Park City’s Kimball Art Center’s staff hopes to clear the air.
According to Bruce Larrabee, the chairman of Kimball’s board of directors and acting interim executive director, a Salt Lake Tribune article was remiss in calling recent personnel changes a “big shake-up,” a phrased used in its headline.
The article, which ran on March 23, cited the departure of Pam Crowe-Weisberg, the center’s executive director, the elimination of center’s public relations director position and the departure of another unnamed employee as evidence of inner turmoil within the nonprofit. In one paragraph, the article suggests that Susan Thomas, the public relations director, was terminated for “budgetary issues” at the Kimball.
The article also included speculation that the Kimball’s board of directors was exploring an expansion into the Park Avenue building’s adjacent lot and constructing condos “on top of the existing building.”
But much of the article was based on conjecture, not fact, according to Larrabee The exits of the three staff members are unrelated, he says, and in no way a matter of financial strain an assertion substantiated by Crowe-Weisberg’s interview with the Park Record on March 26.
“Pam decided to step down. Susan Thomas’ job is being assimilated into other employees’ job descriptions and the third employee mentioned in the Tribune article had given Pam her two-week notice prior to any of this happening because she wanted to ski more,” Larrabee reports.
Any talks of renovations or developments have been preliminary, he adds and “as far as condos on top of the Kimball, we’re a National Historic Registry building and we can’t do anything but maintain the current structure as it is.”
Larrabee concedes the Kimball has incurred some snags along the way of late. But he finds “the Tribune article left so many unanswered questions and made it sound like there was something major happening, and there really isn’t.”
“The inner-workings of any business is like the inner-workings of a marriage. I’ve been married for 24 years and it’s not always smooth sailing and there are little bumps you need to get past in any relationship. Right now most of the bumps we’ve hit are past us and we’re looking forward to a great summer.”
Julie Hooker, director of community and corporate relations for the Kimball, says she and the staff are already in selecting artists for the Kimball Arts Festival this August. They are currently sifting through 929 submissions for 225 available booths more than 200 more submissions than the center received in 2007.
Hooker, who has worked for the Kimball for 10 months, echoes Larrabee.
“There’s no ‘shake-up;’ it’s an evolution,” she says. “We have been in the best financial state ever. Pam left us in tremendous financial shape The bottom line is we’re moving forward. We have a competent, talented and dedicated staff.”
Calls made to Susan Thomas by The Park Record were not returned.