Drama on display

City, arts center argue over appointments

The Walton Arts Center, for almost 32 years, has been inextricably yoked to the city where it was born. For most of its existence, the relationship between Fayetteville and the arts center has mirrored the spirit of partnership local leaders, advocates for the arts and the public celebrated in April 1992 when the facility opened.

That spirit is being tested as the two entities differ over the authority of the Fayetteville City Council to make appointments to the 19-member Walton Arts Center Council.

First, some important background: The region’s premier performance venue emerged from a public-private partnership involving the city of Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas and the Walton family of Walmart fame. All three sought to expand capacity for the performing arts. Working together toward a visionary solution at the corner of Dickson Street and West Avenue in Fayetteville opened the curtain to Broadway shows, national and international touring artists and other greater opportunities to highlight artistic expression on a greater scale.

But there have been tensions. Keep in mind the Walton Arts Center isn’t just a building. It’s a nonprofit organization that runs the performance venue in Fayetteville as well as the Arkansas Music Pavilion, or AMP, in Rogers. It also operates the Nadine Baum Studios, with space for visual and performing arts, adjacent to the Fayetteville venue.

As for the building, the University of Arkansas and the city own the property it sits on. In 2013, Fayetteville voters backed spending $6.9 million on the venue’s expansion. The city has built two parking decks in part to strengthen the operation of the arts center. It’s building a large civic park across from it as part of The Ramble, a project designed to accentuate the city’s arts venues, the city library and arts in the outdoors.

That Fayetteville has invested in the success of the Walton Arts Center is hardly in dispute.

But as the Walton Arts Center expanded its vision to spread its footprint, its leaders have at times bridled at Fayetteville’s relatively parochial focus. A clash last decade over the WAC’s desire to build a larger performance venue in Bentonville is perhaps the most prominent example. The plans eventually faded due to several factors too numerous to outline here.

It’s important to know that, under the articles of incorporation, three entities appoint members to the Walton Arts Center Council that oversees how the nonprofit operates. These are the city of Fayetteville (five members), the University of Arkansas (five members) and the Walton Family Foundation (nine members).

And after 32 years, there’s now a clash of legal opinions about how that process works. The conflict arose after the City Council appointed one of its former longtime members, Mark Kinion, to fill a vacancy on the arts center’s council. This same Mark Kinion is a gay man who protested the arts center’s decision last year not to host, as it had for years, youth-oriented NWA Pride festival events that included drag performers.

The City Council appointed Kinion in June. He has yet to take his seat in part due to scheduling conflicts, but also amid concerns at City Hall that the Walton Arts Center believes it has veto power over the city’s appointments.

Arts center officials have not threatened to use that power, but they do assert it’s their option to accept or reject nominees by the Fayetteville City Council.

It’s perhaps no surprise both sides have attorneys who say their clients are right as they interpret the Walton Arts Center’s articles of incorporation and bylaws.

Arts center leaders declare they have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure its council members demonstrate support for the nonprofit, which is not a part of the city. The city attorney, Kit Williams, declares the articles of incorporation invests the appointment authority fully with the City Council. The city administration views that authority as key to protecting the investments it has made throughout the life of the Walton Arts Center.

One might conclude that these organizations are on polar opposite sides, but the reality is, they haven’t been so far. The Walton Arts Center Council hasn’t rejected any city nominee so far. Indeed, it appears the two sides didn’t know they interpreted the articles of incorporation differently until the Kinion appointment raised questions.

Indeed, the city and the Walton Arts Center leadership have shown again and again they all want the Walton Arts Center to succeed. Until the arts center attempts to use the veto power it claims, there’s not much of dispute to settle. For its part, the arts center through a spokeswoman has said “We believe that Mark Kinion will be ratified if he completes the process.”

The city maintains the process was complete when the City Council approved his appointment. The Walton Arts Center asserts it can require Kinion to meet with its nominating committee to ensure he’s a qualified candidate. As thorough and fair as Kinion was as a member of the City Council, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t be qualified unless it’s over some petty justifications. He might ask some tough questions on the arts center’s panel, but we suspect his goal would be aligned with the other council members: the best future for the Walton Arts Center, because more times than not, what’s good for the arts center is good for Fayetteville.

Who is right? We’re not lawyers, but we have to wonder why anyone believes the city of Fayetteville’s interests would be served by its leaders agreeing to neuter their own appointment authority. And generally speaking, self-appointing or -confirming boards have a tendency to protect themselves from people who bring a different perspective. If the Walton Arts Center asserts it values diversity, and it does, trying to veto a city appointment doesn’t bolster much faith in that.

From our perspective, this doesn’t need to become a big legal dispute if rational heads prevail. Let’s hope they do.