Mutiny at MillcARTS (part 2)

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Frida steps in

  Frida, the Chair of MillcARTS, was surprised to hear from such a shaken up Simon. He didn't usually phone her out of the blue and she'd never known him be in such a state. She tried to calm him down as he told her about what a mess Jason was causing.

Conflicts between Simon, the General Manager and the previous Artistic Director hadn’t been unknown but they were nothing like this. This was going to take some sorting out. There was nothing else for it but to organise an emergency meeting with both Jason and Simon first thing in the morning.

An emergency meeting

The next day Frida, Jason and Simon gather in the office. Jason compliments Frida on her shawl, telling her how it reminds him of his time studying Batik in Bali, whilst Simon carries in the teas and coffees. Frida thanks them for giving up their time and gets straight to the point. “Jason, I've had a brief word with Simon, I’d like to hear your point of view."

Jason explains how he consulted Marcus and thought he was simply following the budget. He argues that meeting Jamoke from the Millcaster Mercury had been a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of MillcARTS. "When was the last time we had any press coverage?" he says. Simon interrupts, “We don’t need publicity. We’re not the Royal Ballet you know. We’re just a small charity which runs classes for the community.” Frida can tell this isn't going to be an easy meeting to manage. There was a clearly a huge clash of ideas as well as the injured egos.

Roles and responsibilities

At this moment Shania casually saunters into the room while talking on her mobile. “Look mate, I’ve just rocked up at this arts place I'm volunteering at. Gotta go, catchya laters. Sorry guys.” She sits down at the desk in the corner, turns on the computer while texting on her phone. Frida looks at Simon who rolls his eyes and mouths "new volunteer". Frida tries to get the back to the matter in hand.

“So Jason, why did you book the acts and venue without Simon’s approval?” Jason argues that it is him as the Artistic Director who should be making these decisions. Simon interrupts again, “Actually, any financial decisions have to go through the General Manager, who, incidentally, is me. Not to mention that you misread the budget which I spent weeks working on and unbelievably what you’re organising isn’t even what the grant is for! Did you even read the paperwork I sent you about the grant?” He slams his fists down on the table and glares at Jason who glares back.

Shania hardly raises her head at this bickering, she continues texting furiously. Frida who is used to stopping fights between her children does her best to calm the men down. "Come on, we're not getting anywhere here. Let's talk about leadership roles at the next Board meeting. We need to make some decisions here. Simon, what would you advise that we do about the launch event and the overspend?"

Any ideas?

Simon is too exasperated to speak. The room falls silent. Shania finally puts down her phone and stands up. “Can I say something?” Simon can't stop himself, “And there was me thinking that your tardiness and phone fixation was a sign that you weren’t interested. Do go on.”

Frida gave Simon a sharp look. Unperturbed Shania continues, “I think you’re banging on about nothing." Simon’s recent tan turns a lurid shade of purple. “I’ve just been facebooking our problems and received loads of suggestions, some really out there and some really good. But if you don't want to hear them, I'll just get on with tidying the database..”

Frida was intrigued, where had this person come from? “Go on, Shania.”

“Well, some are easier to do than others:

• get local sponsorship
• see what we can blag for free
• celebs shouldn’t be paid cos its for charity
• negotiate with the venue and tell ‘em we’ll stick it if they can’t do us a cheaper deal.”
  

Frida who was pleasantly surprised looked to Simon and Jason, “What do you think?" Both of them looked at each other visibly shocked at the outspoken volunteer. Finally Simon spoke up, “It’ll never work, there’s a credit crunch on. Who’s going to sponsor us? I‘m afraid I’m going to have to re-look at the budget and see if I can be clever with the figures.” Jason snapped out of his stunned silence and realised he was prepared to do anything to save the event. “I’ll give it a go, Shania. I’ll call Jamoke to see if the Mercury will sponsor the event.” Frida was relieved that at least they were heading for the same goal, even if it might have been for the wrong reasons. It was a start.

The future

On her drive home Frida reflected that the new funding was already changing MillcARTS. She'd need to manage this rate of change carefully to avoid further difficulties. She was sure that this was not the only problem she'd have to deal with. She needed to find a way to bring unity in leadership. Simon and Jason would just have to get used to working together more effectively. Simon had been plodding along for years and Jason needed to consult with others more. She started thinking about ways to get them working more as a team. If things didn't improve soon, MillcArts would soon be in crisis.

Have your say

• What should Frida do? 
• Who is the leader of MillcARTS? 
• Whose responsibility is it to sort out the problem?
• What issues does such a large lottery grant raise for a small organisation such as MillcARTS?
• What other solutions would you suggest to MillcARTS?

Have your say on the Millcaster Tales forum.

Other episodes

Catch up with past episodes of Millcaster Tales.