Personnel Changes

In Austin's arts scene, it's not uncommon for personnel changes to take place in clumps. Still, the changes that occurred in August were almost as remarkable as the string of triple-digit temperatures. In the same month, three executive directors left their posts. All three were hired after national searches by their respective organizations, and all three served fewer than 15 months (in one case, a lot fewer) on the job.

The resignation of Dave Sullivan from First Night Austin after 13 months at the helm has already been covered in these pages (See "First Night Austin," Aug. 28). Next to go was Bradley Carlin, who quietly wound up his year-and-a-quarter tenure as Salvage Vanguard Theater's executive director on Aug. 21. The St. Edward's University alum with an arts management degree from Carnegie Mellon University has taken a job with a Latino arts organization in San Antonio. He will, however, continue to serve on SVT's board of directors.

Then there's Galen Wixson, who was named to the top administrative spot at the Austin Symphony Orchestra just six months ago. On Aug. 31, our colleague Jeanne Claire van Ryzin at the Austin American-Statesman reported that Wixson was, well, gone from the organization. Name scrubbed from the ASO website. A comment from someone on the phone at ASO's office that he no longer worked there. And Wixson himself could not be reached. His vanishing act came suddenly and silently. No statement from ASO about his departure and no comment from board chair Jane Sibley when questioned about it. The only people talking were the orchestra musicians, who didn't know exactly what happened to Wixson but thought enough of him to send the executive committee a letter in his support with more than two dozen signatures attached. On Wednesday, Sept. 9, ASO finally broke the long silence with a press release announcing Wixson's resignation, owing to "creative differences" with the ASO Society. Comments on van Ryzin's Seeing Things blog follow up on rumors in the community that suggest something darker and less evenhanded in the executive director's departure. If so, it's hard to imagine this not giving ASO a black eye as it searches for Wixson's successor. Operations Manager Anthony Corroa has been tapped to serve as interim executive director.