09
Oct
2001
"Stability" is one word that could describe the situation at Quad City
Arts through the years. Holly Richard was involved in the award-winning Visiting Artist program for more than 20 years, and Lloyd Schoeneman had been a seminal part of the organization since 1978.
But Richard took a job with a new arts center in northern Illinois, and Schoeneman - the director of public and visual arts - took a leave because of cancer. (He died in August.) Furthermore, Gallery Manager Ryan Burkhalter left to pursue an advanced degree. The losses poked a big hole in the normally steady staff Quad City Arts, which has nine full-time employees.
In April, John Vogt was hired as the organization's director of programming (Richard's old position), and he was followed in May by Lori Roderick in the position of community arts administrator. And two months ago, Dawn Wohlford-Metallo joined as gallery manager.
These three new faces of Quad City Arts are being "given the task of maintaining and building on the programming," said Dean Schroeder, a Quad City Arts board member and executive director of MidCoast Fine Arts. They're also trying new things, many of which could be a boon for the local arts community.
From workshops designed to help artists make a living at art - instead of holding down desk jobs to support their art - to efforts to sell more local artwork, Quad City Arts seems to have re-dedicated itself to the arts community.
"The dynamics haven't so much changed as been revitalized," said Judi Holdorf, Quad City Arts' executive director.
"We've lost some good people," said Joe Douglas, past president of the Quad City Arts board. But "I think the organization is stronger than it's ever been, personnel-wise."
Fresh faces often lead to fresh ideas, Douglas said. "After you're in a job that long, you're not bringing a new perspective to that job every day," he said. He added that because Schoeneman was ill for several years, "his very strong talents had not been available for use for a long time."
He also said that Quad City Arts over the past few years has focused itself. The group has "taken a much broader view of the organization's responsibility ... for encouraging the arts." He cited as examples the Art at the Airport project (run with MidCoast Fine Arts), the MetroArts program (a paid summer arts internship for high-school students that completed its second year in 2001), and the new family series of concerts during the 2001-2 fiscal year.
Those high-profile projects aren't the only changes, though. With its new staff, Quad City Arts seems to be catering to local artists more.
"I come to this place as an artist," said Roderick, whose primary duties are administering the public-art and Arts Dollar$/Access program, which last year awarded 30 grants totaling $40,000 to local artists and arts organizations. (That amounts to more than 2 percent of Quad City Arts' $1.8 million budget.) "After five months, I still find myself wearing my artist's hat."
That is also reflected in some tweaking of job titles, Holdorf said. While Schoeneman was the director of public and visual arts, Roderick is community arts administrator.
"She's looking out for the needs of the working artist," Schroeder said. "As the region's art council, we should serve the region's artists."
Roderick began her relationship with Quad City Arts with a two-person show in 1993. In 1996, she was a facilitator for the lower Lindsay Park sculpture program, and last year she ran the inaugural MetroArts summer program. "It seems like all these things came together" for this job, she said.
Roderick is planning several professional-development workshops under the title "The Toolbox Series" for next year. A continuation of a one-time program Schoeneman offered in 1998, The Toolbox Series is envisioned as a way for artists to get the skills they need to turn art into a full-time job, especially when it comes to compensation.
The first workshop will match writers and artists as a way for artists to get their names out into the world. The idea is that the writers would use the artists and their work as subjects for articles, and if those stories get published, the writer might be able to generate more sales or build a reputation.
A second workshop would be a peer-networking night featuring roundtable discussions, covering topics such as framing, artist's statements, and photographing three-dimensional works. A third session would be a venue for sharing information about opportunities for public art.
"We'll see where this goes," Roderick said. "Some of these things will grow into other programs. ... I'm just starting. The artists who attend will determine how they continue."
While Roderick has taken over Schoeneman's job, she has not inherited all his responsibilities. Schoeneman had such a large and diverse workload, Schroeder said, that Quad City Arts has divided up his duties to ensure that the jobs are manageable. For example, Leslie Thompson has taken over literary arts, while Roderick handles the public-art arena.
