A Professional Milestone And A New Era At The Sandler Center Foundation

Last Thursday evening, I quietly celebrated a professional milestone and a new era at the Sandler Center Foundation with only a glass of champagne and my cat Milo in attendance. That milestone happened in the midst of a 96-hour work week and following a strategic organizational re-alignment begun in December 2019. Yes, that's right - four months BEFORE the pandemic. I was exhausted, so lots of fanfare was the last thing on my mind (an odd thing for the chief executive of a nonprofit arts foundation!) I was looking forward to quietly easing into the weekend.

Then, Friday and Saturday brought two more milestones/events:

• The first, Tony Bennett - one of the original performers at the Sandler Center, passed away following an incredible life and career. His performance at the Sandler Center in its opening days was legendary and is often mentioned during our Board meetings and discussions of the glory days of programming. We mourn an exceptional artist.
  
  
• On Saturday, Isaac Butler and the NY Times brought to the nation's attention the implosion of the American theater. His opinion piece is both thought-provoking and eye-opening. I've been receiving comments and calls ever since. He is not wrong. I do not anticipate a federal level bailout though.
  

We see these challenges every day here in Coastal Virginia/Hampton Roads. Arts nonprofits have been in a slow decline for years. We at the Sandler Center Foundation started to do something about it.

Beginning in December 2019, we recognized our need to change in order to meet the needs of the arts and our community. The pandemic threw us one heck of a curveball as we went through this organizational change, including a full shutdown of in-person arts education and a shift to digital for 18 months. (We brought the arts to 55,000 people during that time, in case you're wondering, and 35,000 kids in the last two years since theater's have re-opened.)

These three milestones/events mark the start of a new era for the Sandler Center Foundation.

I am very proud of my Board for persevering through this journey with me! In the coming months, we will roll out a new strategy for our work through our website (expect this by Labor Day), improved ways for the community to connect directly with the arts, and, more importantly, a longer-term roadmap for how we can make a difference and begin a new era for the arts here in Coastal Virginia.

As one of my esteemed Board members said, "While we can't solve the entire problem, we can assemble pieces of the puzzle and work towards a positive change."

I will end this post with a meme from the pandemic. "If you don't think the arts are important, then think how you would have gotten through lockdown without Netflix, Hulu, etc."

I invite you to join in. SCF is ready to rock n’ roll!