Arts leadership — or lack thereof — in West Virginia
The Wicked Wag can’t help but wonder what W.Va. Education and Arts Secretary Kay Goodwin and the Manchins think education is for? To list when one dies so as to make the obituary paragraph longer?
One reader has said that all the qualifications a West Virginia state government appointee needs is the blessing of the governor. That’s a sorry state of affairs in 2006, for both the governor and his so-called secretary of arts and education. What does the secretary of arts and education do? Would that be a policy-making position? If so, what qualifies Ms. Goodwin to make arts policy? The Wag understands that she holds a bachelors degree in theater from West Virginia University, which is scant qualification for a position whose holder sets the direction for the state’s cultural growth and development. If the people running the administrations that created and continued this position really felt that arts and education were worthy of a secretary’s position, should they not have required that the holder of the position be well educated, both academically and by experience? (It appears that the greatest qualification Goodwin holds is her MRS from Mr. Goodwin, a powerful old-school politician.)
Of what professional development has Secretary Goodwin availed herself since she has been in office? Upon what basis does she form her opinions? More to the point, what has she done in the years she has held her post that would demonstrate her knowledge and leadership in arts and education? As the person who might be the visionary, what are her contributions? Can somebody list them, please?
Apparently, it would surprise the Manchins, Goodwin and new Commissioner of Culture and History Randall Reid-Smith to hear that there are contemporary programs in arts administration that prepare people for positions of leadership in the arts. A simple Google search yields much exciting information about the intertwining of arts and business knowledge in arts administration programs at Indiana University, the University of Kentucky, Boston University, Southern Methodist University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Oregon, to name just a few. Unfortunately, West Virginia University is not among them, nor is any other West Virginia school. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the governor’s will and pleasure were that West Virginia’s unique culture become a growth center for our future? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the secretary of arts and education would see to it that at least one academic institution in West Virginia offers programs that prepare our people for a future in the creative economy that requires sophistication in aesthethics and design?
For the record, here’s how the University of Indiana introduces its Arts Administration program:
“Stepping Into Leadership
The 89th U. S. Congress defined ‘arts’ as follows (this definition is also endorsed by the Education, Science, and Arts Commission of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons):
The term ‘arts’ includes, but is not limited to, music (instrumental and vocal), dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, industrial design, costume and fashion design, motion pictures, television, radio, tape and sound recording, the arts related to the presentation, performance, execution, and exhibition of such major arts forms and the study and application of the arts to the human environment.
Since 1971, the Indiana University Arts Administration Program has trained students to assume leadership positions in the nation’s most prestigious arts institutions. The program has been committed to the development of leaders who are realists as well as idealists, forwarding-looking yet mindful of the past, and respectful of the needs of both art and business.
Broadbased in outlook and curriculum, the program strives to achieve a balance of artistic and management concerns, of theory and hands-on experience. Individual attention by full-time faculty who are arts professionals, linkages to the business world, access to top-ranked departments campuswide, and an excellent placement record are all hallmarks of the program, as are the rich cultural resources on campus and in the community.”
The will and pleasure of Indiana leaders for the past 35 years has been to provide state-supported arts management training not only for its citizens, but for the nation. It’s regrettable that the West Virginia secretary of arts and education has only the barest minimum qualifications in either arts or education and no qualifications in art administration or policy making. And that the new commissioner of culture and history has nothing but low-level administrative jobs to his credit. It has been said that the majority of West Virginians have an anti-education bias. Could the Manchins and Ms. Goodwin be part of that majority? One hopes not, but the way these two government positions have been handled seems proof of that bias.
~ The Wicked Wag
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:16 am
thanks wicked wag. you called a spade a spade on our arts leadership. how about taking a look at the clay center leadership, its big pay raise and, hmmmm, how many art books she has at home? what are the qualifications to run that place?
a $50,000 pay raise for running an organization that is loosing money? how many other staff members at clay got a pay raise? you have probably overlooked this since it all came down the same week as the hyphen guy was appointed arts commissioner.
August 7th, 2006 at 5:43 am
LOL, it’s amusing that The Wag is concerned that his syntax is being critiqued, but perhaps he should be happy that someone is paying attention. After all, writing is an art, too.
IAC, I’m quite certain that Mrs. Goodwin thinks that her previous years of work on the Arts Commission board, and her years as a patron of the arts, makes her fully qualified, and that she doesn’t need any further training. Besides, she’d have to give equal effort to additional education in the “Education” part of her title.
It is a sad situation that in all of state government (not just Education and Arts or Culture and History) there are no qualifications required for any of the will-and-pleasure positions, and that includes any of the director positions within state agencies. Any longtime employee of the State will have stories of some of the totally unqualified political appointees they’ve worked under.
Ask Ms. Conlin about some of the people the Governor’s Office sent over as replacements for her Deputy Commissioner: mostly old men trying to pad their impending retirement.
August 15th, 2006 at 8:55 am
“IAC, I’m quite certain that Mrs. Goodwin thinks that her previous years of work on the Arts Commission board, and her years as a patron of the arts, makes her fully qualified, and that she doesn’t need any further training. Besides, she’d have to give equal effort to additional education in the “Education” part of her title.”
OK, so what has Goodwin done with her qualifications? What difference has she made?
November 9th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
[…] You will hear Manchin placing trust in Kay Goodwin for making the right decisions. This entry at the Gazz Blog from July 23, 2006 goes into greater detail about “what W.Va. Education and Arts Secretary Kay Goodwin and the Manchins think education is for.” […]