Arts Center head resigns
The Lawrence Arts Center leader decided Wednesday to step down. Enlarge video
The previous executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center stayed 33 years. The current director won’t last nine months.
David Leamon, who joined the arts center in November, announced to the arts center staff Wednesday that he will resign at the end of this month. Now, the center’s board of directors must start another search to fill the position.
“I think he largely wants to spend more time with his family and pursue his own interests as well,” said Mike Maude, president of the arts center’s board of directors. “He’s an artist in his own right, and this job as executive director of the arts center is a demanding job. It requires a lot of time and a lot of commitment, and so he decided it was in his best interest really to pursue his own interest.”
Leamon did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday.
Before starting at the arts center, 940 N.H., he was director of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library from 1992 to 2005. He said at the time he decided to come out of retirement in his late 60s because he had always admired the Lawrence Arts Center from afar.
“If I can really get this thing going and develop a strong rapport with the staff and the public, I’d probably love to keep doing this,” Leamon said when he was hired. “It’s one of those things I always dreamed of, but I never thought I’d cross an opportunity like that.”
Maude admitted board members weren’t prepared for the resignation.
“We were a bit surprised, naturally, having gone through a search process not long ago,” Maude said. “We’ve already formed a new search committee. They’ll be meeting for the first time next week and get this process underway.”
The previous search to replace founding director Ann Evans, who retired in late 2007 after serving 33 years, took longer than those involved had hoped. Officials thought they had made a hire in June 2008, when they narrowed their finalists to one — Talena Mara, a former education director at New York City Opera who also has taught at the Juilliard School in New York. But the center’s board and Mara weren’t able to come to terms.
This time, Maude is again hoping for a shorter search process. He said the board will focus on “strong management skills and fundraising experience,” with less of a requirement that the experience be in the arts.
Search committee members include Bill Carswell, June Jones, Michel Loomis and Phil Rademacher. Dan Sabatini, who chaired the previous search committee, also will advise the new group.
“We have everything from the first search that we can pretty much run with in terms of job description and those kinds of things, a number of contacts we had made in that process that we can go back to,” Maude said. “I do believe we can shorten that process considerably, but three months is probably the very earliest we could expect to have someone on board.”
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oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
should anyone be surprised? bad town for politics,
blindrabbit (anonymous) says…
Boy you could see this coming; he should have not been hired in the first place. For someone to be successful at that position they need either strong ties to the Lawrence Arts Community or exceptional personal interactive skills; he had neither. The search committee really goofed this one and should have known better. In reality, there are several others hired at LAC within the last year or so that should be encouraged to follow David out the door!!! Come to think of it, maybe the Board Membership should be reviewed.
CLARKKENT (anonymous) says…
good post blind rab!!!!!!!!
blindrabbit (anonymous) says…
I'll go one further, do what the board and search committee should have done in the first place; hire Rick Mitchell to be Art Center Director. Since Rick left the Center in June he may not have any further interest; I'm sure he was frustrated!
lmb (anonymous) says…
The LAC is better off without him. He never should have been hired. And you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to disagree.
But you'd have to be a nutjob to think Rick Mitchell should come back--what did he ever do except piss off all the artists with the Art Auction?
edgeofbaldwin (anonymous) says…
I work at the arts center & have seen wonderful results & changes that have come about with David's hiring. He took a personal interest in everything, made it a point to show up to activities & put his input on many aspects of the LAC that had long been neglected by previous leadership. I felt he had a very positive impact on the LAC & I hope that whomever takes over continues to be as involved as he has been.
bd2 (anonymous) says…
This is unfortanute...but perhaps this choice wasn't the best in the first place. Seems like there needs to an overhual of the search committee and perhaps make sure that mr. maude does not have as much input this time.
parlet (anonymous) says…
blindrabbit: "...hire Rick Mitchell to be Art Center Director."
