Year-End Letter to Members by Executive Director John Killacky

Posted on June 01, 2011

Dear Friends,

I look forward to celebrating my first anniversary as executive director during the upcoming Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, June 3-12, and enjoying Herbie Hancock, Poncho Sanchez, and Béla Fleck among an additional 51 professional bands-23 from Vermont-and 44 student bands. The ten-day festival offers over 140 hours of live music (100 of which are free) at the Flynn, Waterfront Park, and on the Church Street Marketplace. This remarkable event, now in its 28^th year, is produced by the Flynn in association with Burlington City Arts and is managed by Brian Mital and Geeda Searfoorce.

The performance I'm most looking forward to is the double bill with the Roy Hargrove Quintet and the Roberta Gambarini Quartet on the MainStage on June 11. Arnie Malina, our artistic director, tells me not to miss FlynnSpace shows featuring veterans Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan (June 7), popular vocalist Catherine Russell (June 8), and the amazing Be Bread Sextet (June 9), fronted by pianist/composer Myra Melford.

This was a year of transition, as Flynn founder Andrea Rogers retired after 30 years of stewardship. Much of my time was spent friendraising and bridging into multiple community partnerships as we presented world-class artists across a broad aesthetic spectrum, offered expansive arts education and outreach, and created opportunities for Vermont artists and arts organizations.

In my first year at the helm, I've learned a great deal and benefited from a community working together toward a greater common good. There is much for which to be grateful. The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts is a robust regional cultural asset because of the generosity of you and our 2,582 members, 377 volunteer spirits, as well as myriad nonprofit arts organization partners and individual, government, foundation, and corporate underwriters.

The Flynn served nearly 200,000 Vermonters this season, including 40,000 students, through presentations, exhibitions, screenings, and educational programs. We also subsidized tickets for partners in social service agencies and community organizations. The arts are necessary to lead hopeful, expressive lives and I'm thankful that your support allows us to provide for those less fortunate.

There was also much internal reflection with staff and community partners. An innovation grant from EmcArts funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation allowed us to dream an expanded online future, shifting our social media strategies and accelerating our mobile integration. The participation of the Emergent Media Center at Champlain College was integral to this initiative.

Currently, twelve staff and two board members are working with IBM consultants as part of a strategic assessment grant to help better align our structure and activities with our mission and strategies. This work will form the basis of the next iteration of long-range planning.

We were honored to be awarded a $500,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, which goes a long way toward the capital needs of our facility-remember, the Flynn opened in 1930 as a vaudeville and movie palace, and in September we celebrate our 30^th anniversary season as a performing arts center. The Kresge funding helps us enclose the loading dock this summer, and provides the nucleus for the anticipated replacement of our theater seating next summer. We'll keep you informed of our progress.

Next month, you'll receive the subscription brochure for our upcoming 30^th anniversary season. Members always get early opportunities to buy, as well as discounts on tickets. Once again, Arnie has put together an eclectic potpourri, ranging from avant-garde priestess Laurie Anderson to camp goddess Joan Rivers. The Broadway musical, Mamma Mia! is here for two performances; The Suzanne Farrell Ballet performs an all-Balanchine evening; and music legends Hugh Masekela, Ravi Coltrane, and Bernadette Peters are featured. The Flying Karamazov Brothers lead off a fun series for families. Our annual sneak preview is on July 19 in FlynnSpace. Please hold the date; details will follow.

I hope to see you at some of our summer activities. On July 10, Flynn Garden Tour attendees will be treated to an exquisite array of gardens in St. Albans. Also in July, we present A Year with Frog and Toad and the social satire Urinetown, The Musical with our young teen actors. There's even a circus for the very young ones when Zoppé, a charming family circus from Italy, comes to Technology Park in South Burlington from August 4-7.

My first year here at the Flynn has been about making a home. I've been welcomed warmly by so many and look forward to working with you in the years ahead. As Shakespeare wrote in Twelfth Night, "thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks."

Sincerely,

John