What I am incredibly grateful for is the increasing awareness among our donors of how vitally important it is to support true artistic excellence in our city. Looking back on 25 years, I see that the foundations, many businesses, the city government under Mayor Wharton, and the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce and Arts Memphis are energetically embracing the creative spirit as a way of expressing what we can be as a city and as a community. They also understand how necessary it is to embrace the drive toward dreams—dreams that can inspire and express the community’s soul.
I also am grateful for the leadership of a number of arts organizations in this city, their goodwill, commitment to excellence, and collaborative and companionable spirit, particularly with us. Stax, Hattiloo, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Brooks Museum of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Playhouse on the Square, the National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis College of Art, Collage dance Collective, Theatre Memphis, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, Opera Memphis—such good leadership and I am lucky to count them as friends.
This means that we are increasingly working together to make sure our art forms take a place in civic dialogue and civic progress, and include a wide embrace, so all people get a share at the feast.
I am so grateful that I, the lone Southerner, have been given the amazing opportunity to study with 100 of the finest arts leaders across the world in the NAS Executive Fellowship program. My first round at University of Michigan was exciting beyond words. And it is always affirming to see what high esteem Ballet Memphis is held in, both nationally and in some cases, globally. As we wrestle with questions no one has the answers for, in the middle of such rapid convergence, change, boundaries blurring, economies rising and falling, disparate media, it is my great fortune, and the fortune for Memphians who recognize that cultural upheaval provides great opportunities for innovation and creativity, to be part of this amazing group of thinkers.
I am thrilled that our collaboration with Collage dance Collective was so rewarding for all of us and that Nutcracker was the best ever. It was marvelous to have the Symphony back in the pit. Watching our professional dancers grow in partnerships, like Hideko and Kendall, or Ginny and Brandon, while Crystal and Rafael continue to have so much fun dancing together, is just a triple treat! Our trainees are so good this season and also so very willing to make a difference and be an inspiration, including going into the community centers with our childhood obesity program.
Reflecting also means ways we can see to grow:
There is still not enough understanding or appreciation for different leadership viewpoints and in artistic decision making, particularly the kind that asks for a less patriarchal, top-down approach, and involves expression of community and nest-building, for lack of a better word. That is something I look forward to addressing more, on a national front as well. And as the middle class shrinks and poverty increases across the United States, I hope the arts become a more vital voice in counteracting the fear, divisiveness, anger and finger-pointing, that can become so strident.
The opportunity to find instant information is breathtaking, but it also means that the opportunity for lies to spread to maintain power bases increases. Ultimately, arts groups that insist we be the best we can be, the most concerned, compassionate and committed to aspiring toward high standards, will give the most to all of us in the world.
-- Dorothy Gunther Pugh
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