Why I’m Leaving Syracuse October 15, 2008

Today I attended the Cultural Blueprints session for the Central New York region initiated as part of a statewide conversation with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). During a break out session on Intellectual Capital and Workforce Development, I initiated a conversation about retaining and growing young leadership. In the last year we have lost several young leaders to other cities, among them Kate Clark (Philadelphia, PA), Ty Marshal (Beacon, NY), Astria Superak (Pittsburgh, PA) and recently, Kathryn Martini (New York, NY). I recently announced I am leaving both of my positions as Director of Communications at the Cultural Resources Council of Onondaga County, Inc. and as Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator at Delavan Art Gallery, the largest for-profit gallery in Central New York.

Why? …to expand my horizons. Personally, I want to travel and express a certain feeling of restlessness before digging into the next project that will hopefully take me to the next phase of my career. Professionally, I have little upwards mobility or ways of getting the experience I need and want to advance to a leadership position.

At the breakout session I announced this and invited the group to address issues of retaining and supporting young leaders. Phil Memmer of the YMCA’s Downtown Writers Center pointed out a need for supporting full-time positions instead of a variety of part-time staff. It’s true that I’ve made a living out of piecing together two or three part-time jobs. To this, Heather Hitchens, Executive Director of NYSCA, added a need for better benefits packages including retirement plans. Perhaps benefits are a reason many full-time positions are avoided. Our lovely facilitator added to this the issue of health care*.

Another issue that came up was a lack of assistance on SU’s part to support grads after their first job placement… that is a need for more support in mid-level career placement. I brought up a lack of job listings. The only way to find out about jobs are to look at NYFA and the CNY postings there are few and usually only for advanced positions. Later I found out jobs in the performing arts are more commonly advertised than in the visual arts. Still, there are some serious problems with our career paths in the arts.

Ideas: group healthcare for artists (Is there a state program that does this?), mentorship programs for young leaders in the arts & a conference for local arts leaders to talk about sharing resources… (there were more but these are my favorites)

I have to give Owen Shapiro and Christine Fawcett of the Syracuse International Film Festival credit where due for keeping me attached to Syracuse. I was approached and then voted onto the board of the film festival just before I made my decision to depart. Between this new responsibility, my relationship and my house, I’ll be in and out of Syracuse on a regular basis, especially as the film festival approaches in the Spring. So I’m not fully leaving, but I am opening myself up to new possibilities.

Hopefully, I will gain some valuable experience to be able to come back and fill a leadership role here in Syracuse in the future. This city is a great stepping stone. This morning I heard Mary Schmidt Campbell of NYSCA talking about how she started her career by attending Syracuse University and then working in a Curator position at the Everson. I hope my experiences here bring me to similar opportunities.

Here at this blog I’ll keep you posted of my travels. Stay tuned!

-Courtney

*(For the record, of my two employers, both offered health insurance if I worked a guaranteed 20 hours or more a week. One had good insurance but cost me about $350 a month and the other had a high deductible of a few thousand, which made it unreasonable and unaffordable for me. I joined a national network of self-employed people and obtained my own health insurance through them for $250/month. This seemed like a great deal- 10 doctors visits for a $10 copay/each, but every single visit they’ve initially denied and then covered after I get on the phone and argue my case. It’s incredibly annoying, plus if something seriously went wrong with me they wouldn’t cover it anyway. I just dropped it because I decided I can’t afford it. I’ve now joined the ranks of the uninsured.)