CI to Eye | Purpose-Driven Leadership in Uncertain Times

The end of the year is a busy time for arts administrators, packed with holiday campaigns and fundraising deadlines. With so much happening, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. So today we’re taking a moment to pause, reflect, and reconnect with our “why.” 

In this episode, we revisit a popular Boot Camp 2024 conversation with CI President Priya Iyer Doshi and Terri Freeman, President of The Lewis Museum, about purpose-driven leadership and the resilience of our industry. Then, we ask arts administrators to reflect on their year and what’s fueling their passion in 2025. It will leave you feeling grounded, inspired, and ready to tackle what’s ahead.

CI to Eye with Terri Freeman (1:30) - Live from Boot Camp 2024, CI President Priya Iyer Doshi sits down with Terri Freeman, President of The Lewis Museum. Together they discuss purpose-driven leadership, resilience, and navigating uncertainty with clarity. It’s a timely conversation and a powerful reminder of the importance of our work.

Ask The Industry (59:30) - Dan takes his microphone to the Boot Camp floor to ask arts administrators about their year in review. They share their excitements, challenges, and what’s keeping them inspired as we roll into 2025. Listen for familiar voices from Acadiana Center for the Arts, ArtOps, ArtsWave, Ballet BC, Carnegie Hall, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Charleston Gaillard Center, Cincinnati Arts Association, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Houston Ballet, Huntington Theatre Company, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Madison Symphony Orchestra, New York Theatre Workshop, Paper Mill Playhouse, Proctors Collaborative, Signature Theatre, Trinity Rep, University Musical Society, YoungArts, and ZACH Theatre.

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Hello, friends! Dan here. Can youbelieve we're nearing the end of 2024?
Cue the confetti... and maybea deep, collective breath.
If you're anything like me,
this time of year is equalparts excitement and chaos. Deadlines are looming,
holiday campaigns are buzzing,
and it's easy to lose sightof the bigger picture.
Today's episode is all about takinga beat to reconnect with our why.
And to do that,

(00:29):
we are revisiting one of the mostenergizing moments of the year:
Capacity Interactive'sBoot Camp. This October,
nearly 400 arts marketersgathered in New York City --
and even more joined us online --for two glorious days of inspiration,
collaboration, and more caffeinethan any of us should probably admit.
In this episode,
we are releasing one of our most popularBoot Camp sessions featuring CI's

(00:51):
President Priya Iyer Doshi and TerriFreeman, president of the Reginald F.
Lewis Museum. They talk aboutpurpose-driven leadership, resilience,
and how to navigate uncertaintimes with a clear vision.
It's a timely conversation and a powerfulreminder of the importance of our
work. And because I couldn't resist,
I also played roving reporteron the Boot Camp floor,

(01:11):
asking arts administratorsabout their year in review.
They shared their excitements, challenges,
and what's keeping theminspired as we roll into 2025.
Their answers might just give you thatlittle spark you've been looking for.
So grab a cup of somethingwarm -- coffee, cocoa,
maybe a festive peppermint latte-- and let's dive in, shall we?

(01:34):
Welcome back to our Boot Campstage. You've been here before.
I have. I have.
It's so nice to have you back.
Thanks for inviting me back.
Very excited to talk to you today.
So let's start by just sharing alittle bit about your journey and
your sort of journey throughyour arts career thus far.
So let me introducemyself. I'm Terri Freeman.

(01:55):
I am a Black woman who is a boomer --
probably the only one in the room.
I have on dark blue jeans,
a white shirt, and abrown suede-ish jacket.
And I'm so happy to be here. Iam president of the Reginald F.

(02:17):
Lewis Museum of Maryland AfricanAmerican History and Culture.
I've served in that capacityfor the past almost four
years. Prior to that,
I was president of the NationalCivil Rights Museum in Memphis,
Tennessee at the Lorraine Motel,where Martin Luther King Jr.
was assassinated.

(02:37):
So my tenure in the arts and
culture community hasonly been about 10 years,
but prior to that I workedin philanthropy for way
too long. So that really is my background.
But before we get into the hard questions,I just have to give a shout out.

(03:01):
I heard us talk about the JonasBrothers, so I know who they are,
but okay. I heard us talk aboutthe Gilmore Girls, and I'm like,
"Never seen the show ever in my life."I heard us talk about Taylor Swift.
I do know who Taylor Swift is.
But whoever is doing themusic in between the breaks...

(03:23):
That is Sana. Where is she?
There she is.
Where are you?
Sana Colter, right there.
Girl!
Stand up!

From the one boomer in the room (03:37):
Thank you for the old Black people music.
I appreciate it.
And Frankie Beverly just did meproud just on that last break,
so thank you very much.
Okay. I don't really know how totransition from that to this conversation,
but I'm going to try. Okay.

(03:57):
So you have spent time overthe past nearly 30 decades in
--
No, 30 years.
Sorry, 30 decades. Oh my gosh.
I'm old, but not quite that old.
30 Years! Can you imagine?30 decades. 30 years.
See, you need that for thislast session. That's the key.
30 Decades. Wow. Okay. So 30 years.

(04:20):
And you have led throughmany crises during that time.
We actually have a slide to illustratesome of the things that have
happened over the past 30 years.
And of course these are moresocietal things that were happening,
but there were also things happeningin your personal life that you were
managing. So I'm just curious, one,

(04:40):
how does it feel to look at thevolume that you see on that screen?
So
it really is daunting to look at this,
and I mean,
I know a bunch of you all don'teven know that 1992 existed,
but it did.
But when I look at the breadth of

(05:03):
unfortunate instances that haveoccurred in our country and trying
to lead at the same time as thesethings were happening and trying to
maintain my own personalsanity and mental health while
trying to help other people dothe job that they needed to do,
it is daunting. At thesame time, unfortunately,

(05:27):
I know what we see at 2020 won't bethe last thing that we have to manage
through.
And so we have to be ableto move forward through
really difficult times and help our
communities move through thatbecause they depend on the work that

(05:47):
we do as outlets in many ways.
So we have to deal withhow we are dealing with it,
and then we have to help otherpeople try to deal with it.
And for you on top of these things,
speaking about just your own personalcrises that layered on top of that,

(06:09):
and what that did to what was alsohappening around in the world?
So this spans quite some time,
but in particular,
2020 was a tough year for all of us.
Everybody had a difficulttime in 2020, and for me,
it was particularly difficult.

