If you are somehow involved in the arts in the Triangle area then you either know Beth Yerxa already or have had someone/will have someone soon say to you “Oh you HAVE to meet Beth Yerxa, she is so connected!” And she is.
As Executive Director of the growing Triangle ArtWorks organization, Beth’s daily life takes her all over the Triangle (and beyond) interacting with artists, gallery owners, music presenters, city cultural committees, film-makers, theatre people, museum directors, creative small businesses owners, movers, and shakers, etc. She’s always connecting people, making things happen, and cheerleading the local art community along its recent path of growth and development.
All with a fabulous sense of humor and comfortable approachability. I have a lot of respect for Beth Yerxa and am a proud member of the Triangle ArtWorks Marketing and Outreach Board Committee. I got her to answer my Q&A and tell us a bit more about both the organization and herself.
Describe your organization in one sentence.
Triangle ArtWorks is a new business-centric way of looking at the arts – bringing the community, both for-profit and nonprofit, together around a central platform and network, so that it is easy for them to find the support and resources they need to prosper, but also makes it for other business segments to contact or work with the community as a whole, and for the community have a place at the table in local or regional economic development and business issues and visioning.
What is the best thing about your job?
Short answer – the hugs! I practiced law for 13 years and don’t remember EVER getting a hug when I arrived at a meeting. But almost everyone I meet with now gives me a hug, even if they are meeting me for the first time. How can you not love that?
But the more serious answer is meeting all the amazing creative people in this region. I am blown away by the depth and breadth of what I am witnessing. Not that lawyers weren’t fun and creative…
What is the most challenging thing about your job?
Building sustainable funding for ArtWorks. Triangle ArtWorks is a totally new way of supporting the arts in the Triangle, but cities across the country that the Triangle competes with already have organizations like ArtWorks up and running (including Austin, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, etc). Because a strong and diverse art and creative community is vital to making a city continue to be a place people want to live and work, these other organizations usually get at least their base funding from economic development entities in their cities. Our creative community is so incredibly strong and diverse here, we simply must build this kind of support here too!
But ArtWorks is working for the whole Triangle region, not just one city. As you can imagine, getting regional leaders to get behind what we are doing, collaboratively, is not an easy task. But we know we will get there. In the meantime, we are building our donor base and working on “seed funding” to get us started…all while building the organization itself. Quite a challenge.
What is one of your favorite things about living/working in the Raleigh area?
I moved here from D.C. where there were tons of opportunities for cultural and creative experiences of all kinds. But the reality was, it could be very hard to experience it. Costs, transportation, and high cost of living were all barriers. Here, the combination of a low cost of living, an easy area to get around in, and the broad range of both local and national offerings brought about by the diverse cities in the Triangle, all the colleges and universities, and our diverse population, make this a great place to live.
I do WAY more here than I did in D.C. just because it is much easier to do! Also, it is so much easier to be a part of what is going on in Raleigh. Because we are a fast growing region, there are a lot of new things happening and lots of new people, so it is easy to get involved in anything, meet great people and expand your own creative experience. It is a very open and accessible creative community.
What is your favorite creative resource to learn about art news and happenings locally or nationally (blog, magazine, forum, website, etc.)?
Wow, it is hard to pick one. Nationally, I follow groups like Americans for the Arts, Future of Music Coalition, and Arts Action Fund, as well as national “thought leaders” on issues such as creative placemaking (i.e. Richard Florida, Carol Coletta). Locally, because ArtWorks community includes all disciplines, we follow all local arts organizations, many arts/design businesses, bloggers and “thought leaders.” Recently, we have begun creating a network of Partners in the region who believe in what we are doing and are working with us to fulfill our mission. They are also feeding information to us that is relevant to the community as a whole, about jobs and other resources.
Triangle ArtWorks takes all of this and aggregates the most important information onto our social media and our site so that, by following us, people can spend less time keeping up and more time on their work. So, I guess my favorite resource in the region is us!
Talk about an arts organization (locally or nationally) that has motivated/inspired you the most and why?
When a group of us were trying to figure what was needed to fill a hole in the support network we saw in the Triangle, I looked around the country to see what other regions were doing to fill these needs and found Springboard for the Arts in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Springboard has been in operation for about 20 years, they do training, networking programs, promotion, artist and organizational mentoring and incubation….I could go on and on. They even have a health care program for artists, which includes a partnerships with local clinics. They are raising the bar for the arts as a business community in their area. Their director was helpful to me years ago in thinking through how to get ArtWorks going and I continue to look to them as a model we have adapted to our area in starting ArtWorks.
If money and historical time were not factors, what artist’s work would you love to own?
Funny you should ask this, as I have always been a little obsessed with the Cone Sisters, the heirs to the NC Cone fortune who rather than attend teas as they were expected to do, they moved to Paris, hung around with Gertrude Stein and Picasso, Matisse, and others, amassing an incredible collection. There is a great picture of them in their small Baltimore apartment sitting at a table, with paintings by those great artists hung on every available space above their heads. Sadly, their collection went to the Baltimore Museum of Art. But I think of that picture, and those ladies, often and highly recommend the book on their lives….great reading.
I love art with lots of color, warmth and vibrancy, so my favorites are artists like Modligliani, Van Gogh, Klimt, Soutine, Mastisse, who fill their canvasses with big, warm color. Choosing one is impossible. I am glad this is not really an option or my husband would fill the house Francis Bacon and I would be totally freaked out.
Sum up your best networking secrets in one sentence.
Talk (and listen) to anybody and everybody…everybody has something to give and a story to tell.
Tell us about a hidden gem in the local art community that we all should know about.
I see so many people that are either just starting new things or that have been around and few know about, that it is VERY hard to choose. In fact, I am considering developing a regular talk on this topic, as there are so many. I think my “current fave”, just because of the hard work they are doing to help emerging artists, is Carrack Modern Art in Durham. The Carrack is a “no-commission” gallery in a beautiful space on Parrish Street.
But more than that, Laura Ritchie is doing a great job bringing people together to support these artists and creating connections in the Durham community, all with little money. Both Laura and the Carrack are going places, I believe. I just really love what they are doing to support the arts community as a whole in Durham.
What is your idea of a perfect day?
I have three kids who love to get out and experience new things…and eat good food. A perfect day for our family would be to sleep late, have a bike ride on the Greenway, lunch at a downtown restaurant (the kids LOVE the avocado burgers at the Times), afternoon at some great arts event, then back home for home cooked dinner and snuggling.
If you could throw a dinner party with only famous people as guests, what four people would you invite?
Bonnie Raitt (I worship her and her music, and assume she has great stories), Bill Gates (love the global work he is doing), the Obamas (Although my kids say they can only come if they bring the girls).
What local artist’s or performer’s work has recently blown you away?
I have to take this pulpit to mourn the loss of the Raleigh Ensemble Players. The work that company did before it folded was some of the most engaging, thought provoking, and touching work I have ever seen performed. I know I join many others in saying that they leave a huge hole in the Triangle theater community. Although they folded, it was not due to lack of great work or audiences that loved them. I hope that the work of Triangle ArtWorks can help other organizations prosper, so we will not have to suffer such a loss again.
What quality do you most admire in others?
I will channel Steven Colbert and say “truthiness”. Be truthful and, for God’s sake, do what you say you are going to do.
What is always in your kitchen?
Three hungry kids.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Egg nog, particularly when it has bourbon in it. I am a Southern girl you know.
Describe yourself in 3-5 words.
Dogged to a fault.
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