Walton Arts Center leader steps down
BY SUSANNAH PATTON Northwest Arkansas Times
Anita Scism announced her resignation Wednesday as president/CEO of the Walton Arts Center after 17 years of service.
She submitted her resignation, effective March 31, to the Walton Arts Center Council, citing her desire to pursue a career providing counsel and strategy services to organizations and businesses.
Scism was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but in a news release she expressed her appreciation for her time at the center.
“The time I have spent with the Walton Arts Center has been incredible,” she said. “The changes in the organization and in the region during the last 17 years have been staggering.
“I feel so proud and so blessed to have been part of this organization for so long.”
Scism joined the arts center staff in 1991 as the director of financial affairs. She was named interim president in 1997 and president/ CEO in 1998.
During her tenure, the annual budget grew from $3 million to $7.5 million.
Jerry Vest, who will take over as the chair of the Walton Arts Center Council in July, said Scism’s leadership will be missed.
“Anita has been very conscientious and has done a great job,” he said. “Looking back, 17 years is a long time for anyone to be in any one place. I can understand someone wanting to do other things.”
Vest said the leadership change will not affect the center’s strategic plan, which started in 2002 under Scism’s guidance.
“The feasibility study will continue; the direction that the board chooses to move forward with will be based on their decision making,” he said. “Certainly we need someone that can continue the great tradition of leadership we’ve had, but the board as the governing body makes those decisions.”
The board will start immediately in its search to fill the position, he said.
“The first thing we need to do is enlist the help of a national search firm,” he said. “We’ll put together a short list of folks who are experienced in recruiting this kind of art leadership, who have a successful track record of placing leadership in high growth areas.”
Scism will remain involved with the center on a parttime advisory basis through the end of June to help the organization transition its leadership and complete the fiscal year. The board has selected Terri Trotter, vice president of external affairs, to serve as interim president. Calls to Trotter on Wednesday were returned by the center’s communications director, Jodi Beznoska.
Billie Jo Starr, a community member instrumental in the creation of the Walton Arts Center, said she’s sorry to see Scism leave.
“She’s done a tremendous job there,” Starr said. “She’s been so active and so supportive of everything we started in the beginning.”
Scism was involved in the community, Starr said, which is important for a director.
“She certainly proved herself, and she’s done a great job of keeping the arts center on course, and she’s been very dedicated to it,” Starr said. “I don’t want to see her go, but I wish her every good thing in leaving.
“At times people just have to change course, and this is what’s happened, but her heart will always be with the arts center, as mine will be.”
In the search for a new leader, Starr said, the board needs to look to the future.
“The direction needs to be how do we serve Fayetteville; how do we serve all of the communities of Northwest Arkansas and the children of Northwest Arkansas,” she said. “We need to be looking at those things. A director has to be dedicated to those issues.”
The arts center needs to continue to build on its strengths, Starr said, which are building audiences, bringing in children and bringing in top-notch entertainment.
“I think it’s incumbent upon all of us who were there in the beginning to continue on the road we started,” she said. “I think that’s something Anita would certainly say herself.
“I applaud what she’s done and look forward to the future.”
Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times; Date:Feb 21, 2008
