Eric Vaughn Holowacz Archives

Archives Items Relating to the Life, Times, and Cultural Engineering Work of Eric Vaughn Holowacz of Wellington, New Zealand and Sedona, Arizona

January 01, 2010



Three-year Plan for a Pilgrim Soul
Chief Executive Eric Holowacz Reflects on the Start-up Phase
The first thing we did, the board of directors and I, was create a three-year strategic plan. It was May 2007, my first week on the job. Our small group of founding leaders gathered for a weekend retreat to carve out the mission and objectives of what would become TSKW. The organization was yet unimagined.
Over a few days, our consultant, interim director, and I drafted a boldly imagined strategic plan with overly ambitious goals, impossibly diverse program elements, the strictest professional standards, and a driving vision to connect with the creative community. Those two days of searching felt sort of like reaching an undiscovered country, or charting a new Constitution. The process felt pioneering, beautiful and mysterious.
As that first summer wore on, I had much more practical issues to keep me busy: building renovations needed to be finished, staff had to be hired, the first program year begged to be set, and board policies and operational systems had to be implemented. And while we desperately wanted a brand identity, the organization more importantly needed substance and good will. TSKW could only succeed, once it managed to find a real place in the community. Sitting in the empty main hall of the Armory, one humid afternoon in June, I quietly asked myself a hard question: How in the world would we bring life and cultural importance to The Studios of Key West.
The answer was right next to me. It resided in the talents and energy of three people who would become my staff — the creative souls who would become the professional team and engine of our organization. Elena, Lauren, and first program coordinator Sharon McGauley, jumped headlong into our new vision. In the Fall of 2007, Martha joined our team, and the workshop series and creative classes became a community favorite.
Together we refined our public mission, grew our events and courses, launched new ideas and projects, forged partnerships and collaborations. Elena jazzed up our monthly Walk on White receptions, Lauren installed one outdoor sculpture exhibition after another. I welcomed proposals from all creative inclinations and sought out interesting artists and invited them to our campus. The community began to take note and respond.
Together my team and I developed One Night Stand and devised a collaborated film project, inspired by a classic late 1970s hometown documentary. Humanities scholars delivered their knowledge of Zane Grey, Hemingway, and Elizabeth Bishop. Local artists installed monthly exhibitions to showcase new work being made in the Keys. A small apartment in back of the Armory became our Mango Tree House — a quiet place for visiting artists. The Armory’s main hall was fitted with plasma screens and AppleTV and a 21st century way to tell our on-going story.
Upstairs, our studio artists churned out amazing new things, and visiting artists brought boldideas to town. Crowds appeared for folk music concerts, weekly lectures and painting classes, and special partnerships brought the community more together under one roof. With each attempt, The Studios of Key West gained a clearer, more profound identity. Before we even realized it, that Strategic Plan was becoming real.
Behind the scenes, our staff soon became a highly-dedicated team. “We operate with a Kaizen approach,” I told our board chairman, always seeking small, continual improvements, evaluating what we do and how we do it, and tweaking things for the most good. That granted us the liberty to test concepts, pilot innovative ideas, and further deliver on a once exhaustive plan.
The open door, those giant gateways into the Historic Armory, became our hallmark. We’ve been called a kind of crucible, a nexus, the living room of Old Town. Our campus has become a cultural forge, and a hotbed of artistic process. People know that their creativity will find sanctuary inside. Our remarkable team has created that rare place where the soul and the human element can be nourished. And just two and a half years ago, I stood alone in an empty drill hall, long-term objectives in hand, questioning most of the items etched into our 2007-2009 strategic plan.
The other reason I had nothing to fear, and this was already known by our founding board members, was that Key West is endowed with creative people like no other place in the world. These colleagues — poets, film-makers, dancers, drummers, and painters — have willingly become part of our equation. Their work gives us true substance from the inside out. Mark Hedden, Skipper Kripitz, Cricket Desmarais, Mike Marrero, Andy Thurber, Karley Klopfenstein are fearless and consistent in their cultural contributions. Ros Brackenbury, Rick Worth, Katherine Doughty, Anja Marais, Eric Anfinson, and Jennifer O’Lear have added layers to the contemporary arts scene. Margit Bisztray, Debra Yates, Chris Shultz, Guillermo Orozco, George Murphy, Roberta Marks, and Marky Pierson feed the creative fire. A strategic plan means nothing, without these people and their work.
The Studios of Key West now approaches its third full season. The plan is reaching the end of its lifespan. Yet we are more ambitious than ever. Our small team of professional arts administrators have become the core of our three-year journey. It feels like one diverse extended family, with each season like a reunion.
In a few months, we’ll announce another 5-month gathering of the tribe, and an entire slate of exhibitions, classes, lectures, residencies and special cultural opportunities. The family will continue to grow, and the journey will progress. I speak for all of us when I say thank you to a creative community filled with ideas. Thank you to the Friends and Patrons who have contributed generously towards our future. And thank you to everyone, our island neighbors, for exploring an undiscovered country now known as The Studios of Key West. My pilgrim soul is eternally grateful.