Elaina Richardson

Category: Arts & Entertainment
Published: February 2007

Read how the former Editor-in-Chief of Elle Magazine became the President of Yaddo, Saratoga's world famous artist colony.

Success Magazine: Many readers are unfamiliar with Yaddo, what is it and what is its mission statement?

Elaina Richardson: Yaddo is an artist's colony that offers residencies to professional creative artists from all nations and backgrounds working in one or more of the following mediums: choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. A blessing for both myself and Yaddo is how simple the mission statement is. Our mission is to give the gift of time and faith to others. Promising artists come here as a sabbatical or as a time to get some inspiration. We don't force artists to work on anything and take no profit in what they publish or produce. An artist may come here with the intention of working on a novel but ends up working on an experimental short fiction that has never even published. Our goal is to give that person a setting that can boost their creativity. Who knows, the experience they have here could somehow impact a novel they write twenty years later that wins a Pulitzer.

SM: Now how or why did you go from the editor-in-chief of Elle Magazine to the President of Yaddo?

ER: I had a very close friend who was the vice chair of the Yaddo board who was also working with me on the Oprah Magazine. One day she came into work and said that the president of Yaddo was thinking of retiring and that some people had asked her if she would be interested in the job. I was very excited for her since I knew how devoted both she and her husband Bob were to its mission. So over the course of the next month we had several conversations about how great an opportunity it was and all of the things she could do. Sadly, Bob died a little before she was supposed to take the position at Yaddo. Shortly after her husband's death Pat came in to talk to me and said she decided it would be too lonely up there without her husband but thought that I should do it. Pat told me that, while the idea seemed to be coming from left field, she realized when thinking about how excited I was about her opportunity at Yaddo and how I had come up with some good ideas about what to do there that I would be a great choice. So after the combination of a family vacation and meetings in the area I talked it over with my family and we thought it was a great idea. I mean, how often in life is the premiere artist colony in the world going to say to you, "why don't you think about coming and joining us?" In addition, I also started to think about the kind of fashion publishing I was in and how it's awfully hard to age in it. At this point I was 39 and I had seen that it wasn't an industry where you could really age and still be able to be a front runner. So after a long and winding road I found myself at Yaddo.

SM: I would imagine that the decision turned out well and that you are enjoying it?

ER: Yaddo has been fabulous. I have enjoyed it on a number of levels, from meeting interesting people to just being challenged by the depth and variety of my work. At the end of the first year I thought, "I so have this down, I completely understand it, I know what needs to be done." And then midway through the second year I thought, "Well, maybe not, maybe I don't completely get this." My friends have asked me what the job is like and I jokingly say that it's something between a janitor and a CEO. There is this incredible mix of very mundane tasks and very intellectual challenging work.

SM: In terms of your "CEO role," how do you raise all of the money to support this kind of institution?

ER: The operating budget is just over two million dollars a year, we fund raise half of that and receive a million dollars and change from the endowment. The endowment is currently just under 30 million dollars. We're restricted; we cannot withdraw more than five percent or sign off from an author more than five percent of his draw per year. Thankfully the fund raising has been successful enough that we have been able to expand. We can do the restoration projects, we can build up some of the public events, we've been doing concerts-we can do all of those and stay comfortable. When I got here there was 11 million dollars just coming off our capital campaign. Now we have gone well beyond that. These have been good years.

SM: What are the future goals and missions of Yaddo?

ER: What I would very much like within the course of my Presidency is to have set up an endowment to fund raise 10 million dollars that is specially earmarked for restorations. I think that's incredibly important because this estate and these buildings are, along with our artists, our crown jewel. In terms of the program we need to make sure that we're really analyzing and understanding what contemporary artists need. So we have a lot of hard thinking going on all the time about that, and then on the horizon we are very excited about our October 2008 exhibition going up at the New York Public Library on 42nd street and 5th avenue, taking up the entire 3rd floor. The show will travel to fifteen other states, so it's a massive undertaking.

SM: Have any of those who have developed their work in residency later given back to Yaddo?

ER: Yes, many of them. About one-third of the income each year comes from artists that have been at Yaddo at some point.

SM: Well you have tripled Yaddo's endowment since you have been here. You've done an excellent job. What advice would you give to someone coming up as a new artist, or someone going into the magazine publishing world, or maybe a young women who is about to get into the business world?

ER: I think you have to greet opportunities that come to you to get a foot in the door. The first magazine that I worked for was on the business side of film and television. I really knew nothing about that, and was someone who sat up at night listening to box office returns. But I did love movies. And so I think if it seems like a little tangent, do it anyway. I see a lot of younger people who want to be writers hold out for positions at the New Yorker or Harpers. That's a huge mistake. What you want is experience and you want to build up your muscle so if somebody is going to let you write go ahead and learn to write and get paid for it. Then keep submitting your portfolio, keep building it. I think to sit on the sidelines waiting for what you think is going to be the perfect opportunity can be a mistake. Also, I think sometimes you get into the place or the job that you think is the Holy Grail and you're given no real work to do and get no real experience. The assistants really do just answer the phone and go for coffee. The Devil Wears Prada is a pretty good portrait of what those first years are actually like. On the other hand, if you went to, say, a local newspaper or a struggling magazine you probably would get to do everything. There is a much greater chance at gaining experience someplace like that. I think one of the reasons I did have confidence in doing the tasks that came to me is that I had to be the one who goes to the printer to close the publication. I had to do the final sign-off on the pages. I think you really trust yourself more as you do more. It is a little bit like a career in medicine-if you're not allowed to put your hands on a patient you are not going to be a very good doctor.