The New Face of Arts Leadership in the West - westaf - The Western ...

Summary and Final Comments
Shane Moreman: I have been thinking about
what I am going to say this morning, and I
realized that I am in a room with a number of
people who love art and who make art and
who support art. Knowing that, I am assuming
it is going to be hard to shock you. When I
was in Mexico City about three years ago, I
was hanging out with two performance artists
there, Poncho Lopez and La Congelada de
Uva. Poncho Lopez was doing an art project
in which he was saving his ejaculations, and
he had created this stand and he had these
great little jars. Every time he ejaculated, he
saved it, he stored it in one of the little jars and
then put it on display and people would come
by and they would look at the ejaculations.
His whole point with that art project was that
we get into such a hurry for the end product,
and look at what the end product is. It was
awful. It was ugly. And we shouldn’t get in
a hurry, was his point. Enjoy the process.
When I look back at what we did here, this
was a really enjoyable process. It is sad that
it’s over, but we don’t have to think about it as
being over. This is a continuing process and
we are going to continue to evolve outside
of this room. Being a little self-congratulatory
of all of us, we have really come a long
way in being able to have these very edgy
conversations without being hateful to one
another, with no one exploding and attacking
another person. That is really tough to do. So
you did a really good job, and you should be
really proud of yourselves. I am very proud
of you and all of us together as a group.
Brenda Allen: I echo most of Shane’s sentiments
in terms of thinking that this has probably
been more fruitful than we know. I invite you
to pause for a moment to think about what
I asked you yesterday—what you hoped to
get from us being together. Just think about
that as we move into this morning’s discussion.
As Shane says, it is a way to bridge into
when you leave here. I suggest you consider
telling the group what you are going to do
with the insights and information and, I trust,
new relationships that you have gained.
Ming Luke: My world is actually very, very quiet.
I am probably the only person in an orchestra
who is not actively making sound. What that
does for me is it makes me hyper-aware of
the musicians’ nonverbal communication
because not only are they performing through
an instrument, they are also performing through
their body language. And the level of their
overall performance relates to how I make my
living. So it has been very interesting for me to
observe the body language of all of you while
listening to you. I hear what you are saying,
but what is unsaid is even more powerful.
As we have considered the question “What
is a leader?” the question for people like me
is a little intimidating. We have talked about
a leader having strength—well, often, we
don’t feel like we have strength or wisdom.
And we may have respect that we don’t
feel like we have earned. And we may not
have the experience we need to fully lead.
What is the essence of the term to lead when
you are not sure where you are leading?
In my world, Leonard Bernstein is a major, major
voice that continues to affect most of us. The
things he talked about were being passionate,
being dedicated, being strong in your convictions,
and being honest. As we have talked,
I see those qualities in the people here. I also
hear people say they don’t feel as though they
can take on the mantle of leadership, and yet
their bodies are saying that they are already
actively doing so. So, for many, leadership
is not a choice, and body language may
position a person as a leader before they feel
comfortable proclaiming themselves a leader.
Margo Aragon: When you received the invitation
to join us here, it really was an invitation to
play, and play is an important component of a
healthy society. Americans don’t view play in
the way that, say, Sunya Ganbold was talking
about regarding the role of play in her com-
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