BY THE FOOTHILLS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Recent events have called into
question the management of Foothills
Performing Arts Center by its
board of directors and even perhaps
the value of the project to the
greater Oneonta community.
In the wake of the unfortunate
and emotionally charged allegations
by former staff, members of
the board have weighed the desire
to be forthcoming against the possible
down side of answering what
we believe and know to be unfounded
charges.
Should we chase public relations
fires, putting out one after another?
Do we risk ceaseless rounds of backand-
forth accusations and defensive
posturing? It might make good press,
but is it a valuable use of time when
we consider the far more pressing
and serious financial challenges we
are now encountering?
As members of the board of directors,
we believe it is the right of the
community to have access to factual
information about our conduct as
well as the fiscal and physical condition
of Foothills Performing Arts
Center. It is a matter of public trust.
It is important to the future of this
significant effort.
The board of directors of any
not-for-profit acts as the governing
body of the organization. They guide
the resources and the management
of the organization to ensure that
they are in keeping with the organizational
mission. It is their responsibility
to represent the vision and
the goals of the organization to the
community.
Let’s not forget that a board of
directors is composed of volunteers
who have agreed to commit resources
of time, expertise and financial
contribution for the betterment of
a project. The day-to-day activities
of every board member will vary
depending upon their professional
and personal commitments. Certainly
at Foothills Performing Arts
Center, this has been the case over
the years, as board members have
confronted serious health issues
and personal demands, as well as
professional challenges and opportunities.
Still, our collective commitment
has remained steadfast as we continue
to work toward the successful
completion of an ambitious project
designed to benefit the community.
Consider the following:
For many years, board members
of Foothills worked closely with
government leaders in Albany and
Washington, D.C., to raise more than
$9 million to pay for the construction
of the Foothills building.
Board members have collectively
donated in excess of $1.1 million in
cash, and more in goods and services.
Board members have volunteered
many hundreds of
hours consulting, advising
and supervising the building
project.
These contributions have, by
and large, remained quiet and
even anonymous. They have
been made in tribute to those
we loved who believed in this
project, and in support of a
vision of a brighter future for
downtown Oneonta and surrounding
communities.
The scope of the Foothills
Performance Arts Center project
is substantial.
Before Foothills, Market
Street was a sorry sight, with
the abandoned West-Nesbitt
feed mill. The Foothills
team worked with the city of
Oneonta to raze the building
and to create the existing
facility. The project has been
adjusted in scope over the
years to conform to financial
realities, but we have never
lost sight of the civic, cultural
and educational components
of our original mission. Foothills
is a community gathering
place, a space for local arts
groups of all sorts to perform,
and a magnet for visiting artists
and performance groups.
Now, consider all that we
have accomplished in the past
five years. Erecting a building
of such proportion is a tremendous
challenge. We are 95
percent of the way there. Two
performance/gathering spaces
accommodating 125 and 250
people are complete, as is
the beautiful and expansive
atrium space. The focus of our
work now is completing the
main-stage theater, which will
have seating for 624 with room
for expansion.
Quite frankly, we feel a deep
sense of pride over our accomplishments.
We are proud that
Foothills is a “green” building
with many state-of-the-art
elements.
In terms of construction-related
issues, the main stage is
under construction and will
be completed when the necessary
funds are raised. There
has been discussion about a
report commissioned by the
former executive director of
Foothills that is critical of the
project. Ideally, the authors
of such a report would have
spent time with the architect
and project managers to review
concerns and ask questions.
That did not happen.
As a result, the report is
completely inaccurate. Many
of the issues raised could
have been resolved by understanding
the status of the
project. Indeed, the board and
anyone associated with the
construction of the project
were unaware that Foothills
requested and paid for the
study until former employees
went to the press.
Developing vibrant arts
programming that attracts audiences
and funding enough
to sustain the effort is, again,
an extraordinary goal. Admittedly,
it has been a challenge
for our board to maintain the
necessary effort to complete
the Foothills structure
while supporting developing
programming. We looked
to management to curate a
performance season that was
self-sustaining through box office
revenue and donated
support.
The board of directors gave
management creative freedom
to schedule any and all performances
it deemed worthwhile.
