Abigail Santner

After having graduated in May 2006, I moved to the glorious land of steak (ironic for a vegetarian): Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha has been a spectacular city for me thus far, and I’ve truly found my niche in the job I currently hold at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. I am the Communications Officer (sounds pretty serious, no?), which basically implies that I am responsible for all public relations and marketing for the organization. On a daily basis, I maintain and cultivate relationships with the members of Omaha’s media, as well as regional, national and international press. Additionally, I am also responsible for coordinating and executing the special events at the Bemis Center – both internal (our events) and external (rental of our facility).

My experience as a Future Tenant Director undoubtedly prepared me for my current professional responsibilities at the Bemis Center. Being a part of FT in its (relatively) early years, my co-director Sarah Benvenuti and I were definitely forced to aggressively pursue partnerships in the community along with relationships with the press, and had to develop innovative ways to raise (and save!) money however we could. In my current position at the Bemis Center, I find that I’m much more comfortable cold-calling various members of the media and approaching individuals or companies for potential sponsorships (oh, the epic pair that was PBR & FT!). Additionally, I find that I am able not only to dream up, but also plan and execute special events in a systematic yet (mostly) calm manner. Finally, as Michael Newberry and Juniper Manley mentioned, I, too, found that the intense degree of accountability and responsibility that being a Future Tenant Director demanded has armed me with a stronger sense of ownership in my current position. I can honestly say that those traits (along with the overflowing bounty of PBR), are the most valuable things I gleaned from my FT experience.  I’m so glad to see the organization continuing to push the creative envelope programmatically, the directors paving their own ways in their leadership and the staff doing such an exceptional job supporting FT day in and day out – that’s what it’s all about. Keep it up, y’all!

Michael Thomas Newberry (MAM 2005) is the Deputy Director at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, a $13 million non-profit organization that produces a 50-week season encompassing 600 local performances, as well as regional, national and international tours. Prior to attending the MAM program, Michael worked in Phoenix with Teach For America, a national non-profit organization that places outstanding college graduates in high-poverty school districts.

He taught 4th and 8th grade at Maxine O. Bush Elementary, then joined Teach For America's staff as the development director for the Arizona region. Michael holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and is a recipient of the 2005 Theatre Communications Group New Generations Mentoring the Leaders of Tomorrow Grant.

Although Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Future Tenant are at opposite ends of the programming and budgetary spectrum, the essential work is the same, only scaled differently. Future Tenant provided me the ownership and the opportunity to build and manage a Board, develop a compelling case for charitable support, negotiate with a landlord, steer programming, and nurture relationships with artists and audiences. While the resources at hand differ between organizations, the day-to-day does not, and Future Tenant was an invaluable opportunity to be up close and personal with the work, and to succeed and fail solely off of my efforts.

Since Carnegie Mellon and the much loved systems synthesis project of founding Future Tenant, I have moved back to New Mexico and gotten married. I recently started my own business called Arts Industry Consulting. Through that I have done fundraising for the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market (www.folkartmarket.org) and worked for various arts organizations. I am currently on the Board of the Harwood Museum of Art and am the Membership Committee Chair. In addition to my non-profit involvement, I do the marketing and business management for my husband¹s furniture design business, Chad Manley Design. My next adventure is to be a mom as I am due with a baby boy on November 26th.

I know all the challenges that we faced in creating Future Tenant. It was a difficult position to be in since we were flying by the seat of our pants to get shows up monthly (my job), while we were planning what Future Tenant would be. It evolved quickly and we felt that it had lots of potential but a lot of work to become established. We felt that Pittsburg needed a raw space to foster young art and artists. It was fun with the mess in the back and no bathrooms, no signage and all the other challenges we faced. - I am continuously impressed to receive updates from Future Tenant and am glad to hear that it is alive and kicking. I have not been there to experience it, but it sounds like you have really been able to become a more established landmark on Pittsburgh¹s art scene. I hope that you have been able to achieve fiscal solvency as that was always a challenge for us.

Prior to entering the MAM program, Ellen worked as a Museum Liaison for International Arts & Artists, a nonprofit traveling exhibition service in Washington , DC . There she worked with collectors, institutional lenders, and curators to develop and promote traveling exhibitions. Before that she was the Assistant Director of Project Art, a visual and performing arts program at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. In addition to the MAM degree, Ellen holds a BA in studio art and art history from the University of Iowa , and she is also currently a continuing education student at the Corcoran College of Art + Design.

When asked to remark on her Future Tenant experience, Ellen said, “As the first ‘Director' (we didn't call ourselves that then) of FT, I was around at the time when we were just trying to figure out what we were and how best to capitalize on the exciting opportunity presented to us. I'd say that FT taught me to check my expectations at the door, and go into every experience with open eyes and open ears. The insight and expertise lent to the project--from the Cultural Trust, CMU faculty, local arts organizations, and especially artists--were the most valuable resources we had. My advice is to keep listening to them, and never let the project become isolated from the greater whole of what Pittsburgh 's arts scene has to offer.”