Chinn:: I find that we're very collaborative. I can talk to any other female managing directors around the country, and they will share tips and ideas and trade secrets candidly to help me. I don't get that quite so much from my male counterparts. I think they're a little more guarded, a little more territorial.
Starving artists
So, you mentor one another. Does that help bring more young women and minorities into the field?
Chinn: : There's also got to be the compensation that goes with it. One reason we don't have more people coming into our work force is we just can't compete. They may stay for a while, and then go off to a corporate job. We have to somehow instill in our boards that compensation levels have to be competitive. It's as valuable a profession as anything else that's out there. In fact, it's more valuable.
Sometimes I hear board members say, "Well, these young kids are passionate about the job. That should be enough."
Bolger:: So they don't have to be paid.
Chinn:: I abhor that approach. I don't think it's fair. You wouldn't ask it of a neurosurgeon, you wouldn't ask that of a lawyer. Our people are paid just a fraction of what they're worth.
Alsop:: But again, don't you think that subconsciously, the arts are a fringe. It's, "What do you do for your real job?" That idea still exists. It's still with us.
Bolger:: Our recent campaign is basically an endowment campaign because we need more operating money. We're not building some great edifice, we're endowing basic functions of the museum. Those are choices we have to make, but they're not always glamorous. Disability insurance is not as glamorous as a new production, but it's very important. It's like a roof on a house.
Alsop: [Mentioning the symphony's proposed European tour]: We have offers from all the major centers in Europe, but it is expensive. People are curious about what's going on in Baltimore. And if you now say, "The economy's tough, we can't do this," you miss the entire opportunity to get a subliminal message across that Baltimore is not Homicide or The Wire.
Chinn: : As the newbie, Baltimore is not the city it's portrayed to be. When I left California to come here, the range of remarks I got was, "Why?" and "My condolences."
Brave new world
With the dearth of arts education in the schools, how do you build a new generation of arts patrons?
