Fairfield 1st Fridays Art Walk Executive Director Jeananne Robins submitted her resignation Monday, citing conflict with the event’s exectuive board of directors. Robins said the board undermined her ability to perform her roles as the director of the Art Walk. She likened the situation to too many head chefs in a kitchen. “It’s not fair to the city and the art walk to hire and executive director and have her only do the job of an executive assistant,” Robins said.
“The Art Walk board of directors has accepted the resignation of Jeananne and wishes her well in her future endeavors. Her leaving is unfortunate yet was inevitable,” said a statement from Terry Baker, president of the board. “The board is considering its options and formulating a plan that ensures the continuity and success of the Art Walk. I am very confident in the Art Walk board. They are a dedicated team and have been committed to working toward the Art Walk’s continued success for many years now,” added Baker.
Robins, who was hired in August, is the third Art Walk director since Cathy Wadsworth was hired as the event’s first professional director in August 2007. Funding for Wadsworth’s position came from a matching Iowa Community Culture Grant given by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. Amy Kettenburg and JoBeth Lewer also filled the Art Walk position prior to Robins’ hiring last August.
by Phyllis Khare
During the current fiscal year, the position was funded by $35,000 from Fairfield’s Local Options Sales Tax community betterment fund — that money also went to advertising and event expenses. Prior to 2007, the event was run entirely by volunteers — a circumstance that Robins believes has contributed to the present state.
“The past board of directors had to act as executive directors. It’s been hard for them to reverse that level of service, ” Robins said. Her issues are with the few members of the executive board, who have individually countered her authority while serving on various committees. Robins acknowledged the board’s authority over her when acting as a single entity. As the Art Walk’s executive director, Robins also felt she was kept out of the loop on too many details. She cited and upcoming Art Walk that has been almost entirely organized by a board member as an example.
“This is not a club. We need to sustain ourselves, The way to do that is to implement systems and run the event like a business,” Robins said.
“I don’t know what the solution is at this point. I love the Art Walk, ” she said, “I just want to see the Art Walk survive, and I don’t think it can the way it is run right now.”
Baker was confident the Art Walk board would handle the matter and ensure the event’s future success. “As many of you can imagine, running an event every month of the year requires special skills and stanima, and I am very proud of this board for its flexibiulity and focus towerd the Art Walk’s continutity,” said Baker.
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