My boss is no longer my boss. The reorg is afoot, and Matt, who was my boss the last time, is my boss again – and he’s here in Cincinnati (what a concept). I really like him, so it’s all good.
My garage door opener is fixed, my personal best for the week. It was fulfilling to be able to take it apart and figure it all out for myself, and to end up with a working garage door that can be disabled (without help) if there’s a power outage.
I had lunch Thursday with my daughter to discuss her career crisis, per her request. By the time I picked her up, she’d made her decision, and was asking for affirmation that she’d done the right thing. I think she did.
It amounts to this: the theatre is in financial crisis (as are most of the city’s arts organizations) and has to downsize significantly next season. The non-production staff next season will consist of the executive director, education director and a position that handles both development and marketing -- so my daughter will do two jobs. She wanted to do marketing anyway, so that’s good. The current marketing person has decided that she’d rather be performing, so she’s off to New York next season.
So, mu daughter came up with a list of “demands.” She’ll stay on at the same salary, but the theatre will provide free housing and utilities (her current share of the rent is $313 plus electricity). They will also provide free parking (she currently pays $50 a month), and she’ll have some paid time off for vacation. At the end of next season, she wants to be able to renegotiate the salary when things are better, and she wants a “real” apartment provided just for her (versus the shared housing that she and the actors will live in next season – a 12-bedroom house with three kitchens owned by the theatre). It looks as if all her demands will be met. They know how valuable she is to the organization.
So her beau will be off to grad school, and each will focus on their individual tasks at hand. He’s writing a book (requiring travel) as well, so both of them will be doing two things at once. They’ll see each other on weekends, and neither will have to feel guilty about neglecting one another. They are joined at the hip, and are each so supportive of one another. Not being together will be hard for them, but they are smart enough to realize that this new arrangement will make sense until Justin is out of school in a couple of years (assuming he doesn't go on for a PhD -- which is possible). One step at a time. They're each taking the right steps to prepare for their future together.
All in all, I thought it a very mature decision. She’ll finally be responsible for marketing, which is her special interest, and this will be a huge thing for her resume. She did marketing at the American Rep at Harvard last year on co-op, and loved it. Her goal is full-time arts management, and so every bit of experience is really a do-it-yourself arts MBA. She told me about other people in local arts organizations with master’s degrees in arts management who are spending their days walking the ballet director’s dog (and scooping their poop) or running errands, while my daughter is actually responsible for something.
Two weekends running she organized fund raising parties. The first one went 25% over the goal and the second one was 150% of goal. I think she’s doing something right and the theatre recognizes her contribution.
At lunch with her on Thursday, I saw yet again how much of an influence she’s been in the ten months she’s worked at the theatre. As we ate in a trendy restaurant in the Over the Rhine neighborhood known as the Gateway Quarter, a very classy guy walked by and greeted her effusively. “Hi, Alex! Good to see you!”
Alex introduced us, “Mom, this is [so and so]. [So and so], this is my mother, [Meridian13113].” Handshakes and greetings all around. After he left, she explained that he’s the president of the Over the Rhine Chamber of Commerce. He is typical of the people I been introduced to by Alex of late. She knows all the local movers and shakers in town – in less than a year since she graduated from Antioch.After lunch, she took me on a shopping tour of all the new trendy retail in the neighborhood, where she knows who owns what, what cool stuff is for sale (did you know that Marimekko is still putting out new stuff?). As we went through the stores, she was checking the supply of Know Theatre brochures in each one. They were all empty. She's doing something right, it appears.
Oh, and she’s also actively involved in the Antioch Alumni association, as part of the national communications committee, too.
I am SO proud of her.
17 days until we leave for London!
Posts