(06:30):
I was in a bad car accidentat the beginning of 2020
that prevented me fromwalking for 12 weeks,
and it happened in January.
So 12 weeks after January15th was March 15th.
I went back to work,
closed the museum down in a coupleof days after I got back to work,

(06:50):
and started doing the wholeremote thing. My mother got ill,
she ended up passing inthe August of that year.
And at that point I decided that it wasimportant to make a transition back to
-- at that time I was in Memphis --
make the transition back to Marylandbecause my husband was in two
locations. He was in Marylandand he was in Memphis,

(07:14):
but he spent more time in Maryland.So I decided to go back and I was
blessed enough to get the positionat the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.
But unfortunately a yearafter being in that role,
my husband passedsuddenly and unexpectedly.
So in 18 months I hadsome really significant

(07:38):
loss. And I'm an only child,
so losing my mom andthen losing my husband...
My mom was expected. She had lung cancer.My husband actually died from Covid,
but it was a blood clot that tookhim. So we did not expect that,
and it was tough. But
interestingly for me,

(07:59):
my work became whathelped me move past that
grief and to just continue to contribute.
And of course there were all these otherthings that were happening in 2020:
the George Floyd and the Breonna Taylorand all of these other things that
were going on.
And I was working at an organizationthat was seen as the moral

(08:22):
compass for the country in a lot of ways,
at the National Civil Rights Museum.King was killed there.
So he was what wasrepresented by that space.
So even though I could onlywalk on one leg after the
George Floyd situation occurred,
I had to make my way back downto the courtyard there because I

(08:46):
knew that the communitywould be coming to that space
looking for some peace,looking for some solution,
asking -- frankly --
the ancestors to help make somesense out of what was going on in our
country at that time. So there werethese two things that were going on,

(09:06):
the personal and the professional. ButI think that that's what leaders do.
That's what you do. You work through it.
And I know we'll talk abouthow important it is for
leaders to
maintain their self-care because yeah,
we can push through it and we cankill ourselves in the process.

(09:28):
So we have to make sure that we're takingcare of ourselves at the same time.
Yeah.
One thing I really admire about yourleadership in just conversations we've had
and our work together on theboard, you always have this,
your why is always so clear. Your senseof purpose is always really clear.

(09:48):
And so I'm curious when I saysomething like purpose-driven
leadership to you, what doesthat actually mean to you?
Well, for me,
purpose-driven leadership is biggerthan the mission of the organization.
It is what can I do with thatmission that is beneficial to
the masses, right? Because ultimately,

(10:09):
all of our organizations and institutions
rely on the community. We haveto do this for the community.
We're not just doing it for the benefitof the organization, just generally.
For me, it's always about, okay,
what is the broader needthat this organization

(10:31):
can bring to the communitythat in meeting their
needs will support my organization?
So it's always, for me, bigger.
There may be thingsthat could be lucrative
for the institution,
but they may not bebeneficial to the community.

(10:52):
And so I am always looking at how
I can make sure that what we arepresenting to the community is
beneficial.
So can I give an example?Next week we're opening an exhibit
on the lynching historyin the state of Maryland.
And that's tough history,

(11:14):
but there's no way you canmake it not tough. I mean,
you can't talk about lynching and haveflowers and bunnies running around.
And as an African American museum,
I have to be very careful tonot traumatize a community that has already lived
through a lot of trauma.
And I have to also makeeveryone aware that

(11:37):
those who were at the bottom ofthe tree were actually having
kind of a party-like atmosphere,
and often were allowed to do thatbecause of the legal system that was in
place. So to be able tobalance all those messages,
not make certain people feelbad, but they need to be aware,

(11:58):
and then not re-traumatize folkswho frankly are still often
lynched in their communities,
but make sure I'm getting this informationand this history out to them is a
real balancing act.
And I do think that we'vedone that in this exhibit.
So I'll be interested in hearinghow people respond to it.

(12:19):
But that's what I mean. I could havejust put up there lots of pictures of,
I've been to museums thatactually have a noose at the
ceiling and things like that. That'snot helpful, to me, for anyone.
I think it's more aboutexplaining what this is
and how this happened. Andso I want to make sure that

(12:44):
the purpose is around whatI can do for the community.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious.
So you said that exhibitionhas already opened, or...?
It opens next week.
And some other things arehappening a couple weeks from now.
Everything's happening.
It's been the busiest seasonever, but unfortunately we are --

(13:07):
we're hosting a watchparty for the election.
Oh, you are doing that.When we last talked,
it wasn't confirmed.
Well, it hasn't been confirmed whetheror not I will be there, but it's okay.
They are hosting a watchparty. And even in that,

(13:27):
we're nonpartisan. We receive somefunding from the state of Maryland.
So we have to be nonpartisan.
We have to open the doors toeveryone who comes in the museum.
And again, it's a balancing act on, okay,
how do we want to handle this? Idon't want to handle it at all,

(13:50):
but the decision has been made thatwe would go ahead and have this watch
party. And then next year we'replanning for our 20th anniversary.
And so that's a big deal because lotsof people didn't think our museum would
last 20 years.
And so I'm kind of ready torub it in people's faces that

(14:11):
it's still here.
And in that work, we'll spend a lotof time talking about our namesake,
Reginald F. Lewis,
who was the first African Americanto do a billion dollar buyout deal on
Wall Street back in the1980s, I believe it was.
And too few people know who hewas, and he's from Baltimore.

(14:34):
So we'll talk a lot about blackentrepreneurship, black wealth,
that sort of thing. Butagain, that conversation,
even in a community like Baltimore whereyou have a significant number of people
who are impoverished,
is a tricky one. And I want tomake sure that it's beneficial to
the community, not justto those folks, frankly,

(14:57):
who already have wealth.That's not my interest.
My interest is in helping thepeople who need the information the
most be able to use it.
In going back to the watchparty, just because you and I,
we had talked about thata little bit before, and
you had mentioned to me that in this sortof conflict of whether or not to do it

(15:22):
and how to navigate that situation,
you felt like it was somethingthat the community needed.
It was something that theyhad, had they asked for it?
Is that how it came about?
Yes, they did. They asked for it, and

(15:43):
it's just so fraught. Thatevening will be so fraught.
But they asked for it.
And I understand that there are peoplewho need to be around other people in
that instance,
but then I know that there are peoplelike me who need to be able to back off of
people. And so what I'vesaid to the staff is:

(16:04):
we'll have the necessarybodies in place to be able to
make sure that we cando what we need to do,
but those people who reallydon't feel like they can do it,
let's pull back. It reminds meof when I was working through
9/11 in Washington D.C. Of course,

(16:26):
the Pentagon was hit. And sowe created this huge fund.
I was at the Community Foundation,then leading the Community Foundation,
and we created this huge fundto support folks who were
affected by 9/11.
And we were getting in all thesecontributions from all over the country.

