Today, I went to a lunch meeting and awards (literally $) ceremony of a group called Funding Arts Network (FAN). FAN is 27 years old, started out being called "50 (Women) Over 50," has given itself the mission of evaluating and offering money grants to local arts organizations, and now has about 260 members. I was there representing Orchestra Miami, of whose board I'm a member, and there were many other people there. Many were FAN members, and many were award nominees. (FYI, yes, Orchestra Miami was awarded a grant.) FAN has a careful, focused, and somewhat extensive process for deciding which organizations/applicants get grant awards. Overall, FAN has awarded over $5M in grants. It was a delightful bunch of people, including several people I know and value from other organizations, and the food was terrific. But that's not my main point.
FAN also had its yearly change of officers confirmed today. Although there was a "slate," and no one opposed the slate, the confirmation of officers was unanimous, at least among members who raised their hands to vote. So, we're talking about a 27 year old organization, that has done tremendous good in Dade County, that functions according to its own rules, and with which everyone is happy. (As an aside, it is very uncommon to open any program at any Dade County cultural event, and not find FAN as a supporter. And all the other supporters are advertising. They're banks and other businesses, and they want recognition and the public's business. FAN doesn't want anything. It just provides.)
It's possible there's not a nice enough, gentle enough, or euphemistic enough way to put this, but considering FAN's inaugural name, we're talking about older middle aged, or older, women. When FAN leadership asked today, at the lunch, for its members in attendance to stand, it was clear there were some younger women. I'm guessing as young as 30s. But the women sitting on either side of me, both of whom were founding members, or nearly so, were without question "OG." One told me about her retired doctor husband, children, granchildren, and great grandchildren, and the one on the other side had been a very recent past president of FAN. These are women who have been there, and done the work, and shown unwavering devotion, for a long time.
And the woman who is the president for the coming year, as of today's vote? Yup. Not, as it turns out, an original member, but most definitely "seasoned." If the young'uns stay involved long enough, and really learn and adopt the culture and methods of FAN, they'll get there. When they're older middle aged, or older. In the meantime, they have some magnificent and treasured "mother figures" from whom to learn. FAN and all of its members, and the arts organizations, all completely understand this, and they're/we're all deeply grateful for FAN's dedication, and the care they take.
Thinking about it in a reflex way, and looking around the room, there's a (mercifully) fleeting temptation to wonder why they don't elevate some of their younger members sooner. If you don't think about it, you can easily lapse into musings about "new blood" or something. But these people are consistently successful, they know what they're doing, they know how to do it, the woman who became president today was 27 years younger 27 years ago, and they take their mission, and themselves, seriously. So does everyone else.
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