Helen De Michiel of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) has posted a thoughtful discussion about her organization’s administrative division of labor. Instead of the traditional hierarchy with a single administrative director, NAMAC now has co-directors, sharing equally the burden of executive leadership. Says she:
Many arts nonprofits find themselves dealing with variations on two extremes: either directors don’t stay long enough (burnout, not enough money, better opportunities) to really guide the organization into a next meaningful phase; or an entrenched executive director, exhibiting “founder’s syndrome,” has inadvertently molded the organization to fit his or her personality, while permitting little new oxygen into the mix.
Helen and her co-director Jack Walsh have carved out an executive partnership to avoid both problems, and to give each of them more time to step back, tend to their lives, and continue their creative work in the media arts.
It’s certainly not a model for every organization. But its worth a read.
