On the afternoon of Monday, April 26th, a committee of the board of trustees of On the Boards dismissed the artistic director of the institution, Mark Murphy, as well as its managing director Sara Pasti. Murphy was told to leave the building immediately. Pasti was asked to remain in her job through September 1999 while a new executive director for OTB was sought. In a press release issued by the board 24 hours after the dismissals, the action was described as “a move to provide the strong consolidated leadership required to expand [On the Boards’] international reach, and to fulfill the promise of its new facilities.”
This attempt at explanation only provides confirmation, if any were needed, that the trustees of On the Boards do not understand the most basic and essential facts about the how the organization they nominally lead functions in the realm of Northwest, U.S., and world performance. Far from strengthening the organization or fulfilling its promise, their action, if remains in effect, is almost certain to destroy an institution which it has taken more than 20 years to build.
Institutions like On the Boards, wholly dedicated to supporting artists in the creation of new work, are, large or small, utterly dependent for success on a single, focused artistic vision pursued with selfless concentration. On the Boards has been fortunate from its beginning in leadership combining these two qualities, each rare in itself, even more rarely found in combination.
For over a decade, Mark Murphy has embodied On the Boards’ vision: To know how successfully he has done so, one need only consider the roster of work presented, and often created under the auspices of, the company he led; the collaborations between artists and other institutions which have developed and flourished during his tenure; and the universal admiration, respect and affection in which he is held by artists and fellow presenters and producers worldwide.
Without Mark Murphy, On the Boards is not an artistic institution. It is a building at the corner of First West and Roy Streets in Seattle. That the board of trustees of OTB do not realize this fact; that they -with no professional or practical experience whatever in the field of performing-arts production and presentation-believe themselves capable of identifying another artist-impresario of comparable quality, let alone inducing such a person to accept employment with a group capable of treating a predecessor so shabbily; these considerations alone are sufficient to raise doubt that the trustees of On the Boards are not competent to carry out both the ethical and legal obligations implied by the office they hold in trust from the public.
Recognizing the board’s authority under law to hire and fire, we respectfully request its members to reverse their institutionally suicidal decision, and to ask Mark Murphy to consider returning to the helm of On the Boards. If they find themselves unable or unwilling to do so, then wethe artists, audiences, and wider community for whom On the Boards was created and through whom only it continues to existmust regretfully ask the board themselves to step down, to make room for others willing and able to attempt to repair the damage they have done.
