New Festival of the Arts executive director building on strong volunteer foundation
David Abbott, the organization’s first employee in its 49 year history, is preparing for the first weekend of June, just weeks away—and already looking ahead to the 50 year anniversary next year.
For the first time in its 49 year history, Festival of the Arts has an employee.
David Abbott, who was born in Grand Rapids and has worked for ArtPrize, Gilda’s Club, and Goodwill, among other organizations, was hired in April as Festival’s first interim executive director. He will become its permanent executive director beginning in 2019.
The hiring is a vote of confidence in at least two ways: confidence that Abbott will leverage his salesmanship, event planning expertise, and community relationships to help further the festival’s goals; and confidence in the festival itself.
“I am honored and humbled to have this opportunity,” Abbott says.
Abbott, though deep in the preparations for next month’s three day event, is also already considering plans for next year’s 50 year anniversary. He compared the anniversary to that of a married couple.
“If your parents make it to 50 years, that’s a pretty big deal, right?”
In looking both to this year’s festival and the next, Abbott intends to maintain a balance between introducing innovations while preserving Festival’s core. Which begs the question: what is that core?
In 1969, Alexander Calder’s “La Grand Vitesse” was installed. The large, flowing bright red sculpture was met with mixed reviews; to some residents, it was a much-needed embrace of high culture by the city. To others, it looked like a board game piece dropped by a careless alien.
The installation, and the attendant buzz, led to the first festival. It succeeded well enough to return, and to return again, until it became an institution: a family-friendly annual event that crowded the streets. In addition to visual art, it features an eclectic mix of live music and several food vendors.
Mike “No Relation” Meyers, who records and performs under the moniker TMS, told me he looks forward to it every year.
“It’s pretty much a guarantee I’ll be there,” he says. As a teenager, he tagged along with friends and found himself enjoying the people-watching and the devouring of food. Now, safely delivered to middle age, he returns both for those same reasons and, at times, to perform.
The first time he applied, he thought getting in was a long shot. His songs, which draw from sources as disparate as Weezer and John Williams and whose lyrics depict manatees, cadaver labs, and wild horses (sample lyric: “Two trusty steeds of white and gold can be trusted no more”), are perhaps a niche taste. Still, he was accepted.
He enjoyed the experience. And he recommends playing festival to any up-and-coming local band.
“You have a captive audience,” he says. And he’s impressed with the level of talent he sees. “Young kids, even. There are so many talented people in this city.”
In a Facebook Live video on the day of the announcement, Abbott stood with Mayor Rosalynn Bliss in front of “La Grand Vitesse.” Bliss, announcing Abbott’s position as executive director, is in a thick black coat; she mentions the chill in the air. Abbott is in a short-sleeved shirt, but if the cold is getting to him, he doesn’t show it. He looks nothing but delighted.
And he knows he has work to do.
The person to put him to that work was Fred Bivins: a man so passionate about Festival that a) he has a Festival vanity plate and b) he’s known about town as “Mr. Festival.”
Impressed by Abbott’s energy and talent, Bivins encouraged Abbott to join the process as a candidate when Festival was looking for an executive director. Abbott took Bivins’ wise advice joined in, going through a rigorous process with multiple interviews, up against many talented people. And ended up being chosen as the person to take on this new helm of this community legacy called Festival.
Looking both to this year and next, Abbott is modest.
“Festival doesn’t need reinvention,” he says. “We’re just building from the foundation we already have. And fortunately, it’s a great foundation.”
It’s a foundation of community spirit and volunteering. Abbott continues to be impressed with the people who give their time and energy to make Festival happen.
“It’s a monumental task. And no one takes it lightly,” he says. “They really value this festival.”
Festival of the Arts began long before ArtPrize; long before Grand Rapids’ culinary scene became as diverse as it is now; long before many of the music venues open today rolled out their carpets. If it’s true that Festival has exposed many of its attendees to fine art, exotic food, and diverse music, it’s also true that some of those attendees went on to broaden residents’ opportunities to experience art, food, and music.
There are always students who become teachers.
But it’s a mistake to overemphasize Festival’s cultural benefits, although they are there. Attendees won’t be there out of some sense that attendance is beneficial, like exercise or vitamins, and they won’t be thinking very often of David Abbott, which is no slight to him — in fact it is, really, the opposite of a slight.
At the best parties, you don’t notice the work that went into it.
All you know is that you’re having the time of your life.
Festival of the Arts
June 1–3, 2018
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