INTERVIEW
Lynne McCormack
POSITION: Director of the Providence Department of Art, Culture & Tourism
BACKGROUND: Before being promoted to director, effective March 13, McCormack had served as deputy director of the Department of Art, Culture & Tourism since its inception in November 2003. Previously, she had been associate director of the Office of Cultural Affairs in the city’s parks department, where she was responsible for coordinating events such as the Providence Jazz & Blues Festival and the Convergence International Arts Festival. Before working for the city, McCormack was a film and video artist and she produced videos for nonprofits. She also served on the board of Rhode Islanders for the Arts, the state’s first arts advocacy organization.
EDUCATION: B.F.A. in film and video production, 1987, Rhode Island School of Design
RESIDENCE: Providence
AGE: 41
As a film and video artist and as a city employee, Lynne McCormack knows the Providence arts and culture world and how to run major events. Now, as the new director of the Department of Art, Culture & Tourism, which is charged with making arts, culture and tourism an economic development engine for the city, she sat down with Providence Business News to discuss her office’s accomplishments in its first two years and her vision for the future.
PBN: How did your department get started?
McCORMACK: In August 2003, the mayor appointed Cliff Wood, who had been the deputy director of policy as interim director [of arts, culture and tourism]. I began working with him on drafting some of the policies around grant making. … We developed a working relationship that was very positive, and I was appointed deputy director. We both had certain talents that complemented each other. His background was in lobbying and policy, public policy, urban planning. My background was in arts administration and programming. … I understood how city government worked and what kind of partnerships we would need to be successful.
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PBN: How has the department evolved?
McCORMACK: We started with an agenda drafted by the community filled with recommendations. We started with little in terms of structure, and we had to build that structure. In the first year we were trying to build those partnerships, and now they’re solid, so there’s a footing to make things happen. We have a wonderful programming partnership with FirstWorksProv that does two festivals. We have another one with the Black Rep that does a “Sound Session” music festival with us. The first year was all building those things, trying to figure out how we were going to make those work.
PBN: What have been the department’s major accomplishments?
McCORMACK: When the mayor said he was going to elevate arts and culture to prominent positions, he really meant it, and that is what he has done. We are at the table for discussions about economic development. We’re part of the economic development planning group. We’re at the table for strategic planning around neighborhood development. … We’re making sure the arts and culture voice is being heard in all these discussions, and that it’s integral to everything we’re doing and not just a stepsister to a larger organization. … The second is that we’ve been able to take the programming and multiply that out by the nonprofits we’re working with. For every dollar we spend on programming, we’re raising five through these partnerships. … We’ve [also] been able to drive these relationships in a way that they are reaching outside of the city and going to the state. I think the film commission relationship we have is really important.
PBN: How has your work affected the city?
McCORMACK: Last week we launched an economic impact study on the nonprofit art sector in the city. … The film industry brings money into the city by using all, for the most part, local vendors for things: for food, for the trucks, to feed their crew, all the catering companies, they stay in our hotels. They’ve been hiring local people.
PBN: As the new director, what’s your vision for the department?
McCORMACK: I hope to open a dialogue about public art in the city and the ways in which art can be used as a tool for sparking civic dialogue. … We have high-quality art institutions in the city. … I think we have a challenge in terms of marketing that product out to the rest of New England. … How do we tell the story? How do we make the people who live here understand the quality of what they can experience? How do we make people who live in southeastern Massachusetts understand the quality of what they can experience in the city, and how do we bring those people here? We’ve started some things around marketing, but I think we could do even more.
PBN: Do you have a marketing budget?
McCORMACK: No. Our budget for the entire office, including salaries, is $400,000, and we do all of our programming with it and all of our grant making with it.
PBN: Why is marketing important?
McCORMACK: It builds audiences, and it fills seats, and then it generates income for the organizations, so then they are able to continue to do their work.
PBN: How have you, as a graduate of RISD, used what you learned at your alma mater in the position you have with this department?
McCORMACK: The interesting thing about RISD is everyone thinks it’s an art school, but what does that mean? … It means you learn how to think creatively. It means you find ways to creatively solve problems. … And so RISD teaches you to think that way. And I believe that informs any career. It’s especially important in government because these days cities are really tight with funding. We have limited resources and have to think creatively, and we have to be innovative problem solvers.
