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

Saturday—I am not certain that we all are really
cognizant of the fact that we have just this little
time together to create something together. I
know it is possible for us to move toward that
shared experience; however, I notice some
hesitancy to step into that space and really be
a part of it. We need to just get in there and
mix it up. We need to feel that it is OK to move
forward without knowing where we are going.
Sunya Ganbold: When I think in terms of
leadership, I think of the nurturing kind of
leader—a leader who inspires and develops
the potential of the people around her or him.
From this symposium, the emerging leaders can
take away a great deal of learning from the
participants regarding a range of diversity issues,
especially the fluid definition of what it means to
be an effective leader. I think when we go back
home after this symposium, we—as emerging
young leaders—should encourage a similar kind
of open atmosphere in our workplace, one that
would nurture diversity. The kind of environment
that does not simply encourage assimilation to
the dominant culture but rather allows people to
acquire a variety of skills and tools for improvising
in the act of leadership that can be applied in
various cultural settings. This is why I am here,
and this is why I am so inspired. The approach to
leadership discussed here is really transforming.
James Early: I would like to suggest that leadership
is a neutral term, even though we have
been using it in a very positive way. Hitler was a
leader. Again, the prisons and the jail cells are
full of leaders. Paul Flores—I think it was Paul last
night—who introduced the term integrity. So
what is the content of leadership as a rhetorical
question? Can I be a leader? Erica Garcia
talked about ownership of self as perhaps the
first expression of leadership, perhaps away from
the collective tradition. The challenge may be
not just to envision that I will be a leader like
everybody else. If we all did that, the world
would not change. As we go through a sense
of ethics and values, what are we trying to lead
about and for? Are we simply trying to replicate
the good that has been, or are we trying to birth
ourselves—not just find our roots? Are we trying
to do more than just reconnect? Shouldn’t we
be trying to create something new by drawing
on some ethics of the old because the ethics
of the old are always juxtaposed by some
vulgarity? So the content of leadership, going
back to Paul’s issue, is of integrity and having
people think about what integrity is for me.
Brenda Allen: Let’s get back to that in just
one moment. Let’s call out some characteristics
of what we would consider positive,
productive, ethically oriented metaphors
or analogies or synonyms of a leader.
Comments voiced by the group: Advocate;
mentor; listener, knower; recipe book; compassionate;
not the person who speaks first but
who speaks last, as in Yup’ik culture; recognition
from your community; praise for others;
empowerment; the ability to speak the truth;
the ability to speak quietly and people still
listen; the ability to share what you have when
somebody needs help without reservation;
offering feedback, even if it may potentially be
painful; a person can be leading from the front
and pointing or from the back, making sure
everyone is safe; willingness to speak; courageous;
temporary, that there will be someone
else to pass on; inherently teachers; persistence;
committed; risk taker; story teller; careful;
non-judgmental; sense of humor; doesn’t
need to be liked; heckler; supportive; resilient;
flexible; group hug of a lot of communities;
representative; transformative; strong instincts;
decisive; emotional; empathy; capable.
Brenda Allen: Thank you. The goal here was
to get these terms out in the open and to have
them as ideas for you to consider. These are
particularly wonderful contributions you’ve
all made toward us thinking about leadership
and what we mean by that. I like the reminder
that leadership is essentially a neutral term. I
would like us to agree that what we are talking
about is from the standpoint of these notions
of leadership. We are almost idealizing them.
We are also recognizing that we can reach
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