(16:47):
Envelopes. And then there was this thing,
and I don't know how many peoplein the audience remember this,
but there was this anthrax scare thathappened in Washington D.C., right?
And so anthrax was this white powderthat could kill you if you looked at
it.
And they were saying,

(17:09):
if you don't recognize the handwritingand it's from a different place than
usual, don't open the envelope.
And there we are with literallypost office bins full of envelopes
from strange people in strange places.
And I was like, okay,
we got to open these envelopes.But what I said to the staff was,

(17:33):
if you don't feel comfortable,don't worry about it.
We'll get 'em opened ifyou don't feel comfortable.
So this whole idea of leadingthrough all of these difficulties
and balancing and doing things that are --
because the staff are apart of the community --
meeting the needs of thecommunity is really important.

(17:56):
Yeah.
I want to talk about people becauseyou have already talked a lot about
people, and I know fromwhat I know about you,
you feel like you're nothing withoutyour people and those people being the
people that you work with, those peoplebeing the community that you serve.
Can you talk about how throughall these crises that you've led

(18:18):
through, what does it look like tolead empathetically through that?
How do you put empathy andcompassion in times of hardship,
in times of uncertainty,
where us as human beings arereally struggling to just
exist, let alone work? How do you do that?
Well, I think we have to be in tunewith the people who work for us.

(18:41):
I think we have to be able to really
be able to discern the cues that peoplegive us about how they are where they
are, especially when you're doingwork that may be difficult or
may be politically charged, meaning --I don't mean political with a big P,

(19:02):
I mean political with a small P.
It may be based on what'sgoing on in the community.
We've had some conversations in my officeabout what's happening in the Middle
East. That's a tough conversation.There are people on both sides of this,
and then there are people on --
one individual who may be on both sidesbecause we just want human beings to do

(19:23):
well. We want people to be safe.
We want people to be whole.
Sometimes you have to beable to tell that people are
only able to do so much,
and you have to put in somerelief valves for people.
That may mean creating awork environment that has

(19:47):
spaces within the work environmentwhere people can just chill.
They can just go someplace.
And because sometimes you need toget away from your coworkers too.
So sometimes you just need a place togo chill someplace where you can think,
it's quiet, you can put your EarPodsin and you can do what you have to do.
Sometimes it's actually creatingopportunities for people to have

(20:12):
discussion.
Sometimes in the September 11th situation,
it was actually callingin seated massage and
aromatherapy to help peoplejust get through their day
because they wanted to bethere to help other people,
but they themselves needed help.
So I also think that it's really important

(20:37):
to understand your peoplefrom a personal perspective,
because life happens.And everybody who walks into the
office brings with thema whole lot of tapes.
We never know how thattape may kind of pan out.
Let me give a real recent example. Wehaven't even had this conversation.

(20:59):
So I'm in the office last week andI walked past one of my staff's desk
and literally, she's sobbing.I mean, just sobbing.
And she has an office, butit's glass. And I'm like,
oh my gosh, I'm going to have togo in here and talk to this girl
because I really don't want to know,

(21:20):
but I don't want her to sitthere and just bawl her eyes out
either.
And so I go into her officeand I ask the dumbest question

ever (21:30):
Are you okay? Well,
obviously she wasn't okay. And she's like,
no. I said, I tell you what,
I don't really want you totell me what's going on,
but I can tell you needto do something different.

(21:51):
If you need to go home...And she said,
I don't want to go home because Ifeel better being around people.
And I'm thinking, okay,
but you can't be here with this glassdoor sobbing because that is really not a
good look.
So we figured out how to putsome things in front of the door,
and she wanted to stayin her office space,

(22:13):
and she just wantedpeople to understand that
she was going through arough patch. And I said,
we will respect where you are.
If you want people tostay away from your door,
we'll make sure that that's the situation,
but don't feel like you haveto be here in this state.

(22:36):
You can leave. Well, for her, itwas better to be around people.
But that's an example ofjust the fact that people
have things that -- and itwas a personal situation.
People have things that are going on intheir lives and they come to work and
they try to work through it, and notall the time can they work through it.

(22:57):
I would rather it come out thatway than to have it come out in a
way where people just aren't doingthe work that we need them to do.
Yeah. So
in this situation, we're talking aboutsupporting the team that you're leading.
I'm curious, what about ina managing up situation?

(23:20):
Board dynamics, which I think isfun for you and I to talk about?
And in these moments of uncertainty,
what does it look like to...
Or can you talk aboutmaybe times that you've had
disagreements or you've had to advocateperhaps on behalf of your people,
the people that you're supporting,
the people that you have a day-to-daypulse on what their needs are,

(23:43):
but perhaps in momentsof uncertainty or crisis,
you're having a disagreement withthe board on what you need to do?
Sure.
Talk a little bit about that.
Well, any of you thathave boards know that
they see the organization differentlybecause they come in four times a year
or so, and in those four times a year,

(24:04):
sometimes we're explaining thingsover that we've already talked about
because they're just popping back in.
But their perspective on how thingsmaybe should be flowing during
particular times
of difficult leadershipopportunities or even from the

(24:24):
perspective of kind of staff development
can often be different because they'renot seeing it from the everyday
operational perspective.
And as the person who isin charge of the office,
it is my role to advocate for my staff
and help the board understand why whatthey may be suggesting as the solution --

(24:50):
sometimes the solution forthem in a difficult kind of
employee-employer situation issimple. Just get rid of them. Well,
it's never that simple.It's never that simple.
And it is really important,
and I try to help myboard gently see this,
that boards govern,

(25:11):
staffs operate.
And when we start blurring thelines, you start to get really,
really messed up office environments.
So we have to make sure that theboard is sensitized to what is going
on in the office aand why.
And make sure they know what your planis on how you're going to handle that

(25:32):
situation. I have been,again, for the most part,
lucky in having boards thathave allowed me to be the chief
operator, and they have been focusedon governance, but every now and again,
they overstep their bounds,
and I have to make sure that theyunderstand that's not your role,

(25:54):
respectfully. That's not your role.
That is my role to handle, and I'llmake sure that whatever the problem is,
as best as I can,
there's a solution tothe problem. I get it.
They are very focused onthose high level things,
and that's where they should be.But when they start saying, well,

(26:14):
I think you should, andit's an operational issue,
that's where I have topush the pause button,
and I'm very comfortable doing that.
Yeah.
Are there times where you've been in aboard conversation and that perspective
has actually changed your stanceor your position or your decision?
I think it's made me look at thingsdifferently. I don't know that it

(26:36):
fully changes my stance,but it may say to me, okay,
maybe I need to move more quickly on this
situation because what they're presentingto me is giving me a couple of more
parameters around thewhat ifs type situation

(26:56):
that I may not be looking at becauseI'm so close to the situation.
So just as they're poppingin can be negative,
It also can have some positive attributesbecause they can pull in from their
experiences.
But definitely there have been things that
I wish that maybe I had acted on sooner,

