ARTS 24 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 25-OCTOBER 1, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com There is a time in the history of each thriving cultural institution when the founders must pass the baton to a new generation of leaders. The originators are often protective of their legacy, but ultimately they have a choice to prepare the organization for a transition, or cling to power as long as they physically can, risking uncertainty after they are gone. (Arts administration roles are also political—President Donald Trump appointed himself the chair of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.) Below are stories about three local arts nonprofits in various stages of such transition—the Pacific Grove Art Center, where this year youth became the majority of the board; Paper Wing Theatre and Supper Club, where two generations are working hand in hand; and Youth Arts Collective (YAC), where new leaders have taken over. In all cases, the key to success seems to be a period when the old and new leadership cooperate respectfully, moving forward slowly but surely. In 2025, the Pacific Grove Art Center welcomed five new members to its nine-member board, all in their 20s. Two of them are Sam Al-Maqtari and Jameson Paull of Ikhwan Studios, who now handle the center’s social media accounts, and over three months brought in 1,000-plus new followers to Instagram alone. They have already presented events targeting younger people such as an Extraterrestrial Ball (and more is planned—on Dec. 7, the center will host Pulpfest, an animation-focused festival), came up with new forms of storytelling (a video series with the center’s artists) and updated the Wi-Fi to make sure workshops offered online won’t crash mid-class. “Transition in leadership comes with challenges, but it creates opportunities,” Al-Maqtari says. “We want to re-energize the center and strengthen its role in the community, without losing its core identity and the authenticity it has.” Paull says the center strives to adapt to changes in “how people make and experience art, from digital installations to streaming platforms and how art audiences discover local artists.” The advice provided by their older colleagues on the board who have the experience is invaluable, Paull emphasizes, because those people have institutional knowledge of what doesn’t work and why. “Rather than eliminating old practices, we’ve tried to modernize,” Al-Maqtari adds. Paper Wing Theatre is turning 25 years old. Last year, founder Koly McBride and her partner, LJ Brewer, decided they want to have time for other projects—and to secure Paper Wing’s future. They addressed Justin Gaudoin, who has done scenic work for the theater, and his wife, Sarah Gaudoin, whose background is in film. “What are you guys doing with your careers right now?” McBride asked them. “We didn’t just immediately jump into it,” McBride adds. There was plenty of time to determine their visions of the theater were well aligned, and that the Gaudoins would be the successors McBride and Brewer envisioned. These days, the Gaudoins run the show, and the older couple is around to step in if needed. McBride has time to focus on independent projects, and Brewer goes crazy in the theater’s kitchen—it’s a supper club, too, after all. Justin, who is just finishing up directing his first season, calls it a smooth transition. He says he spent last year learning about people management. He insisted on regular weekly meetings and demonstrated a great ability to troubleshoot. Sarah turned out to be the “angel child of the company,“ McBride says, with her eye for photography and social media. “She is absolutely killing it,” McBride continues. “We now have several TikTok posts that have over a million views, over a million likes.” Making and experiencing theater evolves much like life evolves, constantly demanding new tools and solutions. Long gone are the times when McBride would travel from newspaper to newspaper with media packets, but online promotion is also hard work. “What’s working and what’s not working on social media is mostly luck,” Sarah says. “Sometimes you spend hours and there’s no reaction. Sometimes you spend two seconds with the video and it blows up.” Sarah stays attentive to youth even if some things seem risky, such as a video of a muse who lip-syncs to one of the songs from the musical Evil Dead. Youth Arts Collective, founded by two artists, offers after-school art classes for high school and college students. “I am equally proud of starting YAC as I am of the transition,” co-founder Meg Biddle says. “It’s been two-and-a-half years and I think it’s gone really well.” She and the other founder, Marcia Perry, still cannot believe how quickly the 25 years passed since they decided to “get some of these creative kids off the streets,” Biddle says. “We had no idea how many people were going to come.” It helps that the new directors, Jesse Juarez and Marissa Serna, have been best friends for years, and that Juarez joined YAC as a 19-year-old, just a year after the institution opened. “We were able to hand it over with almost a year of funding in the bank,” says Perry, remembering how she and Biddle struggled for the first two years, just two of them in YAC’s former location on Hartnell Street, with three months of funding in the bank. The old space was separated, with one room for painting, another for drawing. This—they point to the open space at their “new” (since 2008) location on Calle Principal—is a community. Biddle and Perry trust Juarez and Serna because they also experienced technological transitions. Their first website ended up being connected, without their knowledge, to Marilyn Manson’s website because they hired the wrong person in the 1990s. But the biggest transition was the one around the pandemic when YAC made a bold decision and migrated with its young artists and exhibits online right after closing their doors. It worked. “We managed to entertain people and keep our kids busy,” Biddle says. “All the mentors provided their phone numbers and were present on Zoom. I texted every kid and said, ‘Give me a list of art supplies that you want to work with.’” YAC moved from serving a group of 35 children to serving 65-70 at a time. They were able to eventually get nine mentors for their youth, and started to invite outside artists to lead workshops. Biddle and Perry are still in the building, serving as mentors and making their own art. When they hear about a problem that Juarez and Serna face, they smile and wait. They advise only if asked. “No micromanaging,” Perry says. In Transition The old guard passes leadership responsibilities to a new generation of arts administrators. By Agata Popęda “Transition comes with challenges, but it creates opportunities.” Sam Al-Maqtari (left) and Jameson Paull joined the board of the Pacific Grove Art Center this year. They are now in the process of making a new website and introducing more classes from animation to film production to public speaking. DANIEL DREIFUSS
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