Mattress Factory woes spotlight gaps in employer training
Options available for leaders at nonprofits
The value of the art on the walls or onstage might be debatable. But running a nonprofit cultural organization is the same as any business.
However, many arts administrators and board members lack the training or on-site resources commensurate with the task at hand, yet they are asked to be experts in everything from finances to employer-employee relations.
The need for the latter has become woefully clear as the #MeToo movement has given voice to victims speaking out against harassment and assault. Among the latest examples appears to be the Mattress Factory, the North Side installation art museum.
In a complaint of sexual harassment and retaliation now before the National Labor Relations Board, employees outlined concerns “regarding sexual harassment in the workplace and management’s response to these complaints,” according to the document filed Sept. 24 with the NLRB. The filing led the Mattress Factory
board on Friday to place executive director Michael Olijnyk on temporary paid leave.
Of course, it is not always the case that the arts administrators and board members are lacking in specific training, but it is true that artistic directors are hired for their creative success and fame.
On the flip side, “the artists come for the cause,” said Peggy Outon of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University. “Just like the social worker comes for the cause, the artist is highly educated, probably with [a master of fine art degree], the social worker has [a master of social work degree]. They are capable and welleducated, but they are not administrators and the are not alert to some of the issues around management.”
She added that the biggest cause of lawsuits facing nonprofits “is disgruntled employees,” which makes “human resources an unfunded and unattended to mandate.”
For the Bayer Center, HR is a mandate, as part of its mission to offer individual “education, consulting, coaching, research and hands-on solutions for every aspect of nonprofit management.”
Her promise to those who want the team’s help is, “We answer the phone,” Ms. Outon said.
The center also offers HR Rountables, including “Employee Privacy Issues,” from 8:30-10 a.m. Oct. 17. Attorney Larry A. Silverman will lead the group, where peers are invited “to listen, develop and encourage” each other while working through issues facing their organizations.
One solution to small arts organizations having human resource personnel at the ready, Ms. Outon said, is a case where several organizations banded together for an HR hire, “so they paid 20 percent of the salary and had 100 percent of the services.”
“One of the challenges that arts nonprofits and nonprofits in general have is many times we don’t have a trained HR professional or team in place, and as arts administrators we learn as much as we can and do the best as we can, but it’s one of many hats that we wear. Here in Pittsburgh, there are resources for artists and arts organizations,” said Mitch Swain, CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, which serves 400 nonprofit members, ranging from individuals to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
The services offered are geared to individual needs, including the GPAC volunteer program that has nearly 140 attorneys and 80 businesses offering free or lowcost consulting and assistance to local arts groups.
The upcoming workshop “Time for a Governance Check Up!” on Oct. 25, with attorneys from McGuire Woods and PNC Bank, is being offered to help artists and administrators with best practices for mitigating risks, along with consultation on corporate policies and protocols.
“Our plans are to hold governance training sessions starting in 2019, and this first event on the 25th is a beginning to that, not only for artists and arts administrators, but for board members, as a greater resource about how to manage these organizations and do it well,” Mr. Swain said. “It’s important that we have places that people can work and feel comfortable and safe, so it’s something we are going to make a commitment to.”
Board members’ involvement is a key to nonprofit organizations’ top-down success. Their jobs don’t stop with hiring administrators and financial oversight.
“Board members have not seen themselves as employers. They, too, come for the cause,” Ms. Outon said. “They are there to see the museum is vibrant, to raise money, but they are legally and fiduciarily responsible — we really need to see that board members role as employers.”
Kathryn Heidemann, director of the Carnegie Mellon University Master of Arts Management program, also brought up the responsibility of board members to the health of an organization. She said that the degree, which includes human resources training as integral to the program, begins with board development.
As an example, she pointed to the management training included in recent Bloomberg Philanthropies grants given to 38 Pittsburgh arts organizations.
“You are required to bring in someone from the artistic side, the management side and a board member,” said Ms. Heidemann, whose own board membership includes the Association of Arts Administration Educators. “I think that’s fantastic — being on the board side myself, I think some of the failed projects I have seen are in the board not fully understanding their role in governance. I think board training is essential.”
She noted that a two-year program such as the CMU Masters in Arts Management isn’t for everyone, but there are resources such as GPAC, Bayer and Board Source, a nonprofit national organization that offers free services.
“People may not always know what the offerings are, but information is definitely there,” she said.
In meetings last week with faculty, the goings-on at the Mattress Factory were a hot topic, said Ms. Heidemann, who also is assistant dean of CMU’s Heinz College and College of Fine Arts.
“Obviously it’s relevant, it’s really top of mind,” she said. “We are very current in our approach, so anytime anything happens in the world, we talk about it very openly in our classes. Two weeks from now, this Mattress Factory cast is going to be into the syllabus. … This is all very new news, but I imagine there will be a good amount of dissecting the situation and learning from that.”