(27:18):
and their counsel couldhave pushed me to that
point, but frankly, I mayhave been stubborn and decided I know what I'm doing.
And I'm not perfect.
So sometimes mistakes have occurred andthe mistake being sometimes you just
wait too long.
Yeah. So when you say that it'smaking you make decisions sooner,

(27:42):
do you mean the conversationis prioritizing the thing more,
or you want to act...?
It's actually giving me moreinformation to be able to make the --
Oh, more confidence almost.Okay. Interesting. Okay. Yeah,
that's great. Well, so decisionmaking is never black and white,

(28:02):
certainly not in uncertain times.
And I think a lot of leadership isabout getting comfortable in the gray.
Can you talk a little bit about your ownjourney and getting comfortable in the
gray?
Yeah. I think
as much as we want thingsto be a certain way,
as much as we take thetime to plan and figure

(28:25):
out, okay, this is the directionwe're going. "Absolutely,
we're going thisdirection." Until you can't,
and then you have to figure out,
how am I going to move forward around
whatever this potential obstacle is in my
path?

(28:45):
I don't usually like to use theterm nimble when it comes to
organizations like ours, becausewe typically are not nimble.
We're like
a ship, a cruise ship trying to turn.
It can be really difficult,

(29:06):
but you might not have alot of time to maneuver.
So you have to at least beflexible and figure out, okay,
what are the otheroptions that I may have?
And how can I make surethat what I need to
do is --
I'm able to do so.I can give you

(29:28):
an example from when I was atthe National Civil Rights Museum.
We had a situation, andI'm trying to think,
I want to say that this was probably
2015 or 2016,
and I can't remember unfortunately,and this is really sad,
I can't remember whichBlack man it was that died,

(29:51):
but we ended up having this,
what it was called in the courtyard,
where people came to the courtyardand they got down on the ground and
pretended, actually, "Ican't breathe." It was here.
Eric Garner. Thank you verymuch. It was here in New York.
And so we did the die-in,

(30:13):
and I'll have to say my boardwasn't real thrilled about it.
They felt it was far too political,
and my response to them was,
but it's what the community needed tohappen. We needed to be able to do that.
And what frankly would people thinkabout the National Civil Rights Museum
if we didn't do that,

(30:36):
have that type of action?I'll say, I mean,
over the course of my tenure there,
I pushed the envelope quite a bit whenit came to things like that and was not
always in line with the board,
but they let me stay there for six years.
So I guess it's because it wasbringing people to the museum,
it was bringing people into the museum.

(30:59):
So that was one of those circumstanceswhere it was black and white to
me, but it wasn't black andwhite to the organization.
They didn't see it as black andwhite. And there is this saying, you
don't always want to ask permission.
You sometimes want to ask forgiveness.

(31:19):
And this was one of those situations whereI felt it was really important for me
to just to move forward.
And then I could ask forgivenessand I'll fall on the sword.
However I need to fall on the sword.
But it was the rightthing for the community.
Yeah, that's one of the best piecesof advice I've ever gotten from you,
which is just the community will giveyou the answer even when decisions aren't

(31:41):
black and white, the communitygives you the answer.
And I feel like you have told me many,
many stories of times where thecommunity gave you a sense of
intuition or helped you followyour gut or gave you the path
forward. Do you want toshare some of those stories?
I'll tell you, there was a situationthat I ran into while I was at,

(32:03):
and this is a picture actuallyof an exhibit that we did in
Baltimore that focused on the fact that
Black people had to get healthcare fromBlack people because white people would
not give us healthcare,
and that they set upin West Baltimore Black

(32:25):
professionals in healthcare that werereally taking care of the community.
But when I was at theNational Civil Rights Museum,
there was an instance when I would
walk around that museum -- hasanybody been to that museum?
National Civil RightsMuseum? So you know that

(32:46):
each room kind of talksabout a campaign during the
'50s-'60s Civil Rights Movement.
And there are lots of images,
lots of images about a
nonviolent
movement that actually was very violent.

(33:07):
It was very violent because there wasviolence that was affected on the people
who were trying to be nonviolent.And I would walk through the museum
as people were in the museum,
and I would just see theemotion on people's faces.
It really didn't matterwhat age. You could feel it.
I remember once there was alittle girl -- little girl,

(33:28):
she was 13 years old or about that --
and she was so moved bywhat she was seeing that
people who were trying to,
just trying to have thesame rights as someone else,
she couldn't understand that --first of all, she's 13 years old.
So trying to even comprehend whythese people don't have these rights,
seeing the violence thatwas being afforded them and

(33:53):
seeing them kind of movethrough in this manner,
that was still, I don't knowif I would say it was kind,
but it was certainly,
they were still the upstanding citizensthat they should have always been
treated as,
even through the difficult period.And it would so

(34:17):
impact people. They wouldget to the museum shop.
That's where you need to always end up.
You want to move people tobuying something and taking something home with them.
And they would just talk to the peoplein the retail shop about what their
experience was and how it changed them,
and how they couldn't believewhat they were seeing.

(34:41):
They hadn't learned thisinformation. Nobody told them this.
And they were just so moved bythe fact that people who were
being treated so poorly couldthen pretty much show to
some degree, in some instances,
kindness to those who weretreating them so poorly.
That was a frequent occurrence.

(35:03):
But one story I think thatreally, really, really
affected me when I was thereas I was walking through,
as I did on a daily basis, therewas a gentleman who was there,
looked to be like agranddad with his grandson,
and they're walking through the museum and

(35:26):
he's telling these stories,
and he's trying to interpret for thisyoung man who looked to be about nine or
so. And finally I overheard thelittle boy say, so what did you do,
granddad?
And it was such a powerful questionbecause we're always telling
young people what they should be doing,

(35:47):
but the question should sometimes beasked of us, "So what did you do?"
And I always looked at youngpeople differently from that
point on in that museum,
that I had a responsibility to say tothem what I had done or had not done,
or why at least... This image here,

(36:08):
and this gets back to kind ofpurpose-driven and being supportive of the
community.
This was the 2017 Women's March.
Now this is Memphis, Tennessee. So Ihad come to Memphis, Tennessee from,
I had been working in Washington D.C.
and I had seen what was going on inWashington with the Women's March,
and I'm thinking it'sMemphis. Okay, so what,

(36:31):
50 people are going toshow up or something? Well,
clearly from this picture you can seethere were way more than 50 people that
showed up,
and they asked if they could end themarch at the National Civil Rights
Museum because of what it stood for,
that it stood foreverything that they wanted,

(36:51):
that we wanted thisWomen's March to stand for.
And this is what for me made that
job so wonderful,
because I did get anopportunity to frankly put Terri
into the role,
but connect so much with the community.And in

(37:14):
connecting to the community,
then the community affectedme in a positive way.
Yeah, it drove you almost.
Yeah. And I think it mademe a more empathetic leader,
connecting with the community,understanding that there were needs.
I wasn't just doing a job any longer.
I was doing something that was going tobe beneficial for a group of folks that

(37:38):
was much larger than myself.
Are there ways now that inyour day-to-day you... like,
touch points or ways to sort of toucha rock and stay in touch with the
community to remind you ofthat sort of why for you?
Well, I think honestly, Priya, Ithink in my head it's just there.
I'm always thinking thatthat's why I'm doing it.

