Q&A With Juliet Feibel Of ARTSWorcester
JULIET FEIBEL
TITLE: Executive Director, ARTSWorcester
HOMETOWN: St. Louis
RESIDENCE: Worcester
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, Northwestern; doctorate, University of Michigan
ARTSWorcester is probably best thought of as an artist's best friend. The group provides local artists with exhibition space to display and professional development for creative growth. It also advocates for the arts and fosters collaboration between cultural, business, educational, and municipal organizations in the city. ARTSWorcester recently hired Juliet Feibel, a native of the Midwest, as its executive director.
A recent study examined the economic impact of nonprofit art and cultural institutions in New England. Is there unrealized potential for that in Worcester?
Yes. I think, in general, Worcester is a hotbed of unfulfilled potential. The success of the Hanover demonstrates that there's a real hunger for more arts and culture. I think Worcester's best bet is to do what it does well, which is to grow on what it has and look for geographical hubs that can all become destinations. (For instance), we have the downtown Federal Square district. We have the Canal District. I think there's great growth potential in Main South. The different cultural destinations can form anchors in themselves, so I do think there's a great deal of growth that can happen ... around those hubs.
Is there something that Worcester can learn from the arts and culture scenes on either end of the state, in Boston and The Berkshires?
I think our best successes are building on what we have, whether it be a beautiful theater building with great potential or a wonderful, thriving young artists' scene. I think it would be a great mistake for Worcester to try to become Boston. I think, likewise, The Berkshires are a very different economic and social landscape. I think we need to continue figuring out what works with what we have and build on that.
You're new to your role but not new to leadership roles in the arts. What do you see as your most important goal in this new job?
My first task is to sustain the stability that has been so hard won in the last few years. Then I want to raise the profile of this organization. I want to reexamine how we communicate with our audiences. And work harder at reaching a more diverse group of artists and audiences. This organization is so long lived and has such an important part in the cultural landscape. There are many successes here and it is my job to continue.
What is there about the arts that your average business or business owner should know?
The average business leader already knows that the arts are crucial to any successful economic improvement or development. I find that, by and large, corporate and small business leadership understands that the arts and culture make Worcester an attractive place for businesses. It helps them attract and retain employees. Without a strong cultural environment, it's pretty hard to argue that ‘Yes, you want to move here.' When Clark University recruited my husband (Ken MacLean, a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor), I knew what Worcester had. I knew they had this wonderful art museum. I knew they had the American Antiquarian Society, I knew they had a strong network of organizations like ARTSWorcester. And those were enough to make us decide to live in the city and to disregard a lot of the fear mongering we heard about the public schools, and to say that we wanted to live where the action was.
The other thing that business leaders should know about the arts is that we are a terrific investment. We are - if you think of nonprofits as companies - the leanest out there. Our entire budget for a large organization with as much impact as we have is $123,000 a year. And with that money, we mount 25 shows in five different spaces. We hold performing arts events. We hold mixed-media events. We also advocate for the arts with the city and commonwealth. We serve over 400 members all on a very, very, very thin dime. So through programs like our business partnerships, business leaders have a way to create recognition for what they do while getting an extremely good return on their investment in the arts.
You apparently recognize the potential of social media. How do you see that helping ARTSWorcester?
We serve a lot of people who are not able to just pop downtown whenever they'd like. I would like our virtual capacities to include displaying the works of our membership. I would like it to serve as a location where they are not physically coming here (where they) can visit and see what we do and keep up with what we do. I would like to communicate better. I would like to have our electronic media be a two-way street ... that our members and the general public tell us what they want to see or what they'd like or how art is working for them in this city.
You've experienced the arts scene in the Midwest and now Massachusetts. How do they compare?
I should never make, publicly, any generalizations about the Midwest, which is a very huge and diverse region as opposed to the Northeast or New England or Massachusetts or Central Massachusetts, all of which I see as very different. New England has a longer tradition of what we now call arts and culture nonprofits- "societies" - than there are in the Midwest. At the same time, I see a greater willingness to experiment here and a larger taste for the new and cutting edge. That's Worcester-specific.
What's your organization's biggest asset and what is its biggest challenge?
Our biggest asset is, without a doubt, our members. Not a day has gone by that a couple of members have not stopped in or called specifically to say hello to me to make sure I know how important this organization is to them. Their participation and their involvement in our works and their submissions to all of our exhibitions and their use of this space as a community center is what really makes this organization as strong and long-lived as it is. Our greatest challenge is the most common of all: small resources and the difficulty of carving out time to do anything else besides work toward more resources; in short, the scarcity of resources and the enormous efforts to secure more resources consume so much of what we do.
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