In a new shared leadership model, Bunnell Streets Arts Center founding artistic and executive director Asia Freeman will become artistic leader and assistant director Adele Person will become executive director, the Homer arts center announced in a press release last week. The new relationship makes formal a model Freeman and Person explored and practiced in 2017.
According to a press release, “The move enhances organizational sustainability and brings the complementary strengths of each leader to bear. Innovation continues to characterize Bunnell’s leadership as it reconfigures internal dimensions from a traditional pyramid-shaped leadership structure toward a horizontal co-leadership model.”
The new roles of artistic and executive director will overlap “and spark creative brainstorming, collaboration, and communication,” the press release said.
Freeman focuses on artistic vision, programming, grant writing, networking and advocacy while Person provides organizational and financial oversight, manages staff and the office, facilitates the Board of Directors, and implements Freeman’s artistic vision.
“With enthusiasm and respect for Bunnell’s spirit of experiment and excellence, together Freeman and Person strengthen the artistic and organizational capacity of this innovative arts organization,” the press release said.
Bunnell was created in 1991 by and for artists in a historic building on Bunnell Avenue at the heart of what has come to be called Homer’s Old Town area.
“This place has seen American, European, and Russian immigration and colonization. The place we now call Homer lies in the traditional lands of Dena’ina and Alutiiq people,” the press release said. “We honor these people and the living culture that call this home. With equal parts historical acknowledgement and creative imagination, locals and visitors, indigenous and immigrant, seek creative forums in this historic center.”
Bunnell presents visual art exhibitions, artist residencies, artists in schools, workshops, performances, concerts, film screenings, readings, artist talks and more.
