Bringing it all back home

Compared to past senior-level posts at Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., LSU alumnus Derek Gordon’s new role as executive director of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge may seem like a tough room. Gordon comes during a transitional time for the council that has operated under interim director Katherine Scherer since the resignation of longtime head Genny Nadler Thomas last fall. What’s more, the growing city is itself at a cultural crossroads. Will it expand along with the population, or will it stagnate?

Hopes are high Gordon’s experience as CEO and president of New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center and his seemingly boundless enthusiasm are weaponry enough for his toughest challenge yet: fostering and furthering the arts in Baton Rouge.

I’m psyched about the possibilities. Everyone is so positive right now. It seems like an important time in the development of the city as far as economic development, education and for the future of the arts.

Well, excitement is a relative thing. You can ask 10 people in a room what is exciting, and you’d get 10 different answers. What I think is exciting is galvanizing people to work together, not just the council. Everyone needs to work and get excited about different projects.

I’d like to bring them in. We’ll see. We have such a rich artistic history here. We just need to further solidify that.

Honestly, I’ll have to be back longer to answer that question. It’s certainly impossible to miss the growth that has occurred in the last 17 years. Baton Rouge has grown in all directions. Swine Palace was just getting started when I left. Now they’re doing incredible work, and we have BRCC, The Shaw Center, the new state museum.

Finding that out is really my first job, to talk to the leaders of all these groups, big and small. Then I’ll have a better sense of whether we’re using what we have intelligently. We want to do things that raise all the ships and that make Baton Rouge more attractive and more competitive culturally. Collaboration is going to be essential, but I would hesitate to say that we need this or that yet.

More ‘all go on both accounts.’ It’s about being strategic with resources, finding the gaps. If we don’t invest in art and performance programs in schools, we won’t have any audiences in the future.

I have a deep and abiding love for jazz, and I want to see people getting access to more jazz performances in Baton Rouge. I may have to temper that a little in order to listen to other people’s passions. Jazz at LSU is growing, so hopefully I can find a partner in artistic crime there.

I’m a singer by training and by preference. I grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Washington. As far as pianists go, Marian McPartland and Billy Taylor, whom I’ve worked closely with, and, of course, Ellis Marsalis.

Many things, but mostly the wonderful friends I’ve been fortunate to make.

Of course, D.C. is our nation’s capital, and New York City is the center of the arts universe. The difference is in Baton Rouge, lots of outside artists—those not represented by galleries—are not living next door to you. It takes more to get them involved. It’ll take significant work to identify and develop artists’ audiences and to build a reputation outside of the city that Baton Rouge is a place where exciting things are happening. Those quality of life things are what attract young people and businesses.