Roderick is also in charge of Quad City Arts public-art programs and sits on the DavenportOne Arts & Culture Committee that is working toward a rotating sculpture program in downtown Davenport.
In that capacity, Roderick has been making a lot of phone calls and updating the organization's roster of artists. "We didn't know who a lot of these people were," Roderick said of her database. "I can't serve their needs if I don't know who they are."
Wohlford-Metallo's job is also serving artists. If Roderick's job is to give artists skills to present and market themselves and their work, it is Wohlford-Metallo's responsibility to sell it.
"We want people to think of Quad City Arts as a place buy art and not just see art," she said.
Over the past three years, Quad City Arts has significantly increased the number of visitors to its gallery and the amount of sales it has generated. In the 2000-1 fiscal year, the gallery had approximately 10,000 visitors and $19,000 in sales, compared to 5,000 and $13,000 in the 1997-8. "We've more than doubled the number of visitors in the past three years," Wohlford-Metallo said. "I'd like to see that double again in the next two to three years."
The change has stemmed partially from the gallery's Friday-night concert series, which has gotten people in the habit of coming to Quad City Arts.
Wohlford-Metallo said that she'd like to get more people to the gallery, in part, by bringing in classes of schoolchildren. While the Visiting Artist series takes performing arts into the schools, there's no equivalent for the visual arts.
The new gallery director also plans to start some new gallery events. A Holiday Art Sale on November 30 will feature one-of-a-kind artwork for less than $200, while in the 2002-3 season she wants to begin a Friends & Members Show. Essentially, Quad City Arts would swap a Quad Cities exhibit with one from Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, or even farther away. This would introduce local artists to a new audience and possibly help an artist sell more work. Another show might be a tour-of-homes-style affair, except artwork would be the focal point instead of the houses.
Vogt's background is in theatrical design, having worked on sets and lighting for the New Orleans opera and in movies. About a decade ago, he moved more into arts management, helping to develop a performing-arts center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and later becoming its director programming. Vogt came to Quad City Arts from a job in Pennsylvania.
As the director of programming, Vogt takes the lead role in the organization's Visiting Artist series as well as other performing-arts programs.
"The Visiting Artist series is well-known nationally," Vogt said of the job opportunity in the Quad Cities.
Vogt and Holdorf are also part of a committee exploring the possibility of a Bettendorf arts and education center, which the city wants to put in the Eagle building it bought at 2850 15th Street.
It sounds as if Quad City Arts continues to add new things, but Holdorf said that's not quite true. "A lot of what we're doing is expanding the programs we already have," she said. "This community is not only asking for but crying for more programs in the arts." In some schools, she notes, performances by Quad City Arts Visiting Artists are the only arts education in the entire facility.
Yet regular expansion - in programs and in budget - gives weight to the criticism that Quad City Arts is a behemoth that blocks other organizations from getting the money or attention they deserve.
Holdorf said that's an unfair characterization. "I think it's a perception that we're competing for the same money," she said. Holdorf argues that Quad City Arts doesn't get funding at the expense of other local arts groups; in many cases, she said, a grantor might increase its arts funding to finance both Quad City Arts and another organization. Holdorf said the Riverboat Development Authority and the Scott County Regional Authority have increased their funding of the arts over the years. (The Riverboat Development Authority earmarks 10 percent of its funding for arts groups; the Scott County Regional Authority doesn't set aside a percentage.)
Furthermore, Quad City Arts has worked more in partnership with local groups than it had in the past, Holdorf said. In addition to the Art at the Airport collaboration with MidCoast, the organization works with the Quad City Symphony on its Holiday Pops concert. Quad City Arts, the symphony, Augustana College, and WQPT are also collaborating on a "music video" that showcases various instrumental and vocal ensembles in the Quad Cities, as well as one of the Visiting Artists. Quad City Arts has also been asked to provide assistance for the area's fledgling opera company.
"We're approached by artists or by organizations for resources," Vogt said.
