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Chloe Veltman: how culture will save the world

Thoughts as I start a new professional chapter

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A vewi of the San Francisco skyline from Bernal Heights. April 30, 2015. (Photo: Chloe Veltman.)

In a couple of hours I will walk through the doors of KQED and start my new job as senior arts editor there.

KQED is one of the country’s biggest and most well-respected public media organizations. I’m feeling excited and a little intimidated about what lies ahead.

I learned a lot from my two years at Colorado Public Radio in Denver. It was essentially my first ever full-time, salaried job. I’d always worked for myself until I went to CPR to launch and lead its then brand new arts bureau.

Some of the things I picked up from my time at CPR that will serve me well in the new gig (it’s a very general list that will probably have many of you going “duh!”, but still):

  • Listening carefully.
  • Learning to be patient. Bringing about change in public media organizations often takes time.
  • Understanding that I don’t have control over a lot of things that happen in the workplace and that I have to be flexible and calm and roll with whatever comes my way.
  • Knowing that the best ideas often come to me at unpredictable moments and that forcing stuff to happen isn’t generally productive.
  • Knowing what battles to fight and when to walk away.
  • Staying enthusiastic while keeping it real. Vacuous perkiness is irritating as I discovered from spending time around one or two of my colleagues in Denver.
  • Keeping a good sense of perspective.
  • Maintaining transparency and openness.
  • Spending time getting to know the building and as many of its dwellers as I can — walking around and talking to people not just in my team but also all over the organization is a must.
  • Taking breaks.
  • Having fun.
  • Knowing that I don’t always have to have all the answers right away.
  • Maintaining boundaries.
  • Understanding that I cannot possibly see every single piece of art happening in the region. But I can get to a bunch of it and build my understanding of the area’s cultural life bit by bit.
  • Putting diversity front and center of my thinking when it comes to commissioning stories and who should cover them.
  • Experimenting. Wildly.
  • Questioning. Unrepentantly.
  • Respecting tradition even as I question it.

Wish me luck!

 

Comments

  2. Thanks for the great job getting the arts bureau going at CPR, it was long overdue and we will miss you in Denver! Good luck in San Francisco.

  4. Chloe,

    So wonderful to have your clear, soulful voice back in they Bay Area.

    Welcome home!

    Ann

  6. Not ‘Duh’, but rather ‘Yes!!’ Many profound insights from your time in Colorado! Congrats on a very exciting new venture!!!

  7. Worked at KQED for 7 years as a video editor for KQED and the NewsHour. Great place to work. Great people..

  8. Congratulations and welcome. This is a fabulous town/bay area/region as you know, bursting with creative arts and energy. There are so many wonderful stories, such a profusion of wonder and joy amidst the hardships of just living, just getting by, as so many artists are, just getting by. Good luck.

  9. Dear Ms. Veltman, Enjoy the vewi. I am stunned by this nsew. Well, maybe not. Charles Amirkhanian

  10. Welcome. Iwould love to meet you and see how our paths may intersect. I am the leading voice and talent coach to NPR stations. I teach at Berkeley’s J School. I am a comic, a narrator, a radio host.

    Marilyn

  11. Wonderful words of wisdom for ANYONE heading into a new gig, Thanks for sharing and good luck! Keep it perky (some of the best advice you give: to be positive, but pragmatic)! I’m sure we’ll be in touch soon. R

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