 |
Liza Zenni on Arts and Culture in Knoxville
If you’re interested in the Arts in Knoxville, you’ll find this Knoxville Business Movers and Shakers conversation with Liza Zenni, Executive Director of the Arts and Culture Alliance of Knoxville, to be most interesting and exciting. We discussed how the Alliance is doing currently; the equivalent of “putting a man on the moon” for arts and culture in Knoxville; what criteria people and organizations must meet to gain the support of the Alliance, and much more. KBC: Liza, thank you for taking a moment to talk with me. I’d like to start by asking how the Arts and Culture Alliance is doing? Liza Zenni: When I took this job, the thing I didn’t anticipate in the beginning is the opportunities that are available in Knoxville that aren’t available in other communities that are maybe larger and more civically calcified. What I quickly learned was that in Knoxville, you can make anything happen. Knoxville is right now, at this time, in flux. The business community, the political community, the citizens, they’re all -- this is a broad generalization -- but as a group they are excited and wanting to reach for something. They want to create a city that’s shinier, and has more sparkle. All the things that arts and culture bring to a city, they want to become right now. It’s not like you’re in a city that already feels like it is steeped in that and it’s just reinforcing that. So the opportunity to contribute to the broader health and well being of the community is greater here than in any other city in the country. And I have been very fortunate to have come to this job in the moment that that impulse was starting to crest. You can’t manufacture that opportunity, and I have found it extremely satisfying. More and more arts and culture is considered an important part of people’s quality of life, the quality of attractiveness to potential businesses, and to potential visitors. We’re not there yet. In fact, we are far from it. But we have set the stage. We aren’t doing it single-handedly at the Alliance. We have been able to make suggestions that other people incorporated, which is much more attributed to them and their creativity than ours. We suggest things to them, to a new city mayor, to new city councilmen, to our state senators and representatives, to the chamber partnership, to the News Sentinel. And in nearly every case, those suggestions have been welcomed. We have as a community, I think, a very clear vision of what we can do and how we want it to look, and we’re working toward it with a LOT of cooperation from the non-arts and culture community. KBC: That’s exciting! Is there an actual document that talks about all the different goals for development of the arts and culture of Knoxville? Liza Zenni: Well there are a couple of them, actually. One was created before I got here. And my hiring, or the hiring of an executive director and the creation of this organization, was the first step in achieving that vision. It’s a plan that is dated I think February 2001.
It was devised by a consulting organization from NJ that the community brought down here to do inventory and make recommendations. And I use that; I check in with it probably a couple times a year and gauge where we are with what those recommendations were. So it has been very useful in the practical sense. You know we need to have this kind of communications network. Okay, we’re doing that. We need to have this kind of resource sharing. Okay, we’re doing that. The second tool that I use comes from something the Shelton Group, which is a PR firm here in Knoxville, did about 4 years ago. Suzanne Shelton led a process which was paid for by the then Convention and Visitors Bureau, before the KTSC (Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corp). They did a lot of research to see what Knoxville needed to do to become better at attracting visitors. The Convention and Visitors Bureau kind of evaporated shortly after that report came out, now it’s in my possession and I use it. For instance, we’re dealing with a hired consultant paid for by Knox County to figure out how we can help our museums and historic homes do better. I used that as a tool and I gave it to the consultant and I said “this is a very useful tool that’s been developed.” I use it as a guide post. In addition to those two documents, we have identified three main criteria that are the litmus tests for everything we do [in the Arts and Culture Alliance].
If it doesn’t fit one of these three criteria, we have to exercise some discipline and not pursue it. Because we’ve had a little bit of success, people like to come to us and say, “oh we’ve got an idea for this!” and “Can you help us with that?”
Of course you want to be everything to everybody. It’s very flattering when people come to you for help. But under those circumstances you become unfocused and you have no impact at all. So we had to exercise this kind of discipline starting last January, and we went through this process that identified three things:
Whatever we do has to completely address one of those three goals. If it doesn’t, we no longer try to help with it. The other thing we did that goes hand in hand with this is -- because you have to take it to the next step -- we said, “Okay, if this is the litmus test, what is our definition of success?”
I use the story of JFK coming to all of us and saying, “Within 10 years we are going to put a man on the moon.” And then it was just like 3 or 4 years later that they went into NASA and there was a man sweeping and they asked him what his job was and he said “I’m putting a man on the moon.” So here’s our definition of putting a man on the moon:
We’ll know that we have succeeded when those three things are true. Does that answer your question? KBC: It does. If you can surpass the Tennessee Vols in Knoxville, you have put a man on the moon! Liza Zenni: It’s not that I don’t think the Vols are fabulous. They really are. And I love the sense of civic pride that we have. I love when people wear all that orange in the fall. It makes me happy. But that’s our moon! KBC: What do you think your obstacles are for the moon? Liza Zenni: One is that our needs as a community are so diffused that the competition for resources and the demand for aid is very hard to meet. I mean: do you focus on arts and culture first before you provide a better education for your children? When you’re populous isn’t as well educated as it needs to be, to me, I just don’t know if there’s anything that trumps that. Now, on the other hand, when your community is well funded and well supported and well regarded and you’ve got business here and you’re attracting all kinds of great employees here and you’re attracting all kinds of visitors here and you’re on the upswing, you would be amazed, Mac, how money follows that.