In support of artistic efforts,
the board even paid for some
of these events personally.
Unfortunately, as wonderful
as so much of the programming
was, it did not attract
significant enough audience
attendance, sponsorship or
grant support. Our request
that a business plan in support
of artistic programming be
implemented was not fulfilled
by management. Instead,
operating capital was used to
support artistic endeavors and
the expansion of staff without
board knowledge.
The most difficult aspect of
board service is being forced
into unfortunate situations in
which tough decisions must be
made.
For our part, we recognize
that it is time to conduct a
thorough strategic review and
develop a plan for the next
phase of governance and management.
We are working with
not-for-profit advisers on that
effort, while interviews for
an interim director are under
way. In the meantime, scheduled
programming and events
continue, as we work through
the new fiscal challenges
we must resolve. Foothills
has a busy winter and spring
calendar, and more events are
being booked daily.
It is our hope that this
article helps to convey the
truth about our effort and our
commitment as a board of
directors. We recognize that
everyone expressing an opinion
cares deeply about the
future of Foothills Performing
Arts Center. We hope that any
future dialogue will be based
in fact and conducted in a
constructive manner.
We welcome community
members with open arms to
come and support the work
and vision of Foothills. Help
with our fundraising drive.
Volunteer at events. Serve on
our board of directors or our
volunteer guild. We need your
help and participation
A special thank-you to everyone
who has come forward to
support the work of Foothills
in recent weeks.
The board of directors has
taken recent events very seriously.
We are financially, intellectually,
emotionally and
even physically invested in
this project. We plan to work
diligently to see it through.
THE FOOTHILLS Board of Directors
members are Rev. Ken Baldwin of
Oneonta, Gene Bettiol of Oneonta,
Cal Chase of Oneonta, Jason Curley
of Oneonta, Arnie Drogen of
Oneonta, Charlotte Hill of Delhi, Tasi
Karabinis of Oneonta, Sarah Patterson
of Oneonta, Brenda Reeser of
Andes, Doug Reeser of Andes and
David Wawro of Oneonta.
Opinion
Related Photos
-
The foothills performing arts center is seen in this January 6th file photo. Photo by Brit Worgan.
Discussion
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1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
Welcome to our story comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including the unpopular ones. We only ask that you keep your conversations clean, civil and on the topic of the story you are commenting on.
Coinciding with our websites redesign, we launched our new story comments feature through Disqus.
Disqus gives users the ability to log into our story comments feature so that they may be able to track their conversations, receive emails when their comments get a reply or to even have your comments update onto your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
For the time being, our story comments feature will continue to have the ability to post comments anonymously. We reserve the right to require registration in the future using your name and verified email address.
Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified at the newspaper’s discretion for a number of different reasons. Please follow our Online Rules of Conduct at all times.
RULES OF CONDUCT:
We reserve the right to remove comments that are unacceptable, to wit:
1. False and inacurate statements.
2. Personal attacks. Explicit name-calling.
3. Harassing, harmful, vulgar, obscene and defamatory language.
4. Threatening statements or statements that suggest violence.
5. Hate speech of any kind.
6. Intolerant comments on religion, race, age, gender, sexual preference or disabilities.
7. Accusations of criminal activity.
8. Content that is harmful to children and minors in any way.
9. References to any type of sexual activity and other private matters.
10. Random and inflammatory statements that are off topic.
11. Advertising of any kind.
12. Typing in all caps.
WE ENCOURAGE REASONABLE AND COURTEOUS COMMENTS THAT:
1. Create conversation on issues of interest and concern to fellow readers and local community members.
2. Express opinions and contrarian views.
3. Stimulate debate with respectful language.
4. Stay within the boundaries of these rules.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUSPEND OR TERMINATE ACCESS FOR:
1. Violating any of these Online Rules of Conduct.
2. Deliberately disrupting discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or spam.
3. Misrepresentation of identity or impersonating another user.
WE WELCOME:
1. Flagging violations of these rules that you observe to our attention.
MONITORING:
We monitor comments regularly Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Approval of comments outside of this time (including weekends) will be sporadic.
February 15, 2010
Foothills’ board committed to serving community
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