"Even one 600 words on the crazy world of being director of UCCCA and the challenges would be fine."
That was part of the e-mail response I received when I begged my editor for an extra week on preparing this column. She didn't know what an appropriate response it was. My desire for an extension had everything to do with the crazy world of being the UCCCA director.
The last time I submitted a column I was extolling the virtues of board service, recognizing the importance of volunteer support and leadership of cultural institutions.
What about the role of executive directors?
When I took my position almost four years ago, I was enthusiastic about programs and community development. I looked forward to the creative, collaborative work that an organization like the arts council could support, seeing the organization as pure potential to make a difference. Writing grants, executing events and creating partnerships on behalf of UCCCA seemed like and remains a dream position!
I was very naive about the nuts and bolts of holding the business of an organization like the arts council together.
The essential ingredients of the work have little to do with creativity, but rather the management of our finances, our facility and personnel. Of course, all of these components must come together in the execution of programming, which reflects our mission.
Periodically, it seems that all the components need to be forced back together at exactly the same time.
Financial management sounds intimidating and, to many, it is. I think it is intimidating because it is unfamiliar to so many. Spreadsheets, budgets and other financial reports are like a foreign language. They are also the key to navigating any good business, arts or otherwise.
Just a few weeks after I came to UCCCA, our annual audit was scheduled. Everyone asked me if I was nervous. "Why should I be nervous?" I innocently asked.
I was still figuring out the financial systems of the organization. I had very little idea of what an audit actually entailed or where I would find what they needed.
In came the auditors, with their laptops and adding machines.
After a couple of hours, we mutually determined that it made sense to reschedule. They supplied me with a long list of what I needed to find, compile and accomplish. Eliciting the help of my new board treasurer, and combing through piles of paperwork and files, I learned Excel, QuickBooks and a variety of other accounting procedures all to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Today, our annual audit only takes an afternoon at best. However, I now have the good sense to be nervous about it and doubly prepare.
Quite some time ago, the arts council purchased Wilber Mansion for $1. In so many respects, it was a fabulous deal. It also is a tremendous commitment. In the past year we have installed a new heating and cooling system, as well as a security system. We are restoring the front porch to its original grandeur, thanks to a grant program through the city of Oneonta. Soon, we will be rebuilding the parking lot with grant support from Sen. Seward's office.
Not everything at Wilber Mansion is quite so visible to the community. Last year, the board and I threw away seven tons of garbage from the basement. I have sanded and skim-coated walls, chucked dead mice and bats, and replaced broken windows.
There are, of course, the perpetual issues that return time and again for attention. Take, for example, toilet paper.
We have a long, dramatic history at the arts council around the procurement of toilet paper. I personally see no good reason to pay for it. To date, I have written four grant requests for toilet paper. Why not? I'd rather pay salaries or health insurance or paint Wilber Mansion. If I can write successful grants for capital projects, surely I can find some free toilet paper.
Now, I have our interns write the requests. They learn how to write a very creative grant explaining how toilet paper is essential to successful arts programming. Nothing warms the heart like seeing a young college student triumphantly returning from Southside with a carload of free toilet paper.
Four years ago, I was the only full-time person employed at the arts council. Most of the programs were run by very part-time employees who worked on a contractual basis. Today, we have a budget that sustains three full-time salaried positions with 100 percent health benefits and two part-time employees.
It took a lot of effort to get the organization to a place where it could sustain that level of commitment to its employees.
The arts council had the help of the Council of Community Services of New York State and the New York State Multi Arts Center Consortium in developing personnel policies, job descriptions and other documents that would help us to employ best practices. We also worked with CCSNYS to procure health insurance for employees.
From a human resource perspective, the arts council has made significant strides. However, the more an organization accomplishes the more attention a director must give to managing the growth. Health insurance, cafeteria plans and payroll expense issues all crop up from time to time, and I am always revisiting the best ways to provide promised and required benefits to employees.
So, what does an executive director do?
Today, she wrote a column, oriented a new bookkeeper, worked on computer issues with tech support, cleaned two offices, prepared a classroom space with a teacher, made a bank deposit, designed a poster and threw away 40 bags of garbage into a Dumpster.
Kathleen Frascatore is executive director of the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts.
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