serve myself. CAELI brought this idea front and center and reminded me of the importance of creating space in my own life and that there's a big difference between understanding and doing.

Finally, for you personally, what does it take to be a strong leader?

The first thing that pops into my mind is to listen, but to also make sure you hear others. These are very different things. You can certainly listen and not hear, but if you're hearing, you have to listen. It’s important to be humble, to continually grow, to admit mistakes, to laugh at yourself, to invest in others, and to have a strong support network. Leadership can come from anywhere, and you're always stronger when your team or others around you contribute and thrive. It’s not always going to be top-down, so giving everyone an opportunity to come to the table is critical to running a strong organization.
    
Finally, as a leader, one of my main goals is to always inspire participation. Although this means different things and different approaches with different people and different situations, the goal is always to inspire participation from others.

We’ve been having a lot of conversations about participation at different levels of our organization: how do we get the faculty more involved, what do we do with the staff or with our board, or with our students and donors?  And it dawned on me that the goal of inspiring participation is the same for everyone. We can't be angry with the board if we feel they aren’t doing their work. It's our job to inspire them. Same goes for the faculty. They work to inspire students and they need to be inspired too. And the board and faculty need to inspire the staff as well. The goal remains the same for all of us: Inspire Participation. This creates a shared culture of ownership and gives everyone the ability to make a positive impact.

In our new Leadership InSight series, we ask arts education leaders to share advice and the experiences that have helped them become successful leaders. Helen Chao-Casano is Director of the Music School at the Punahou School in Honolulu, HI. She has also served on the boards of Music Teachers National Association, as the Southwest Division Director, and the Honolulu Chamber Music Series.

What lead you into the field of community arts education? How long have you been at your current position and with the Punahou School?

I was always interested in music teaching and performance, and I also have some previous experience in production. So I think it was just kind of a natural outgrowth of those experiences that led me to my current administrative position in the arts.

Early in my career, I actually had the opportunity of establishing my own early childhood arts program at a nonprofit school. And I found that that was really fun, to not only shape the curriculum and mentor and train teachers, but also use it as a vehicle for community arts outreach with a lot of young families. So we had programs in Kindermusik, in creative drama, and creative movement.

And now I’m in my nineteenth year at Punahou School, my tenth year as the director of the music school and co-curricular performing arts program director.

Are there particular qualities you find necessary to being a leader in Community Arts Education that you think are unique to this field, as opposed to working in other fields?

Well, my answer is yes and no. Because I think that all leaders, regardless of their field, need to be creative and collaborative and committed. Also, having a healthy sense of humor and the ability to appreciate diverse perspectives is critical to the work. But unique to community arts education is the degree of empathy, and the expression of empathy in action, because the arts is a very, very personal field.

What professional projects or training experiences have been impactful on your leadership development?

Well, certainly CAELI [the Guild’s Community Arts Education Leadership Institute]. I’m an alum of the class of 2015. CAELI was a big experience, a big turning point and landmark in my development as a leader. I’m very grateful for it. I met some wonderful mentors, as well as developed a different circle of colleagues that I wouldn’t have had access to in my current position.

Through much of my career, I’ve also done a lot of volunteer and elected service in state teaching associations. I’ve also had some board service with the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). And I serve on the board of a local chamber music series. And I think all the projects that come with board service are built-in professional development because you have to engage people, enroll people in an idea and make it happen. So I feel like I learn a lot professionally from that volunteer service.

And of course, other aspects of professional development would include continuing to attend conferences, whether the Guild’s or MTNA’s, and meeting colleagues and attending interesting sessions and continually learning.

Is there one piece of leadership advice that has particularly resonated with you and that you’ve been able to put into practice in your work?

There is one piece of advice I received from my pedagogy professor, Fran Larimer at Northwestern University. She had this really short life motto. She said, “You have to show up.” You just have to show up. And through that, I just—I think it was very encouraging to me, a reminder to be present and also engaged in the work, in whatever I’m doing. And also to lead by example and by service. That is sage wisdom in very few words but you can apply it in many, many ways.

Finally for you personally, what does it take to be a strong leader?

I think learning to be true to myself and to my organization’s values and being consistent in action have meant a lot to me. And I feel that this really helps build an environment of trust in your team.

And I strive to always treat people with respect and compassion. So those are the elements that mean the most to me, and when I need to take time to reflect and refocus, that’s what I come back to—just being true to myself and to my values. CAELI really helped with that too.

Reflecting over my own experience, I definitely feel like you always have to continue to grow. I mean, you never have it down. The same is true in music. You have to keep working. You have to keep striving. And I think it’s wonderful to have opportunities to meet people that are inspiring to you, whether they are artists, whether they are educators, whether they are wonderful leaders in this field or other fields. In other words, just keep taking lessons.

And that means approaching your work with a lot of humility and accepting that it’s OK to be wrong. It’s OK to fail because if you’re not trying, you’re not going to fail, right? So you have to fail because that’s evidence you’re still growing. So as much as leaders and performers don’t like to fail, you have to accept failure. You have to be willing to try and take risks.

And I think that’s the thing that keeps me on an even keel. That even if I’ve been in this job for ten years, I’m going to fail sometimes and it’s OK, because that means I’m still trying. I’m still trying to innovate, try new ideas. Sometimes it’ll work, sometimes it won’t, and as long as you’re still being true to yourself and your values, you’re going to be fine. Don’t be so married to being right, but be right in being open—be willing to change through what you’ve learned. That’s how I survive on a daily basis.