Low Key Arts currently in search of new executive director

Low Key Arts, a nonprofit that has organized festivals and programs to promote the arts in Hot Springs for over a decade, is currently in search of a new executive director.

David Hill, who served as Low Key’s interim executive director for a year after its founder and executive director, Bill Solleder, stepped down to become marketing director for Visit Hot Springs, recently moved back to New York.

Gabriel Fisher, Low Key’s current board president, said the organization has already received a handful of applicants.

“There are multiple different types of backgrounds that could work,” Fisher said. “Ideally, we’re looking for someone who has some experience as an executive director.”

A native of Hot Springs, Hill was hired in July 2016 after moving back to his hometown, with Bobby Missile taking on the role of artistic director for the organization.

“He was such an interesting guy, and he had so many skill sets that really fit really well that we went ahead and hired him on an interim basis,” Fisher said.

Low Key Arts, with its headquarters on Ann Arbor Street at the south end of the Park Avenue historic district, was founded in 2005 by Solleder and Shea Childs. Since then, the organization has been responsible for creating and sustaining progressive artistic events such as the Valley Of The Vapors and Hot Water Hills music festivals and the Arkansas Shorts film festival.

The organization also established Inception to Projection, a film writers’ workshop, and KUHS, which Solleder said is the only solar-powered radio station in Arkansas.

In the last year, Hill, a comedy writer and freelancer for The New Yorker,

strengthened Inception to Projection with his experience. He also began Low Key’s FOLK (Friends Of Low Key) program, a paid subscription that allows access to all of the organization’s annual events.

Solleder said whoever steps into the role of executive director should be looking for similar ways to expand funding. While Low Key largely functions with ticket revenue from events, he said the incoming executive director will still need to apply for grants and reach out to the community for funding.

Solleder said such fundraising is especially important in light of the Arkansas Arts Council, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, only giving out half the funding that it usually gives this year.

“If they were to receive, say, $10,000, the arts council is only giving half,” Solleder said. “The executive director position just gets that much harder.”

Other responsibilities will be to assure the excellence of the organization’s events and KUHS, develop Low Key’s brand and maintain the main facility on Ann Arbor. Fisher described the role as “a very varied job” that includes both interpersonal and business realms.

“We’re really looking for someone who can be a strong relationship builder in our community, but they’re also gonna have to do things like manage the day-to-day operations,” he said.

Along with good people and business skills, Fisher said whoever takes the position must have a passion for the arts, which must influence how they work.

“One of the main things that we’re looking for is somebody who can make our mission their mission full-time and get out there in the community, develop relationships with our stakeholders and make stuff happen with a positive attitude,” he said.

Solleder stressed the next director should also look for ways to expand Low Key’s vision.

“Everything that Low Key has always tried to do has always been things that aren’t done in this town,” Solleder said. “It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s abrasive, it’s controversial. That’s Low Key’s outlet; that’s what Low Key is doing. I think that whoever takes charge should carry that flag further.”