One of my first jobs was Executive Director of a Non-profit Arts Council at which my job was to raise money, create and manage other arts groups that operated under our 501 (c) (3) status, promote the arts within the community, write all public service announcements, design all marketing and advertising efforts, oversee the accounting books and ledgers, supervise staff, manage profit making companies, and report to a Board of Directors monthly on the organization's status.
Needless to say, it was not a 40 hour per week schedule that I maintain but more like 60 hours each week, if I was lucky.
My salary was well below the national average.
Why did I do this?
To gain experience and to have something substantial to put on my resume once I left... which I did after 8 years and after receiving my MBA using my position to get accepted to the Executive Graduate School.
At the time, I wrote poetry, short stories, plays, and dabbled in oils and acrylics as well as photography.
During my tenure at the non-profit, I soon learned that people in the "art world," were egotistical, conceited, and full of themselves to the point that they were actually lazy as they waited around for inspiration. I also discovered that the females in the "arts" were sexually promiscuous... to say the least... and, there is not telling what might have happened to me, had I remained in that environment.
Not only did I walk away with some good credentials but I walked away with the conceptual knowledge of:
BIG FISH IN LITTLE PONDS SYNDROME...
Sadly to say, this conceptual syndrome is prevalent throughout the SOUTH in many of their small towns with shallow minded city councils, especially if there is a local college or university present. The first telltale sign of this mentality is not nothing ever changes and the local college or university never really grows according to its potential for growth.
These are always, stay away from situations, unless you like coming home pissed off every day...
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