Douglas said one of the key challenges for Quad City Arts in the coming years is finding new sources of funding. "They've got a lot of good programming ideas they want," he said. "I can't think of any program that is self-sustaining."
But Richard took a job with a new arts center in northern Illinois, and Schoeneman - the director of public and visual arts - took a leave because of cancer. (He died in August.) Furthermore, Gallery Manager Ryan Burkhalter left to pursue an advanced degree. The losses poked a big hole in the normally steady staff Quad City Arts, which has nine full-time employees.
In April, John Vogt was hired as the organization's director of programming (Richard's old position), and he was followed in May by Lori Roderick in the position of community arts administrator. And two months ago, Dawn Wohlford-Metallo joined as gallery manager.
These three new faces of Quad City Arts are being "given the task of maintaining and building on the programming," said Dean Schroeder, a Quad City Arts board member and executive director of MidCoast Fine Arts. They're also trying new things, many of which could be a boon for the local arts community.
From workshops designed to help artists make a living at art - instead of holding down desk jobs to support their art - to efforts to sell more local artwork, Quad City Arts seems to have re-dedicated itself to the arts community.
"The dynamics haven't so much changed as been revitalized," said Judi Holdorf, Quad City Arts' executive director.
"We've lost some good people," said Joe Douglas, past president of the Quad City Arts board. But "I think the organization is stronger than it's ever been, personnel-wise."
Fresh faces often lead to fresh ideas, Douglas said. "After you're in a job that long, you're not bringing a new perspective to that job every day," he said. He added that because Schoeneman was ill for several years, "his very strong talents had not been available for use for a long time."
He also said that Quad City Arts over the past few years has focused itself. The group has "taken a much broader view of the organization's responsibility ... for encouraging the arts." He cited as examples the Art at the Airport project (run with MidCoast Fine Arts), the MetroArts program (a paid summer arts internship for high-school students that completed its second year in 2001), and the new family series of concerts during the 2001-2 fiscal year.
Those high-profile projects aren't the only changes, though. With its new staff, Quad City Arts seems to be catering to local artists more.
"I come to this place as an artist," said Roderick, whose primary duties are administering the public-art and Arts Dollar$/Access program, which last year awarded 30 grants totaling $40,000 to local artists and arts organizations. (That amounts to more than 2 percent of Quad City Arts' $1.8 million budget.) "After five months, I still find myself wearing my artist's hat."
That is also reflected in some tweaking of job titles, Holdorf said. While Schoeneman was the director of public and visual arts, Roderick is community arts administrator.
"She's looking out for the needs of the working artist," Schroeder said. "As the region's art council, we should serve the region's artists."
Roderick began her relationship with Quad City Arts with a two-person show in 1993. In 1996, she was a facilitator for the lower Lindsay Park sculpture program, and last year she ran the inaugural MetroArts summer program. "It seems like all these things came together" for this job, she said.
Roderick is planning several professional-development workshops under the title "The Toolbox Series" for next year. A continuation of a one-time program Schoeneman offered in 1998, The Toolbox Series is envisioned as a way for artists to get the skills they need to turn art into a full-time job, especially when it comes to compensation.
The first workshop will match writers and artists as a way for artists to get their names out into the world. The idea is that the writers would use the artists and their work as subjects for articles, and if those stories get published, the writer might be able to generate more sales or build a reputation.
A second workshop would be a peer-networking night featuring roundtable discussions, covering topics such as framing, artist's statements, and photographing three-dimensional works. A third session would be a venue for sharing information about opportunities for public art.
"We'll see where this goes," Roderick said. "Some of these things will grow into other programs. ... I'm just starting. The artists who attend will determine how they continue."
While Roderick has taken over Schoeneman's job, she has not inherited all his responsibilities. Schoeneman had such a large and diverse workload, Schroeder said, that Quad City Arts has divided up his duties to ensure that the jobs are manageable. For example, Leslie Thompson has taken over literary arts, while Roderick handles the public-art arena.
Roderick is also in charge of Quad City Arts public-art programs and sits on the DavenportOne Arts & Culture Committee that is working toward a rotating sculpture program in downtown Davenport.
