Robert Bush

My first Americans for the Arts (AFTA) conference—at the time, the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies (NALAA)—was in 1984, in Charleston, S.C., and in the middle of Spoleto.  Selena Roberts Ottum was the chair of the NALAA Board.  I was in awe.

Being the executive director of a small county arts council in North Carolina seemed like a different world from all the arts leaders I heard speak over those few days.  But what I took home was inspiration to take our modest efforts to new levels of community engagement and excellence.  And I made it a priority to attend NALAA—and later AFTA—conventions and advocacy days and to get involved in the work of its interest areas and leadership groups as well.  It wasn't always easy due to small budgets, but over the last 30 years, I've made it to most.  Why, you might ask? It’s because what I found in Charleston so many years ago was not just professional peers but family.

Many of us work in small and rural communities.  And even those of us who work in big cities often find that there is no one else around that really understands what we do every day: the highs and lows, the late nights and early mornings, spending a Saturday working a table at a festival, asking business leaders and individuals for funds, speaking to elected officials, getting up every day with a goal of making our community a better place.  The people I met in Charleston and in the years since at AFTA gatherings do understand. They've had to answer parents or family members who ask, “Exactly what is it you do?” So, my AFTA family is very important to me and families have reunions—to remember those that have gone before us, have nurtured and mentored us—to celebrate and laugh and sing and dance.

My life has been so much fuller because of chance encounters I’ve made at various AFTA events.  I would have never had Jesse Helms show me “those dirty pictures” in his office if it wasn’t for AFTA.  I would not have, by chance, sat down next to Bill T. Jones on a bus ride back from a night on a cruise ship at a Miami convention and have a 45 minute conversation about art and life on our way back to the hotel.  I would not have been sat next to Cristo and the late Jeanne-Claude at an AFTA gala and been entertained by the incredible stories they shared.  I would not have had Liz Lerman teach me and hundreds of others to dance Swan Lake—while seated.  But the people that made the biggest difference in my life are those with jobs just like mine.

Last week’s reunion in Nashville, at least for me, can best be described as an out of body experience.  Yes, there was Ben Folds and the Country Music Hall of Fame and great food and drink and conversation.  However, as I stood in the wings while Bob Lynch told a little of my life’s journey and then walked across the stage to receive the Selina Roberts Ottum Award, my thoughts went in two directions.  First, my telling my parents so long ago that I was quitting my teaching job to take a job as executive director of the Catawba County Council for the Arts in Hickory N.C.—the ‘exactly what is it you do’ conversation—and then my mentors, colleagues and friends, on whose shoulders I was standing. I would not be who I am today without knowing people like Ralph Burgard, Maryo Ewell, Diane Mataraza, Janet Brown Michael Spring, Harriet Sanford, Ramona Baker, Ken Ferguson, Steve Speiss, Michael Marsicano, Jill McGuire, Joe Golden, Jerry Allen, Craig Dreezen, Victoria Hamilton…just a few of the hundreds of people that have touched and enriched my life through my connection to AFTA and its gatherings.

So last week in Nashville was, for me, a reunion where once again I held close to my heart those that came before me and cleared the path and all those who have given of themselves and allowed me to give of myself.   I am honored to be part of AFTA’s story and I raise a glass to all!