The TASI Board of Directors, for the second consecutive year, has completed what has become an annual event for the group. A strategic workshop was held Aug. 7 to identify, plan and reflect on the state of The Studio for the past year and for the foreseeable future.
The workshop idea began under then board chair Joe Winston in June 2018 with the intent that it become a regular function within yearly operation. This time, we didn’t have to reinvent the process and were able to jump into the work part very quickly.
We brought back Dennis Kiel, director of the Dishman Art Museum at Lamar University, as the independent, third-party facilitator.
Having an outside facilitator is important because it allows an opportunity for a different perspective to referee or umpire the strategic process. The more objective point of view we can get, the better chance we have to define and address the issues we need to. Thank you again, Dennis!
Organizations are a challenge to operate and having key personnel is necessary. TASI has its administrative staff of founder and executive director Greg Busceme and the recent addition of Stephanie Orta as assistant director that run the day-to-day operations of The Studio.
Stephanie comes to us from the Museum of the Gulf Coast. Former assistant director Marilyn Tennissen recently moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to care for family members and will be greatly missed.
In a small organization like The Studio, board members are relied upon to fill gaps and assume duties that might be covered in a larger institution.
Nonprofit work, regardless of type, is often a work of passion — or as I sometimes say, “an example of gluttony for punishment.” I jest with that, but it is undoubtedly hard work. The passion comes from seeing an organization serve its community — and for The Studio, that means creating and sustaining arts culture for Southeast Texas.
To do that means not only providing programming and exhibitions for our patrons and members, but bricks-and-mortar work, too. TASI is still putting finishing touches on our Hurricane Harvey repairs — like many, many of our SETX neighbors. It is always a challenge in regular times to address the institution’s resource needs. Adding disaster repairs makes everything more difficult. We’re still working on our roof and leaks.
The strategic workshop is important not to just address awareness for projects, but it’s really important to be able to reflect and assess what we’ve done. We always ask ourselves not only what have we done, but whether or not we’ve done things well, and we always seek room for improvements.
The Studio has entered its 37th exhibition season, and as we always kick off the season with our Tenants Show on Sept. 7, we’re also continuing the practice of hosting our public board meeting following the first opening. The public meeting will be Sept. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at The Studio, where patrons can meet tenants and board members, have Studio tours, hear about upcoming initiatives and events at The Studio, and, of course, get a TASI membership.
This year we are providing additional incentives to encourage and grow our membership so that we can deliver activities that no other institution can like The Studio can. The announcement for some of our membership initiatives will be introduced at the Sept. 11 meeting.
You will hear and see many of the improvements The Studio has made over the past year. It’s also an opportunity for the community to give input directly to administrative and board members about concerns or ideas for events or programming.
By Stephan Malick, TASI Board Chairman