A New Generation of Leader at TPAC

A Conversation With New CEO Jennifer Turner

WILL SHUTES

After thirty years with TPAC, former CEO Kathleen O’Brien stepped down in July. Replacing her is no easy act, but Jennifer Turner is a leader with a deep artistic legacy that stretches through years at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, and Detroit’s Michigan Opera Theatre. She recently sat down for an in terview with me to talk about exploring Nashville, her vision for TPAC, and being a visible example for young women entering the arts.

Looking back, can you pinpoint a moment that really established your love of the arts?

TURNER: Initially, I would have said that it was my first opera, Aida. I got to experience so much behind the scenes and seeing it all come together, watching the choir and the supers (supernumeraries, or extras), and watching the principles and rehearsal. But then seeing the sets and the costumes and everything come together, I was blown away. It was just incredible to me. So I would say that was my main one.

You come to TPAC directly from Costa Mesa, California’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts. What would you say is the most important thing you accomplished during your time at Segerstrom?

Turner: There was a large demographic shift going on in Orange County. The Center had found during a strategic plan that they were not, as an organization, responding to that demographic shift. It was time to change. It was time to look at what the Center meant to the community.

They found that two of the largest growing populations, the Latino and Asian populations, were not represented in programming, in the audience, or even felt like the center belonged to them or that they could be there. So the programs that I worked on were building the outdoor plaza and building the center of dance, but it was really to just reinvent the center and make it more accessible and open. We had to invite communities to come and participate to liven the campus to make it more community-friendly and oriented.

If you could identify a few, what are your highest priorities for your early tenure at TPAC?

TURNER: I think the community engagement piece is important for every arts center across the country. We cannot sit back and expect people to come to us. We need to come to them and we need to open that dialogue. And we need to be asking the community, “How can the art serve you?” And then we need to really examine what we can do. What is our social responsibility to respond to that? That is one piece that I think is very important, especially for TPAC. We want to make sure that the community here - Nashville, Middle Tennessee, extended out into Tennessee - that they know that we are committed to them. This is a reciprocal relationship. We’re not just looking for people to come in and buy a ticket; we actually want to engage with them.

Now that you’ve been in Nashville a little while, what are some of your favorite things to do here?

I’ve been really enjoying exploring the history. I went out to the Women’s Suffrage Monument a couple weeks ago. I’m so excited about the anniversary coming up in 2020. There’s so much history here. I love like going through the city and reading about where things took place, the little placards that talk about the age of a church or what happened at the sit-ins down at Woolworth. It’s just so rich and I love that. I live in East Nashville, so I’ve been just exploring.

There’s never a shortage of restaurants to try. I think that’s the thing that I’ve received the most recommendations on is where to eat. People are very passionate about that!

Finally, do you have any advice for women in the arts? From the top down, it seems this world is still largely dominated by men. What would you tell a young woman who sees you and says, “Yeah, that’s who I want to be”?

TURNER: I am so glad that there are more opportunities now. There’s actually curricula for working in arts management or theater management or venues that didn’t exist when I was coming up in the industry. It was very much you just work and you take advantage of op portunities and you work hard. I think it’s getting better. I think the industry has a lot more work to do, but I am constantly amazed at the people that come up. Our board chair is a woman. I’m a woman. Our C.O.O., who’s coming in in two weeks, is a woman, and our CFO is a woman. So, it’s a completely women led organization, which is really exciting.

At the Broadway season preview, a woman walked up with her 11-year-old daughter and she said, “My daughter heard about you and wanted to meet you.” And that touched me so much. I was overwhelmed by that. I think being a good role model, having women that they can look up to, and being accessible are key. I love taking the time to go and speak at educational events where you can model that this is possible for younger women.

Representation matters. It matters not only for women, but people of color. It matters for the LGBTQ community. It matters for everyone. You can’t be what you can’t see, so if you have made it to one of those positions, I think it is your responsibility to go out and show a younger generation that it’s possible.