(37:58):
But we're getting ready to opena children's museum in our museum
to talk about these stories ofAfrican American history in Maryland.
And before we do that,
we're going to go to the communityand ask them what they want.
Because we may be thinking, oh,
we'll just put somestuff in there that will,
I don't mean this in a pejorative way,

(38:20):
but dumb down the storyto a child's level.
And the parents may be thinking,
or the guardians or thecommunity may be thinking, well,
we need another play space that is goingto allow children to move around and
get out some of this energy.
So we want to make sure that we'remeeting the needs of the community,
but also ensuring that we have theeducational experience for young

(38:44):
people that we think is importantfor everybody to have, frankly,
when they come to the museum.
Yeah, love that.
I want to start to turninwards a little bit,
but I'll use communityas our sort of bridge.
Can you talk about yourpersonal community,
the community that you surround yourselfin in your personal life and what that
does for your inspiration?
And I think, again, I am at a part,

(39:07):
a point in my career that is differentthan many people who are in this room,
but my touch points have alwaysbeen my family. There they are.
I have three adult daughters.
And the picture that is to your right,
I guess the one in the pinkis my oldest. She's 35.

(39:29):
The one in the middle is mybaby girl, and she is 25.
And the one on the left there is...
she's something else.
She'll be 33 on December 1st,
and they are what

(39:49):
grounds me.
These pictures were in Londonand headed off to Greece.
We did this the year my husband,their dad passed so suddenly.
We needed to do something for ourselves,
and they helped me getthrough that difficult time.
They are truly my rock.And if anybody asks me,

(40:11):
so what have you done? What is thething that you are most proud of?
It's these three girlsthat I have created,
three women who are notafraid of anything or
anybody, have very strong views,
and let people know what those views are,
but in a way that people respect theway that they are presenting themselves.

(40:35):
So for me,
it is all about my familyand being able to have,
that's my anchor. They ground me.
Yeah. I love hearing youtalk about your daughters.
You glow in a different way when you talkabout them. It's really special. Okay,
so let's talk about care for yourself.

(40:56):
How do you focus on thatand prioritize that?
It just has to be a thing that I'malways kind of in the back of my mind
thinking about.
And I think for everybody outhere who has a high-stress
position, if you're in marketing,
that's high stress because you are alwaysrequired to sell the next thing in a

(41:16):
lot of ways. And people, it's very easyfor people to point fingers and saying,
you're not doing what you should be doing.
They think you'reresponsible for actually,
you're the other half of the equationwhen it comes to development and bringing
money in. So that's stressful,
particularly in an environmentwhere things are up one
day and they're down another.

(41:37):
We don't know when the next crisis isgoing to come, but I tell you what,
it's going to come.
There will be another crisis thatyou will have to work through.
So I think you have to alwaysgive yourself space and
time to be able to take care of yourself.
And this is what I sayabout Millennials and Gen
Z. You all know how to say, okay, enough,

(42:01):
I need a break.
My yoga class is at 4:30.
We Boomers, we would just push through it.
We would be haggard and just barelybeing able to get the stuff done,
but we just kind of push through.
I think it's an incredibly beneficialcharacteristic to be able to say, I,

(42:24):
I have to take care of me to be ableto come back in here tomorrow and not
kill somebody.
And so I think that you just have toalways have that in the back of your
head. For me, that's reading.
So in the morning I getup. I'm a Wordle nut.

(42:44):
I'm not good at it, but I'm aWordle not. And so I do Wordle,
I do Connections. I play another stupidpuzzle game before I get out of the bed.
I do inspirational reading all before I
even step foot out ofthe bed. And I have --
my bathroom mirror has all theseaffirmations on it that I have written.

(43:06):
And I don't focus onall of them every day,
but I do focus on a couple of them.
And I try to prepare myself on a daily
basis for whatever may come my way.
But I am a woman of faith,
so I pray that whatever comes my way,
I will be able to dealwith it in a manner that

(43:30):
is productive.That's what I want to do.
I want to be able to deal with whatevercomes at me in a productive manner.
But I give myself time now,which I'll tell you when I was,
for those of you that are in that agerange where you've got young kids,
it's hard. That's a hard time.
They need you and they need youto focus on -- and they don't --

(43:54):
and kids don't care. They don'tcare how bad your day was. So what?
Do for me what I need you to dofor me. And cats are the same way.
But you just have to give yourself time.
Whatever it is that you like to do,
give yourself space and time to dosome of that. If you can't do it daily,

(44:17):
you have to at least give itto yourself weekly. And again,
I don't know what's aheadof us with this election,
but I'll guarantee you that some way oranother there is going to be some stress
involved, some serious stress.
You need to take care ofyourselves because if you don't,
you are going to be likea cat on a hot tin roof.

(44:39):
You're just going to have to be able totake care of yourselves, build it in.
It is a priority.
It is a part of the investment that youmake in yourself to be able to do the
jobs that you do.
Yeah. Would you be willing to share anyof your affirmations on your mirror?
You can tell me no, but I'm curious.
Oh, I can't hardly remember them.

(45:02):
That's fine.

But no, one of them is (45:03):
the goal is me.
Yes. Yes. Clap for that.
That's one of 'em. Another is:
prayer changes me and
I can change things.

(45:24):
So through prayer I become changed,
and then I can thenaffect change in a way.
And perfection? Perfection is for Jesus.
It is not for us. Perfection is for Jesus.

(45:45):
We work to become perfected,but we never actually get there.
And it's important toremember that perfection just can't be what we're focused
on. We have to do the bestthat we can intentionally
with good intention, right?Intention is important,

(46:06):
but perfection is not what we aresupposed to do. That's not our role.
So those are some of'em, and I change 'em.
I think of things in myhead and I'll write it down.
And sometimes I put theaffirmation on my computer.
I need to look at it throughout theday, right? Oh, and the other thing is,
while I'm not one who is totallyinto astrology, I kind of am.

