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

forth from the past will have limited reach
because there is another naming system out
here that we have to really be insurgents
against and be transformative about.
Amanda Ault: I am feeling a little distressed.
What I am feeling is discord in the terminology
we are using to recognize leadership. This morning,
we were invited to look at the definitions
of leader. I think we can push ourselves even
farther in expanding those definitions. Already
in our conversation, I feel there is a pattern
of pretermission for the acts of leadership we
exhibit at every stage of our professional lives.
This morning, we shared a vision of leadership
that included things that I believe many of us
embody all of the time. We are committed, we
are teachers, we are listening, we are speaking,
and I think that, in this conversation, it would
be a shame if we didn’t recognize and honor
that ongoing act of leadership. The tone of
our conversation suggests to me that leader,
or the term leader, is something outside of
myself—something I am not already connected
to in my life and that I am not currently acting
as a leader. Personally, I am trying to let go
of that sense that I will someday be a leader,
narrowly defined, and instead recognize the
leadership characteristics, coming from various
traditions, that I already exhibit. I feel that
one of the more valuable measurements of
leadership is the degree to which people can
embody these characteristics in multiple areas
and phases of their lives. I pose this question to
the group: How can we create more synergy
between our personal sense of leadership
and the language we use to define it?
Paul Flores: I always thought that the art would
lead. Don’t ask me to elect a president. Don’t
ask me to run for public office. As an artist,
I will create art that can give another vision,
that can show an alternative perspective,
represent a whole other image. That was also
my response when Danielle Brazell was talking
about being frustrated with nonprofit organizations.
I remember talking to a young man who I
work with now who was getting criticism from his
friends. “Why do you work with Youth Speaks?
You’re a Black nationalist. That’s not a Black
organization. Why are you working with them?”
But what he told me was, “What else is there?
What else is there? What are you going to do?
Are you going to work for a corporation?”
The idea of how we define leadership is what
we do. That’s the way I believe. I am not
always the best delegator. I don’t always
say, “You should be doing this.” I like to lead
by example. My example is by creation and
creativity and the things that I do. This is what
I always tell people when they ask me how to
incorporate spoken word into a classroom. I
am in front of students every day. If you are
a teacher, you know how to be a performer.
So just be who you are. Don’t rely too much
on the things that you taught before. Try
improvising leadership. That’s a great way
of doing it. Let people see your actions,
even if you think it leaves you vulnerable.
I think that every leader, every person, has
a leadership skill related to the talents and
strengths he or she has within. But to be a
leader, you must be willing to take a risk and
risk looking like a fool sometimes. Just because
you are a ninth-grade English teacher doesn’t
mean that you can’t create something that will
inspire something else. I think the art will lead in
that sense—whatever you consider art to be.
Shawna Shandiin Sunrise: We are all at
different levels of understanding, and we
need to recognize that. You are here for a
reason. I am here for a reason. We are all
here for a reason. There is a purpose here,
and whether we landed here accidentally
or on purpose, we can actively—proactively—acknowledge
this fact and go “OK.”
What Amanda is saying is that we are all here
for a reason. I don’t consider myself in that
position when I am in my community. In that
community, there are other people I look to
to show me the way to make the best bread,
to show me the way to weave a certain way
so that it looks like it is even and balanced, to
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