Federal money chases that type of thing. And state money chases that type of thing. So in a way, to shine up your jug is the best way to put water in it. So I can make that case. But I think about this kind of thing all the time. I mean I must put ten hours a week in thought about that very question. So taking other people with me, people who have power to influence that allocation of resources is very important. And a lot of times it doesn’t take resources, it just takes will, it just takes changing the way we do things. It doesn’t cost money. We just have to change the way we’ve always done things. Like changing one KAT [Knoxville Area Transit] bus route to make it so that its circle, if you will, is all the museums and historic homes. It doesn’t mean a whole new bus, it just means changing the route of one. Think of what we could accomplish if we had that as a part of our education to use as a tool, coordinating all the museums and historic homes and all of the artists so that our children were getting a wonderful, deeply integrated education. All that takes is a different way of doing things. It doesn’t take money. Getting people to be committed to that kind of outlook is the biggest obstacle right now. KBC: That’s really a wonderful idea though. Is the bus something that you’ve proposed? Liza Zenni: Yes. We’ve gone ‘round and ‘round. We’ve had suggestions that we go to Ted Russell Ford and just ask him to donate or make available to us with the help of a donor a 12 to 15 seat van. But then comes other things to pay for: you’ve got gas, you’ve got insurance, you’ve got a driver, and so on. And then what do you do? Do you service only people who want to go from point A to point B? And what if someone would like to go, but they don’t want to do the whole tour? So, we’ve talked to KAT, and we’re working on it. And depending on how the city and county budgets go, it might happen. But here’s the difference between me and everybody else that I need help from to make this stuff happen. They don’t think of this first thing in the morning and last thing before they go to sleep. They have 18,000 other things that they have to think about. So staying on their radar and keeping them focused is a big deal. Public art is also something that we pursue with vigor. And we are pursuing every different trans-modification of public art that we can find: partnerships with the University of TN, with businesses here in the community and “what can we do and where can we do it?” Because this city is -- I mean I perceive this and right through my toes I feel this as an amazing truth -- that Knoxville can no longer afford not to have public art. We’re getting our asses beaten by teeny-tiny little towns that are more interesting to visit, to live in, because of public art. So we are working very hard on public art. KBC: I’m sure you’re aware of what looks like a giant quilt that people are putting on barns out in rural areas in Knoxville? Liza Zenni: Yes. In fact I was on that committee, and worked on that, but that was one of those things that we had to back out of in order to be more focused. Because that project, as wonderful as it is, was not going to fit one of those three criteria directly. But I don’t go to those meetings unless they specifically need me any more. There again, that is a program that is sweeping across the eastern seaboard. They have a lot of them in other counties, and we’re connecting Knox County with other counties that have the Smoky Mountain RC&D and trails. The goal of that is to bring people out into the rural parts of the community and hopefully generate economic development. But most of those quilt blocks are traditional TN quilt blocks, and they’re trying to make those as traditional as possible so they have something to do with this area. All they need is an artist to sketch it out and school children or whoever to paint it in. So it doesn’t employ artists, it doesn’t put money in the pockets of artists and arts organizations, and it doesn’t increase the awareness of artists and arts and cultural organizations. So you see, this litmus test is hard to employ! KBC: I mentioned to you before that I really enjoy film, and I’ve heard quite a few times that cities the size of Knoxville -- including Knoxville -- are interested in attracting film companies because it’s a good way to boost your economy. Is that something that you’re aware of or engaged in? Liza Zenni: Yeah, I attended a luncheon actually where the guest speaker was the guy who is head of attracting film and television business to Tennessee. It was put on by the Knoxville Area Marketing Association. He talked about the kind of things that he worked on. I was kind of unhappy that he didn’t talk more about East Tennessee. Unfortunately it gets kind of political. I think that selling us as a place to film TV and movies is one thing, but also trying to encourage our local artists to engage in film making is something else. And you go about those two things in a different way. Although, once you have the environment that will attract film and TV companies, then obviously you’ve employment for your local people, which drives them to the industry…so that kind of has to happen first. I think that working with our local university is probably the best way to do that because they are getting there, more than any other place, the hardware and access to the software. KBC: The last question I wanted to ask you is about the Knoxville Museum of Art. Todd Smith, the former Executive Director, has gone to Savannah. I haven’t heard, but I assume they have a new Executive Director? Liza Zenni: Yes. He should be in place in August. KBC: How do you think they’re doing? Liza Zenni: I think that they’re doing well. I think that Todd was a wonderful hire. I think he did tremendous things. He got them focused. He did the impossible in that he actually was able to find the fountain of youth for that organization. It definitely has a much younger ethos now. Its board is very muscular. Its staff knows exactly what it needs to do and can do it. So, hopefully they acquired someone who can carry what Todd started forward. One of the things I think puts them in such a good position is a staff with longevity. And more than that, there are three major power holders on that board and you can not be in a conversation with any one of those power holders without within the first four sentences them bringing up the KMA and focusing the conversation on the KMA. It is a board that is almost irrationally devoted to their organization. And because of that, they get more than their statistical share of financial resources. When I say statistical share, I mean there are other cultural organizations in the area that provide more services than they do, their budgets are larger, they employ more people, blah-de-blah-de-blah, but they don’t get the same sized public grants as the KMA does. And that’s why. I hope you’ve enjoyed this interview with Liza Zenni. As you can tell, Knoxville is an exciting place to live right now if you’re interested in arts and culture! To get involved,
contact the Knoxville Arts and Culture Alliance.
Knoxville Hotel |
Knoxville TN Real Estate |
Attorney Knoxville Tennessee
|
