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Category:
Published: March 2007
This month's Hero is not on the front lines of the Iraq War or the War on Crime. Instead, Dee Sarno has spent over a decade working behind the scenes to advocate the arts and education and in the process has enriched our community. A former private business owner and teacher, she has been appointed three times by Governor Pataki to the Empire State Art Commission, is a board member for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and is the Executive Director of the Saratoga County Arts Council. She has received the "Professional of the Year Award" from the Reed Foundation and was honored as a Women of Distinction by the Adirondack Council of Girl Scouts. She explains her work and her drive to enhance the community's life through art below.
Success Magazine: Dee you have had a wonderful career and you are currently retiring from your position as Executive Director of the Saratoga County Arts Council. When you first came to Saratoga this organization did not even exist Could you tell us about your starting up this organization and how you accomplished that?
Dee Sarno: When I first came to Saratoga the Art Council was under the auspices of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. There were approximately 50 members of the Arts Council and they decided to hire someone to take the Art Council beyond its then passive nature. I was working part time at Skidmore and then I interviewed for the 8 hour per week administrative position to run the Arts Council.
There was no office for me at the Chamber and they laughed because for a long time I ran it out of my car with only my trunk for a filing cabinet. We didn't have any space. I worked in a different office wherever I could find an open space just to make calls and get my paperwork done.
Then we shared a tiny room overlooking Broadway with another organization. We then started a membership drive, a monthly newsletter, an awareness program and pretty soon we were making a real difference across the region.
SM: What is the mission statement of the Arts Council?
DS: The mission of the Saratoga Arts Council is to cultivate, nurse and sustain the arts in all its forms and to ensure that the arts are accessible to all citizens of Saratoga County.
SM: How do you ensure that the arts are accessible to all citizens?
DS: The important thing is that we wanted to bring the arts to all of our residents all year long. We did not want Saratoga to be just the summer place to go to the track. It is a matter of having a core for the arts groups and to promote them. We also want to educate and nurture. We want to expose the children to the creativity of the arts when they are very young.
SM: Does your organization focus more on paintings and sculpture, or are you involved with the other arts as well?
DS: We started out focusing on visual arts. We had displays in libraries, in community centers and displays at a lot of different sites. Under my tenure we developed the Saratoga County Arts Programs to distribute our arts.
SM: What does SPAFs do?
DS: SPAFs helps to raise funds for grants and programs to expand art appreciation. The first year we had $6,500, this year we distributed over $27,000 and we distribute $7,500 to individual artists.
SM: Before becoming the Executive Director of the Arts Council you were the owner of a start-up business. Did that experience help you while you were reforming the Arts Council?
DS: Yes immensely, I had to be everyone. My business background was immensely helpful. I knew the bookkeeping, the filing, the selling; the management and people skills that in a standard business management position you might not be exposed to. The other aspect that I had to have was the passion to be able to communicate to those who are writing, presenting and funding the grant. If you lack passion no one will want to get involved in your organization.
SM: What other skills do you think helped you take this startup organization to its current status?
DS: My work as a teacher before this was just as essential as my business knowledge. I think my experience and my desire to instill the love of education and the arts really helped get it off the ground and heading in the right direction.
SM: Before getting involved with the Council you were a teacher, how did you decide to go into that field?
DS: I had a teacher that really inspired me and made me feel like I was something special. She just had a way about her that made each child feel unique and as if they had a value, and that you can do what ever you want to do, or learn anything that you want to learn. I wanted to give that gift to others. When I became a teacher and later on an arts promoter I tried to give that same inspiration that I was given years ago.
SM: What one trait do you think is necessary for success?
DS: Tenacity. You have to want it to make your dreams come true. You can not give up. You must create the vision and then see it through to the finish to ensure that your vision and your organizations vision becomes a reality. Dreams without a tenacious attitude will not allow you to see your vision come to reality.
SM: What did you learn from being the Executive Director of the Arts Council?
DS: No man is an island, and nothing is easy to do alone. Collaboration is important, input from other people is important, looking at a problem or situation from many different ways, because if you try to do everything yourself you have a tendency to do it one way. It took all of the talents of all of the people that have helped in this journey to create this wonderful Art Center. I couldn't have done it without them. And they all had passion. We went to so many organizations to libraries, to schools, to chambers, to businesses to raise funds for our program. It was very hard work, but we had a passion to get the job done.
SM: What else did you learn from your experience?
DS: You have to have a strong work ethic. Some people are working nine to five and they are not putting any effort into their job or company. You have to want it and then go after it. Things do not get done by themselves it takes hard work and a strong organization from the bottom up to get things done.
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