(46:29):
And so I like to read my horoscope on a
daily basis. And it doesn't define myday for me, but it says to me, okay,
this is what the atmosphere is like.
So I'm going to workwithin this atmosphere.
Yeah. Did you get a good one this morning?
Yeah. It's all about creativityand productivity and being able to

(46:53):
affect things throughwriting in particular.
So we'll see what that means for me.
Oh, yeah. Okay.
So you have been in anumber of leadership roles.
You're a highly accomplishedleader, and I'm curious,
I want to talk a little bit moreabout you being what you do and

(47:14):
you being separate from what you do.
And I think it's very easy to,
regardless of role, have thosethings overlap in a healthy way,
in an unhealthy way.
Can you talk a little bit about how whatyou do intertwines with who you are?
Can you talk about times where you'vehad to really pull those things apart and

(47:35):
keep them separate?
Yeah. I think that happens to all of us,
and particularly when you're in leadershiproles in these cultural institutions
where there aren't a lotof you in the community.
So everybody knows who's running thetheater and everybody knows who's running
the ballet, and everybody knowswho's running this museum.
So you are often defined by what you do,

(47:58):
but you want people to understandthat that's not all of who you are.
I went to a gallery opening recently at
a children's hospital, a galleryin the hospital in Washington D.C.
and a friend of mine wentwith me and we walked
in and the woman who wastalking about the event looks

(48:23):
up and she says, "Oh, I'm so honoredthat Terri Freeman is here with us.
She's the presidentof..." And I was thinking,
I just went because I wanted to see theartwork that was going up on the walls.
I didn't go as Terri Freeman, presidentof the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.
I just went as Terri Freeman. Itwas a little frustrating for me,

(48:45):
and thankfully he was withme and I could vent to him.
But it's one of those thingswhere sometimes you're not able to
separate it from the perspectiveof those people who are external.
But I know that ultimately it only
takes one mistake for me to no longerbe the president of the Reginald F.

(49:07):
Lewis Museum.
So I have to be very comfortablein being Terri Lee Freeman,
because those three girls who you saw,
those are the people who care themost about me. I'm not fooled by that.
I'm not fooled by the accolades.I'm not fooled by the awards.
I'm not fooled by any of that.
I'm happy that people respectthe work that I have done,

(49:29):
but I also know you can be here one day...We've
seen it, right? Celebritiesall the time. Well,
you can be here one day and then thenext day you are somewhere on the ground.
And so I'm very realistic about that,
and I make sure that I know who I am.
So trying to ensure that Ihave a whole body of stuff

(49:53):
that I do that has nothingto do with the position,
the book club that I'm in, or thevacations that I take. I'll tell you,
I'm not one who reallyallows my social media to
be commingled with work stuff.
I don't friend people who workwith me. You're not my friends.

(50:15):
I may like you, but you'renot my friends that way,
because you never know. Actually,
I'm dealing with this rightnow in my office because
of somebody posting something onsocial media and a person was a
friend of theirs, and nowyou got foolishness going on.
I just think that yoursocial media can be used for

(50:39):
the benefit of your organization,
but it doesn't mean that everybodythat knows you has to be your friend.
I have board members that will comeon my page and ask to friend me,
and I just ghost them.
I'm not doing it!
Because some stuff isnot for them to know.

(50:59):
So there are ways that you can make
sure that there is a separationof church and state, if you will,
but still give everything that youneed to give to the institution because
you made a contract with that organizationthat you would do something for

(51:21):
them and did that in good faith,
and you did it because youloved the organization.
We have the benefit ofworking around beauty,
whatever form it is, butit's beauty all day long.
And I'm so blessed to be able to dothat and not have to make a widget.

(51:42):
But even beauty can getugly after you look at it so
much, so long.
So we have to be able to distinguishbetween what is their time and
what is my time.
Yeah.
You have a funny story about your husbandin this and a time when you had to
separate... Can we tell thatstory? I just think it's unique.

(52:04):
This was, that's my late husband.Actually, that's the last picture we took.
It was about a week before he passed.
Wow.
And he was handsome, wasn't he?
And one day I came home from workand I'm in a tizzy and I'm going
about telling people what they need todo and do this and go over here and why

(52:28):
isn't this done? And helooked at me and he said,
you are not the president of this house.
And I was like, okay, alright.I hear you. I hear you. And
he wasn't being negative, butwhat he was trying to say was,

(52:49):
this is not where you tell people whatto do. Right, left, pointing here,
do this, do that. This is where wework together. We're a family. And
you can --
sometimes the commute home isn't longenough for you to separate from some of
what has happened inthe office. And so yes,
that was one of thethings that he told me.

(53:11):
You make sure that you understandthat here we operate differently
than you do in the office place.
Yeah.
Do you find it hard to leavework at work in your role?
Oh God, yes.
Yeah.
And I have a rule. I have a rule.
The rule is you do not get onemail before you go to sleep.

(53:35):
And the other week I did it
and I couldn't sleep becauseI was like, oh my God, really?
I have to deal with this when Iget in the office the next day.
So note to self, when you have a rule,
go by the rules. Play bythe rules of the game.

(53:57):
And the rules of the game are you don'tdo that late at night because you need
to be able to separatefrom that space and rest.
And when your mind is racing aboutall the stuff that you have to do,
you just can't do that. So yeah,
it's really important for usto take... My husband was,

(54:20):
he was a pastor, and
he used to say this often toour congregation. He would say,
you need to take careof your health. He said,
because God will forgive yoursins, but your body won't.
That's deep. I wouldn't tell him that,

(54:44):
but that's deep. Thinkabout that. Yeah. Okay.
So for eternity you'll be okay,
but you might not make it 'til nextweek if you don't take care of yourself.
And so it is that mentalhealth piece of this,
the physical health piece of this.
I work predominantly in community with

(55:06):
African American people whohave -- are more susceptible,
let me put it that way,
are more susceptible to negativehealth outcomes for a variety of
environmental reasons.
And I want my people tobe healthy and strong.
And so I used the platform ofthe museum to be able to do

(55:28):
that by not just giving them exhibits,
but you saw that at blacks andwhite we had a health fair,
and so I had the health communitycome to the museum. We did testing,
we had a mobile clinic,we did food as medicine.
That's the sort of thing. Imean, when I say purpose-driven,
I know that I have a rolethat is supposed to not just

(55:51):
benefit me and the institution,
but benefit the communitythat supports us.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
So we've talked about resilienceof leaders and resilience,
finding resilience in ourself.
We've talked about the resilience ofcommunity and the power of community.
So now I want us to end by talking alittle bit about the resilience of our

(56:13):
industry. And of course,
you've seen so much and you've seenthe resilience that our industry has.
And how has witnessing thatgiven you the confidence to
lead in the way that you do?
Who would've ever predicted
Covid and that we would literallyhave to go dark? Shut our doors?

