Fourth, what experiences within the organization have given you the most meaning and satisfaction?
Turning around the reputation of The Center has been the most satisfying. When I first got there, people were down on The Center and nobody wanted to work with us. We had a terrible reputation in the community, but it wasn’t so much from the patron perspective. For me, it was the artists’ perspective that was really bad. Nobody wanted to work with us. It feels really good to have turned that and the business around and to have happy staff.
We recently debriefed after Kris Kristofferson to see what we did right and wrong with his concert. What’s important, we found, is that both patrons and artists need to have an awesome experience. If we do both of those things, we’ve had a successful night.
10. I want to ask you three additional questions about your various community involvements:
First, what motivates or inspires you to engage in civic activities and causes?
Making a difference inspires and motivates me to engage in civic activities. Certainly there’s part of me that’s ego. I like attention, but that’s not my only motivation. I feel that I really drove The Center to change. I believe my leadership changed the course of The Center, and that its making a difference. I didn’t write a check to accomplish this. I worked to do it by using my brain.
Second, do you feel that you are sacrificing anything in your life by being deeply involved in our community’s civic organizations?
No, I do not. I love what I do. Of course, finding a balance between my kids and my work is always a challenge.
Third, what personal benefits do you get from your civic involvements?
Personal satisfaction… that I am making a difference.
11. Let’s turn to a different topic: Is there a relationship between your role as a working professional and your personal involvement in our community’s civic organizations? If so, how would you describe it?
Fortunately, I get to do something that I love to do. The arts are my passion.
12. Do you see yourself continuing along the same career path with increasing responsibilities and leadership roles? Or at some point do you see a different path for yourself?
I do. I’m at another crossroads in terms of trying to figure out whether I should dissolve my business, Julie Baker Fine Art, because I like what I’m doing at The Center so much. I would really love to bring more arts organizations in our community under The Center’s wing because there are so many of them here. I feel capable of doing this, that I can run multiple programs. Eventually, when my family and I move, I would want to run another arts center. We have no plans of moving anytime soon.
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