An Interview With Kim Poam Logan of Des Moines Metro Arts Alliance

Kim Poam Logan

Executivr Director for the Metro Arts Alliance

Listen to the entire audio interview with Kim Poam Logan

8/04/2009

An Interview with Kim Poam Logan, Executive Director of Des Moines Metro Arts Alliance.

by S. Richard Shook

No portion of this article or audio interview may be reproduced without the express permission of the author. This article is not an audio transcript. The entire interview can be heard at this link in mp3 format.

Metro Arts Alliance, a child of Des Moines city government, conceived in 1969 and born in 1975 as the Arts and Recreation Council; reached the age of majority in 1992 and changed its name to what we know today as the Metro Arts Alliance, pushing forward with a strong cultural and educational focus. (http://www.metroarts.org/aspx/about/aboutus.aspx) Eight months ago, board members found in Kim Poam Logan the character to lead this loosely knit organization into a mature phase of its ongoing life. Artists in all walks can expect to find comfort in Kim Logan's poetic heart, something of a kindred spirit, yet someone who also understands the practical business realities of running a non-profit organization: Big vision within a very restrictive budget in which less will have to serve more for a while yet to come. Although membership driven, the Metro Arts Alliance has a much larger audience base as an "umbrella organization" providing services to a metropolitan population of almost one-half million (http://www.ci.des-moines.ia.us/) people who may, if they wish, avail themselves of the diverse cultural opportunities Des Moines has to offer from the visual arts, to theatre, music, opera and dance.

The complexities of running an organization like the Metro Arts Alliance can easily be lost for those who focus on a single dimension of its activity and mission. For Kim Logan this all "sounded like fun". "There are so many different moving parts," Logan said.. "There's a lot going on constantly... . When I first came in I spent a lot of time trying to understand what it was created to do, what is it doing, what are its strengths and weaknesses, and what do I want to build on." Kim Logan clearly has a lot to do. "Public relations, fund raising, marketing, promotion...all that gets rolled up into one." While that's a lot of work, Kim was reassuring that, still, "its fun". (Who else would you want to run this kind of organization, anyway?) So, members of the alliance pay dues, ranging from individual artists to organizations, the Metro Arts Alliance then must, as its website states, "create opportunities...create buzz about the arts...inspire passion about the arts...collaborate with cultural organizations, artists, businesses, educators, government...ensure that an arts agenda is represented in community planning... enrich the development of children...encourage life-long learning... be the leading advocate for the benefits of the arts." That covers a lot of territory for an organization and its executive director.

Fortunately more many of the artists on the roster of the Metro Arts Alliance their goals include, as Ms. Logan says, "connecting them (the artists) to opportunities in the community...and in that way allows us to deliver the arts programming to the community on location... .So we're not a venue, we're not a cultural destination on our own as an organization because we take the programming on site." This kind of service ultimately leads to challenges of branding and identity, something that I relate to something Kim Logan said about the fall Metro Arts Expo, which was formerly titled the "Metro Arts Two Rivers Festival", which she says as a name "was just too long." Identity issues are inevitable, as attention is drawn to an event or activty or organization rather than the Metro Arts Alliance as a sponsoring organization. Listening, helping, directing, all lead to venues or avenues of opportunity not necessarily connected with an organization like the Metro Arts. Still, over the course of a year they are able to "employ more than 500 (on average 250 according to Kim Logan) artists and provide 200 artist referrals" as well as "serve 67,050" people in 2008 (http://www.metroarts.org/aspx/about/aboutus.aspx). Not bad.

Logan defines the strength of the Metro Arts Alliance in such terms as, "Everything we do generates economic opportunities for the artist... "We're invested in building creative captital in this community." On the other hand, as far as weaknesses go, Kim understands, "people don't always connect all of the ways or different community programming back to Metro Arts... They don't understand the comprehensivenss of our sevice that we deliver to the community." For any organization there is a direct correlation between funding or profit and brand recognition. Yet, with all of the activities and services provided by the Metro Arts Alliance there is little or no expense for the participants. "Have I had my eyes opened once I got here? Yes." Kim said. "But I think in terms of our vision and mission as an organization, that's what we do, that's a huge motivational factor for me." Understanding that Metro Arts success is connected with its weaknesses (at least in terms of brand recognition), Logan pointed out that their job is to "infuse new and exciting feature and building on these strengths." Still, change is difficult. Very successful events such as Jazz in July, the Two Rivers Festival have become established traditions and its hard to come up with the next new and exciting thing. Logan says, "I don't know that we've been necessarily receptive to ge...or maybe we haven't changed as quickly as we should have...But an organization still has to have its core self." Looking ahead, though, Kim sees potentials, such an evolution towards issue oriented advocacy, a new performance event, big billboards, art that is more prevelant and pervasive.

While the arts are not necessary for basic human survival, they are the inevitable result of human activity and consequently lead to the evolution of culture. Our experiences with and our connections to culture can also be transformative. Kim Logan experienced that attending college in France. "Everywhere you went, it was there. You get out of the metro and here is Notre Dame, or you're walking in front of Picasso's house, or you can go to Monet's gardens and see his work....art was so saturated...entrenched in everybody's life..."

But now, here, without doubt difficult economic times are an unavoidable reality. “This is what I know because I used to do corporate giving for one of the world's largest businesses that has presence in the state of Iowa, I did their community and corporate givings for them and I know the difference between what they were giving in 2008 to what they're giving in 2009...and the drop is unbelievable. This company...in 2009, they are giving out to the community 20 percent of what they used to give out... . That's the reality that I do know from first hand experience... .Everybody understands the economic, cultural and intrinsic values of art in terms of how it defines the community so ... those that have the capability will have to step up. The Metro Arts Alliance is in a sort of “holding mode” according to Logan, that can be used to advantage “fine tuning. Its a good time to do some introspective thinking” as they complete a five year plan and look ahead to the next three years. If Kim Poam Logan has her way they'll do some “introspective thinking” and wait while things improve, while they “reach out to new and different people who are not currently engaged in the art scene.” Expectations of artists are also increased in reaching out to those new audiences, “whether its world class, local class ... they've all got to be first class.”

All in all, as Kim Logan says, “people can feel good about what they're giving to when they give to Metro Arts.”

srs 8/04/2009