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

up to me and asking me who is going to take
over, and I am not dead yet. It’s like wanting to
take your house, and you are still living in it. I also
heard that the Gen Xers are turning 40, right?
It is the other side of the rainbow, my friends.
The idea is, “I am going to go to this point, and
then I am going to stop, and somebody is going
to take it over from that very same place.”
What I have seen in terms of succession in arts
organizations is that it becomes what it is after
you are gone. It’s like a phenomenon: Once
you die, something else happens. It’s a void
that happens, and something fills it. I am starting
to think about succession; I am going to go as
far as I can go, and then something else will fill
that space. And it may not be exactly the same
kind of thing that you may have spent however
many years creating because there are a
number of things that will change within that.
This may be a jump, but somehow there is a
connection here. When people talk about
computers and individuals rejecting new
technology, I understand what they are talking
about. As a theatre artist, I have tremendous
frustration with one aspect of technology.
Because of the microphone, because people
can’t sing loud anymore, actors all want to be
mic’d. But this is a double-edged sword. We
used to speak loudly because we didn’t have
microphones; we performed out on the streets
and did it wherever we had to do it. So there
is a danger of losing that skill, which is a valuable
skill. On the other hand, we are seeing
people use technology to do other creative
things with the voice, things they were not able
to do before. So the intrusion of technology
presents us with an interesting dichotomy.
Brenda Allen: That raises something that
came up earlier for me in terms of thinking
about technology period. Do you know the
definition of technology? Technology is very
simply extensions of what we can do. So these
glasses are technology. They extend, they
allow me to see. This microphone is a type of
technology. Any medicine you take is a type
of technology. I am struggling with what I
want to say here. It has something to do with
the idea that there is nothing new under the
sun, if you will—that there are different kinds
of manifestations, but the challenges of the
changes brought about through the introduction
of new technology are nothing new.
Shawna Shandiin Sunrise: A batten and a
comb.
Brenda Allen: In terms of weaving, yes. In
some ways, with new technology, you are still
doing something basic, but you have alternative
and new ways of doing it. So it seems to
me that part of what we might do, as we think
about emerging leaders, as we think about
transforming and innovating and so forth, some
of our conversations might be around what is
the root, what is the essence of that with which
we are dealing? And then to share with one
another: Here are some ways that we have
done it or our generation has done it. What are
some newer ways with the technologies that
are inviting to you? So I think this is something
that is really worth exploring and playing with. I
hope I have been at least relatively clear with
that, and I will try to work on it more as we move
through the session. But I think there is something
really significant within that that we might
miss if we are looking just at the thing instead
of asking, “What is underneath this or what is
overarching this that we all can agree upon?”
Now I want to turn to a question that James
Early brought up last night and also to something
that Samuel Aguiar Iñiguez mentioned, which is
the notion that we are talking about leadership.
I don’t think we have clarified that point and,
therefore, we may be coming from so many
different places with it that our conversations
may seem fruitful and engaging, but we may
be missing one another. So what I want us to
talk about for a few minutes is what we mean
when we say leadership. What are the different
kinds of contexts in which you lead or that you
see yourself leading or that you would like our
conversations to turn to? We may benefit from
a listing of various perspectives on leadership.
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