(56:36):
Where -- I was at the time in Memphis.
They had never shut the doors atthe National Civil Rights Museum,
except on the days they wereclosed. Who would have thought?
And I remember saying tomy treasurer, he said,
I think you need to plan to beclosed until July. And I'm like,
absolutely not. Probably maybeuntil May, but not until July. Well,

(56:58):
it was July 1st when we actuallyopened the doors. Again,
we would've never beenable to predict that.
We could have never planned for that.
But I will say this:
in our doing everyday business,
there was always the idea of wehave to plan for the rainy day.
And because we did that and did it well,

(57:21):
we were able to continue to paypeople for a month before we had to
get the PPP and before we actuallyhad to look at furloughing
people. So it was kind of thatforward thinking and planning for that
rainy day,
but never would've thought that thatrainy day would've been what it was.
My point is that we did open. We reopened.

(57:45):
We are here. We're here.
And in some instances, you allare here with packed houses,
full audiences.
You've got people coming in andout of your museums or zoos or
whatever it is that you -- Look at this.
We had lines for a colloquial-- I can't say that word,

(58:07):
colloquium, that we did about fiber arts,
the Black Woman Genius exhibit that wehad, and that people were coming out...
There was a point in time whenit was just quiet and dead in the
museum. But we have bounced back.
We've done it so manytimes. We've come back.

(58:28):
And like I said, people,
many people didn't think that our museumwould've lasted for 20 years. Well,
we're here. And the samegoes for your institutions.
Some people probably thought,
we'll never be able to makeit out of this Covid thing.
And here you sit and you've learnedlessons that you can apply when the
next crisis occurs, becauseas I've said, it's coming.

(58:51):
My husband used to say, you're eithergoing into a storm, in a storm,
or just coming out of one. Soyou figure out where you are
and know the direction that you'regoing to be going in. But it happens.
It's a cycle.
And the fact that we arejust so resilient as a
community, and you know what?

(59:12):
The broader community depends on us tobe resilient because they need what we do
to help them bounce back.
Beautifully said. Terri, thank youfor your generosity and your kindness.
Thank you for being here.

(59:33):
Ah, what a great conversation. You know,
Boot Camp is one of my favorite timesof the year, after Thanksgiving and,
of course, Arbor Day.
We get to sit down with folks who loveour industry and want to more effectively
share the art that ourorganizations produce and present.
This year we took our microphones tothe conference floor to chat with arts
marketers, fundraisers, and executiveleaders about what's lighting them up,

(59:56):
the challenges they're tackling,
and what keeps them passionateabout their work. Now,
most of us are art nerds to the core.We don't just work in this industry.
We live and breathe it. Sonaturally we asked everyone,
what's a piece of art thatinspired you this year?
Honestly, I went to the Apollo Theaterlast night to see Amateur Night,
and I was inspired by I guess asense of history and tradition.

(01:00:19):
We had a dance performance atACA that was called Dance/Splits,
and it was extremely inspiring.
Last week,
I went to go see this children's musicalcalled Spells of the Sea at the Kennedy
Center.
Now, unsurprisingly, Broadwaywas a recurring theme. I mean,
Boot Camp was a stone's throw fromTimes Square. I'm based in Los Angeles,
and whenever I visit New York,

(01:00:40):
a Broadway show is one ofthe first tickets I book.
A piece of art that's inspiredme recently was Stereophonic,
which is a play that I saw onBroadway a couple of nights ago.
An incredible play withbrilliant music that has left me
thinking about a lot of things.
I actually just saw SunsetBoulevard last night. Blown away.

(01:01:00):
Everyone is talking about,is it Nicole Scherzinger?
Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Francis... Ithink it's a Jamie Lloyd production.
So cool. Totally. If that's thefuture of theater, I'm all for it.
That's where I am.
And then there was a clear crowd favorite.
One that continues toinspire me is Hadestown.
Hadestown.
I saw Hadestown.
It's true.

(01:01:21):
There must've been something in the airbecause Hadestown was our most popular
answer this year. If you takenothing else from this episode,
it's to get tickets to Hadestown.But let's get down to business,
because that's whatBoot Camp is all about.
We asked arts administrators about thebiggest challenges their organizations
are facing, and a key theme?Reaching new audiences.
Well, right now, Austin's changing.

(01:01:43):
The landscape is pretty differentthan what it was pre-pandemic.
So right now we're in aposition of strategic planning and figuring out what the
next step is and how we bring thenew Austin audiences into our spaces.
Getting back to a regular momentumagain after the pandemic and
trying to reinvigorateand refresh ourselves.

(01:02:04):
We, post-pandemic, have expandedour programming immensely,
which is an incredible opportunity for us,
but obviously presents challengesin terms of growing pains,
of getting into the grooveof things. Thankfully,
we've started to find a rhythm,
but ever expanding with our outreach ofaudiences and diversifying who's coming
to see the shows, the types ofshows that we're producing...

(01:02:26):
I think our biggest challengeis: we have a lot of data,
but how do we pull it andthen tell a story from it?
Audiences have changed so much,
and so really finding a way to harnessall of that and figure out how our
audiences are behaving and whatwe can expect in the future,
and how do we meet theneed for our community.
We've been thinking a lot about differentaudiences that we want to cultivate

(01:02:50):
and have not yet seen the pathwayfor how to turn those into actual
campaigns at the more niche level.
And I'm hoping to learn more abouthow that's done in digital spaces.
And then there's the fact that digitaladvertising is constantly changing.
If you're feeling like it's impossibleto keep up with the different social
algorithms or need forendless campaign assets,

(01:03:11):
you're not alone. What's a challengeyou're hoping to tackle at Boot Camp?
How to tackle different algorithmson the different digital
media platforms,
and also how to go aboutstructuring digital campaigns
when they're constantlyevolving and changing as well.
We know that the demand for content,especially graphics content,

(01:03:35):
is higher than ever.
So something I've been thinkinga lot about not just this year,
but going into next year, is howdo we build up impactful assets,
but in a way that is kind of conduciveto the flexible needs we have?
In the past, our theater, at least,would build up one image at a time.
That one image is getting croppedinto a bunch of different situations.

(01:03:55):
Not so easy to do forreally thin display ads.
So thinking about how to approach graphicsin that kind of flexible way has been
kind of a learning curve and somethingI've been keeping top of mind.
Algorithms are shifting,content demands are growing,
and budgets are always tight.
But Boot Camp reminded us thatwe're all in this together.
So what's on your radar for 2025?

(01:04:17):
We heard from attendees about the ideasthey're most excited to take back to
their organizations and how they'replanning to put them into action.
A standout theme was hospitality.It's not just a buzzword.
It's a mindset that's more importantthan ever as we think about how to create
meaningful connections with our audiences.
Just thinking about waysthat we can bring impact and

(01:04:38):
memorable experiences to everyone whocomes through our doors is so exciting to
me.
I'm definitely going to say thehospitality and really thinking about,
what is that patron experience? And forme, that works in advancement, which is:
what is that donor experience?
How are they getting to see what theseartists are creating throughout our year,
whether it's National YoungArts Week orwhat our alumni are doing in the greater
arts scene?

