Joseph Gallivan interviews Brian Rogers, the Executive Director of the Oregon Arts Commission

On Tuesday September 2,, 2014,  at 11.30am Joseph Gallivan interviews Brian Rogers, the Executive Director of the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust.
Brian will talk about what the Commission does, the importance of the arts in job creation, and being a painter and a fan of The Clash.
 
From the Statesman Journal:
 
The Oregon Arts Commission and Oregon Cultural Trust hired Brian Rogers as their new executive director Tuesday after lengthy interviews from all three finalists.
Rogers is the former deputy director of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and during his time there spearheaded a data collection and reporting tool called the "Cultural Data Project" and a traveling exhibition program called "Picture Pennsylvania."
He is also a painter in his own right, which Commission Chairwoman Julie Vigeland said added to his understanding of the arts.
She and Trust Chairman Bob Speltz said Rogers offered the right leadership style to lead the arts groups through a time of transition. Both are about to create new strategic plans in the fall. Their former executive director was fired in October after 19 years.
His leadership is "calm and thoughtful," Speltz said. Vigeland noted he held his deputy director position under five governors of both parties, all while still accomplishing a great deal.
"If that isn't tenacity, I don't know what is," she said.
Rogers beat out two other candidates, one from Oregon.
Greg Netzer is the director of corporate social responsibility communications practice at AHA, a communications agency in Portland; Joyce Bonomini is a consultant in Clearwater, Fla., who has spent her career in theater.
Rogers stood out because he had worked for a similar organization, Speltz and Vigeland said. He understands working in a state bureaucracy, Speltz said, which will make him more comfortable in this role.
Working in Pennsylvania also taught Rogers how to bridge the urban-rural divide in the arts, they said. Pennsylvania is like Oregon in that it is stratified between large cities and small rural towns, they said, and Rogers had to bridge the gap between what artists needed in both types of community.
He will have to do the same in Oregon, they said.
Rogers will start his new job in July. His first task will be working on the strategic plans for both the commission and the trust, which Speltz and Vigeland said will involve getting to know the state and its artistic communities.
"He's coming in as an outsider with fresh eyes on Oregon," Speltz said. "He expects to put a lot of miles on his car."
hhoffman@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6719 or follow at twitter.com/HannahKHoffman
 
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/state-workers/2014/0...
 
Joseph Gallivan has been a reporter since 1990. He has covered music for the London Independent, Technology for the New York Post, and arts and culture for the Portland Tribune. He is the author of two novels, "Oi, Ref!" and "England All Over" which are available on Amazon.com
josephgallivan@gmail.com