In that capacity, Roderick has been making a lot of phone calls and updating the organization's roster of artists. "We didn't know who a lot of these people were," Roderick said of her database. "I can't serve their needs if I don't know who they are."
Wohlford-Metallo's job is also serving artists. If Roderick's job is to give artists skills to present and market themselves and their work, it is Wohlford-Metallo's responsibility to sell it.
"We want people to think of Quad City Arts as a place buy art and not just see art," she said.
Over the past three years, Quad City Arts has significantly increased the number of visitors to its gallery and the amount of sales it has generated. In the 2000-1 fiscal year, the gallery had approximately 10,000 visitors and $19,000 in sales, compared to 5,000 and $13,000 in the 1997-8. "We've more than doubled the number of visitors in the past three years," Wohlford-Metallo said. "I'd like to see that double again in the next two to three years."
The change has stemmed partially from the gallery's Friday-night concert series, which has gotten people in the habit of coming to Quad City Arts.
Wohlford-Metallo said that she'd like to get more people to the gallery, in part, by bringing in classes of schoolchildren. While the Visiting Artist series takes performing arts into the schools, there's no equivalent for the visual arts.
The new gallery director also plans to start some new gallery events. A Holiday Art Sale on November 30 will feature one-of-a-kind artwork for less than $200, while in the 2002-3 season she wants to begin a Friends & Members Show. Essentially, Quad City Arts would swap a Quad Cities exhibit with one from Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, or even farther away. This would introduce local artists to a new audience and possibly help an artist sell more work. Another show might be a tour-of-homes-style affair, except artwork would be the focal point instead of the houses.
Vogt's background is in theatrical design, having worked on sets and lighting for the New Orleans opera and in movies. About a decade ago, he moved more into arts management, helping to develop a performing-arts center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and later becoming its director programming. Vogt came to Quad City Arts from a job in Pennsylvania.
As the director of programming, Vogt takes the lead role in the organization's Visiting Artist series as well as other performing-arts programs.
"The Visiting Artist series is well-known nationally," Vogt said of the job opportunity in the Quad Cities.
Vogt and Holdorf are also part of a committee exploring the possibility of a Bettendorf arts and education center, which the city wants to put in the Eagle building it bought at 2850 15th Street.
It sounds as if Quad City Arts continues to add new things, but Holdorf said that's not quite true. "A lot of what we're doing is expanding the programs we already have," she said. "This community is not only asking for but crying for more programs in the arts." In some schools, she notes, performances by Quad City Arts Visiting Artists are the only arts education in the entire facility.
Yet regular expansion - in programs and in budget - gives weight to the criticism that Quad City Arts is a behemoth that blocks other organizations from getting the money or attention they deserve.
Holdorf said that's an unfair characterization. "I think it's a perception that we're competing for the same money," she said. Holdorf argues that Quad City Arts doesn't get funding at the expense of other local arts groups; in many cases, she said, a grantor might increase its arts funding to finance both Quad City Arts and another organization. Holdorf said the Riverboat Development Authority and the Scott County Regional Authority have increased their funding of the arts over the years. (The Riverboat Development Authority earmarks 10 percent of its funding for arts groups; the Scott County Regional Authority doesn't set aside a percentage.)
Furthermore, Quad City Arts has worked more in partnership with local groups than it had in the past, Holdorf said. In addition to the Art at the Airport collaboration with MidCoast, the organization works with the Quad City Symphony on its Holiday Pops concert. Quad City Arts, the symphony, Augustana College, and WQPT are also collaborating on a "music video" that showcases various instrumental and vocal ensembles in the Quad Cities, as well as one of the Visiting Artists. Quad City Arts has also been asked to provide assistance for the area's fledgling opera company.
"We're approached by artists or by organizations for resources," Vogt said.
Douglas said one of the key challenges for Quad City Arts in the coming years is finding new sources of funding. "They've got a lot of good programming ideas they want," he said. "I can't think of any program that is self-sustaining."