Rick Mitchell's careless work performance is a big reason why the Arts Center is in the mess it is today. If you aren't aware of that--and you're probably the only one in town that isn't--then I strongly suspect that blind rabbit is Rick Mitchell.
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
the arts center and Watkins museum will both go the way of Round Corner, and look at the Carnegie buidling sitting there rotting away(historical at that) while committee after committee lobby to get their foot in the door to sit and relax.
the only thing going right now is plans for Oneeye_Wilbur's Hot Dogs, featuring the Mandingo, the Perky and the One Eye Wilbur. this is one case where the cart will be behind the horse
George_Braziller (anonymous) says…
Round Corner? Huh? What are you talking about? That's privately owned. The museum is under the direction of a board of directors and the Carnegie building belongs to the city of Lawrence. The Arts Center building also belongs to the city.
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
George, of course Round Corner is privately owned, You seem to have some comprehension problems. Round Corner is going out of business, closed, vanished, the Carnegie buidling sits there dying a slow death because too many "peoples' want to be players, the Arts Center , the Watkins Museum have internal problems and thus are dying within.
So back to the Christmas Parade. Even the Chamber of Commerce hasn't stepped forward to put the thing together and those participants all have their horses before the cart just waiting for the organizer(s) and welcoming .
Lawrence is the slow horse behind the cart.
Now George, by George, mull that one over and what would you prefer later, the Mandingo, the Perky or just the simpleton weiney, the Oneeyed.
simpletons are often more astute that the learned and "elitist" of Lawrence.
wilbur maybe a simpleton but so be it , at least Wilbur doesn't have to dress up for mixers that have no substance, nor does wilbur even have to attend gala after gala only to waste money on dry cleaning later.
death of a business is no difference than death of a fraternal group or quasi/public private operation, aka Watkins Museum and Arts Center
there is a cloud hanging over Lawrence and it is not from the rain.
SoupBone (anonymous) says…
I'm sad about that. I can't count how many sandwiches I've eaten there in the last few years. Yum.
The proprietor seemed like a great guy. I'm sure that he examined many possibilities, such as selling the business to an owner who would keep it operational.
Not sure if he owns the building, but I'm sure it is worth a good sum.
I will definitely miss that business.
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
If Sabatini was involved in the first search that turned out poorly, should he be involved in this next one? Methinks not.
George_Braziller (anonymous) says…
oneeye_wilbur - You're comparing apples and aluminum. The mix with your argument doesn't match.
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
george, you may have been eating from aluminum pans too long, alzheimers, you know.
the sun is shining again over Lawrence, but those attending mixers and paying for dry cleaning havn't figured out to keep the sun shining..
I never try to cook apples in aluminum either, just stainless steel.
George_Braziller (anonymous) says…
oneeye - Your comments still don't make any sense. What is your point?
sowhatnow (anonymous) says…
Once again you bozos have hijacked the conversation for your own tiresome and petty judgments about - god knows what.
It's easy to second guess hiring after the fact. And the fact is that hiring is damn hard and impossible to do with 100% accuracy. It's never about picking the right person. It's about choosing the best given what's available - and connecting that with whatever other forces/needs are at work at the time. And yeah, it's easy to get too hopeful when the pressure is on.
urthatguy66044 (anonymous) says…
While I do not know any of the people at the Lawrence Arts Center very well, I would like to point out that on multiple occasions i have tried to get involved in organizing events and trying to coordinate other community events with them only to be shot down without reasoning... It is sad when there are so many members of our community that would enjoy doing work with them and yet that act like a childish group of elitists!!!
Pull your head out of your collective a$$'s and maybe things will turn around for you! Stupid people make me angry lol
Kontum1972 (anonymous) says…
i have tried to chat up a few of those people at various art functions at the center....and they are really not too friendly....pretty snobbish....so i just quit going...
i know the feeling... urthat guy66044....and i am a published artist...few of my artists friends have the same feelings as i do. I would not display there if they begged me...
3 strikes your out...is my policy