(01:04:59):
Cookie Ruiz brought the themeto life in the arts world,
showing how Ballet Austin prioritizeshospitality to make every audience member
feel seen and valued.
Cookie's presentation this morningabout how Ballet Austin is providing
hospitality and welcoming their guestswas really an important reminder about
how we can be welcoming andputting our guests first.

(01:05:21):
I think the focus on hospitality atthe conference is really an important
reminder to all of us that, yes,data and marketing is important,
but really it's about providing anopportunity for our guests to have an
experience that'll change their lives.
Moving forward, our customer serviceneeds to go beyond merely checking boxes.
We need to find those small humantouches that turn a regular visit into

(01:05:43):
something memorable. Another theme onarts marketers' list of resolutions?
Accessibility.
Dr. Shani Dhanda's session challenged usall to move beyond compliance and look
at inclusivity as an ongoing journey.
I loved the accessibility one last night,
particularly because at LincolnCenter we have a heavy dedication to

(01:06:05):
accessibility, and so to hear not onlythe things that we're doing well already,
but how we can expand upon thatto reach a further audience.
There were so many wonderful takeaways.
The wheels were turning in my head aboutimmediate things we can do and things
we can look forward to longterm.
I really loved the accessibility training,
and I think that's something we canapply to our theater and our practices a

(01:06:28):
little bit more,
and I just am excited to bring someof that back to the organization.
As we look ahead, these ideasabout welcoming audiences,
thinking creatively about accessibility,
and designing meaningful experienceswill only grow in importance.
Another hot topic amongarts leaders was AI.
From fast-tracking content creationto streamlining operations,

(01:06:48):
we are seeing a clear focus on the waystechnology can drive our organizations
forwards in 2025.
We are firm believers at ArtsWavein the ability for certain ways
of utilizing AI that can be a hugehelp to especially small and mid-size
arts organizations that aredoing a lot with very little.

(01:07:09):
And if you can alleviate someof that pressure, I mean, man,
it can be a game changer.
I think AI and trusting in technologyto actually help you achieve the results
you want is a big theme that we'vebeen working with Capacity on,
and so I'm really excited to hear howothers bring that into their day-to-day.
And then there was the power ofcollaboration to make our sector stronger.

(01:07:32):
Something I learnedhere at Boot Camp was --
it was just a phrase thatreally caught my attention.
We are all competing withthe couch. It is true.
We're not competing witheach other in the art space.
We really are competing with the otherthings that people are tending to do,
which is sit on the couch.
I've learned a lot about connectivity andhow we can get different organizations

(01:07:53):
to collaborate rather than feeling likewe have to compete with one another.
Have a mission -- and that missionhas to be something about not just,
"We want to put on great shows,
we want to do this." We all know thatyou want to do that, and that's amazing,
but how are you actually affectingand impacting your audience?
And then when you know that,
you can then go out and searchfor other organizations --

(01:08:14):
whether they're in the arts,whether they're sports,
whether they're arestaurant, whatever it is --
that are affectingpeople in a similar way.
And those are those really interestingand unexpected collaborations.
The message was clear. When we stopcompeting and start collaborating,
we can go much further.
It's an important reminder as we striveto grow our audiences in the year ahead.

(01:08:37):
To wrap up each conversation,
we asked interviewees to give aquick shout out to someone at their

organization (01:08:41):
someone who made their work better, brighter,
or just a bit more fun. And letme tell you, the love was flowing.
From supportive colleaguesto inspiring mentors,
these shout outs painted a picture ofthe strong collaborative culture in arts
organizations.
It's clear that behind every successfulproject is a team of dedicated,
passionate people who lift each other up.

(01:09:03):
Shout out to Kevin Becerra. He'sone of our newest team members,
and every conversation we have,I'm really inspired by his passion.
I'm going to give a shoutout to Van Ackerman.
We have been talking a lotabout the Enneagram this year.
For anyone who's interested,he's the man to talk to.
The guy who's got my back right now,Steve King. Hardest worker in the biz,
as far as I can tell.

(01:09:23):
Tim Washington, our marketing manager.
He is always pushing me to look atnew platforms, try out new things...
Shout out to Suzanne. I feel likeSuzanne is kind of everybody's work mom,
and if there is something youwant to vent about or go talk to
her about, she is always there to talk.
Oh my gosh. So Nicolette Therouxis our ticketing and sales manager.

(01:09:45):
I work above her. I overseeour ticket office as well,
so I'm her boss and she'samazing and I love her.
Yeah, my work bestie Lindsay,she's always hyping me up.
And she's also my fellowreality show watcher, so yes.
Oh, I of course want to shoutout the amazing Advancement Team.
It's been so wonderful to get to see howour new team dynamic of fundraising and

(01:10:06):
marketing together in oneteam has been working out.
I want to give a huge shout outto my marketing and sales team.
They're incredible. Kellie Lawson, ourmarketing and communications manager,
Alyssa, who's our graphic designer,
and then Amos does all of oursocial media and he's just --
and our house photographer. He's amazing.
Peggy Lushine, who's ourassociate director of sales,

(01:10:26):
is back in Chanhassen dealing withall the issues we've been having with
ticketing. And in fact, two weeks ago,
we had to cancel four performancesbecause we had 11 people ill with Covid.
Oh my goodness.
And so trying to deal with trying toreseat four performances worth of people
into a sold out showis pretty challenging.
And so she's doing anamazing job with her team.
I'll give a shout out toGreg. He's my office mate.

(01:10:49):
He's the associate director of marketingand analytics. He's the coolest.
He would love this. Thisis totally his vibe.
I'm going to try to gethim to come next year.
Everyone in my organization.I love them all.
Aww. Does anyone else have the warmand fuzzies? It's melted my cold,
cold heart. If you've got Boot Camp FOMO,
you can watch all the sessions on demandat capacityinteractivebootcamp.com.

(01:11:12):
Until next year, keep sharingthe art, telling the stories,
and doing the work that makes thisindustry shine. See you in 2025!

(01:11:34):
Thank you for listening to CI to Eye.
This episode was edited and produced byKaren McConarty and co-written by Karen
McConarty and myself, Dan Titmuss.
Stephanie Medina and Jess Berube are CIto Eye's designers and video editors and
all work together to create CI's digitalcontent. Our music is by whoisuzo.
If you enjoyed today's episode,

(01:11:54):
please take a moment torate us or leave a review.
A nice comment goes a long way in helpingother people discover CI to Eye and
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(01:12:15):
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Until next time, stay nerdy.