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Home > Blogs > Arts and Entertainment > Archives > 2010 > July > 09 > Entry
Rehg leaves Culture Works
Denise Rehg, president and CEO of Culture Works since 2004, has stepped down to accept an executive position with the United Way of Central Ohio in Columbus.
Kathy Hollingsworth, a partner with the Dayton-based consulting firm Innovative InterChange Associates and a former president of National City Bank, will serve as interim leader at Culture Works. Board chair Rick Stover said a search to fill the position is under way.
Rehg, 49, a native of Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada, moved to Dayton with her family when she was 4. She joined Culture Works in 2001 as vice president of marketing and development and was previously on the staff of the Victoria Theatre Association and Dayton Opera.
She will be assistant vice president for major gifts at United Way in Columbus.
“The timing was right and it’s a good fit all around,” said Rehg, who is single and the mother of three children. Her youngest is a sophomore at Ohio State University.
“I’m an empty nester now and I want to start a new personal chapter. I think it will be good for Culture Works as well. It should be good to have a new leader with new ideas.”
Her salary at Culture Works was $84,365, plus benefits, for the year ending June 30, 2008.
Culture Works, the united arts fund of the Dayton area, is in the final days of its annual campaign. Rehg estimated that the drive will fall about $50,000 short of the $1.55 million goal.
“The campaign results had nothing to do with my decision. I feel pretty good about what we have achieved during a corporate downturn,” she said.
Permalink | Comments (23) | Categories: Arts News
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By Tony
July 9, 2010 11:36 AM | Link to this
84 grand to manage a few million in donations and disbursements every year? Sweet job. More of you artsy libs should be gunning for this chance.
By Time for a Change
July 9, 2010 11:40 AM | Link to this
This might be a good time to get rid of Culture Works. It’s an additional layer of bureaucracy that we don’t need, and the amount of money they raise every year is less and less. It’s time for a change.
By Love Dayton
July 9, 2010 11:49 AM | Link to this
Clearly the negative postings know nothing about Culture Works nor the incredible person that Denise is. She is amazing and we will truly miss her in Dayton. Best of luck!
By dlm
July 9, 2010 12:14 PM | Link to this
They spend more than 5% of all the money they raise on one employee’s salary? Crazy. Shut ‘em down.
By billy
July 9, 2010 12:16 PM | Link to this
sounds like the united way all over again
By Hoffman
July 9, 2010 12:46 PM | Link to this
The arts could not survive without Culture Works! Denise Rehg is one of this areas’ greatest assets. I am saddened to loose such a wonderful person, leader and friend. Our lose is definitely Columbus’ gain.
By Love Dayton
July 9, 2010 1:00 PM | Link to this
So, let’s understand this…the organizations that may not be large enough to have their own fund raising people that receive funding from CW now have to create positions to accommodate the whims of ill-informed people that don’t understand what CW, Denise and the great staff do! Denise is a terrific person. She will be missed!
By dlm
July 9, 2010 1:36 PM | Link to this
Why is it that legitimate charitable causes (like arts funding)attract liberal leeches that sponge off of them in the name of “management” or “administration”? If this organization is paying 5% of it’s budget to ONE individual, something is fishy.
By P.J.
July 9, 2010 1:49 PM | Link to this
For years, my employer has pressured me to contribute to this organization, as well as to the United Way. I’m sick of it.
By Time for a Change
July 9, 2010 2:02 PM | Link to this
Dayton is shrinking, the tax base is smaller and the support for the arts is less. If eliminating Culture Works streamlines things, then do it. It’s obvious the resigning president doesn’t see much future for the organization.
By Jon H.
July 9, 2010 2:30 PM | Link to this
I’m a big supporter of Culture Works, they are a great organization and do a lot to try and keep Dayton alive. They have raised 1.5 Million this year which is a lot in this economy and a large chunk of that is money that the arts wouldn’t have seen with out the help of Culture Works.
By What a loss
July 9, 2010 2:44 PM | Link to this
Denise has been an outstanding advocate for the arts and the entire Dayton community. We owe her a great deal. She has been a solid champion with big ideas and nerves of steel. Personally, I think her current salary made her vastly underpaid for all that she brought to this region.
By Get Informed
July 9, 2010 4:33 PM | Link to this
Read into what Culture Works is all about. Understand what they do to help educate the kids in the area and support the dying arts. If it weren’t for programs like these chances are you’d be playing in the backyard with the garden hose instead of watching your TV or listening to your iPods.
By Yvonne
July 9, 2010 6:07 PM | Link to this
I don’t know Rehg personally, but I DO know that the position and Culture Works are DESPERATELY needed in this town; some of the comments above attest to that! People are willing to spend $100 for a nostalgia band concert but won’t pay $25 for a local live musicians; that’s sad. If you look at children getting scholarships for sports and actually making a career out of it and those doing the same in the arts, the percentage is MUCH higher in the arts, yet society pours millions more into sports. It’s really sad; culture is important.
By Phil Dayton
July 9, 2010 10:18 PM | Link to this
Exactly what does this organization do? I would be interested in finding that out. Maybe it could grow if we knew what it did.
By Max
July 10, 2010 7:45 AM | Link to this
I’ve never met Denise but have heard really good things about her. I’ve only been involved in ‘fund raising’ twice and it’s a job I would never want to do; it’s almost like being a well dressed beggar…..But, Culture Works does support area performing and visual arts. As a supplementary, or in lieu of, funding option during a time when arts education in public schools is almost nonexistent, Culture Works does provide opportunities for young people they would otherwise not have. Politicizing arts funding has been a trendy thing to do even during better economic times. Why this is so isn’t really clear since according to the GAO federal funding through the National Endowmnet for the Arts isn’t even statistically significant to the second and third decimal point as a percentage of the whole budget. LIkewise, $1.55 million in donations, compared the overall county and city budgets is really not much considering what it supports outside tax payer burdens. Writing for Bloomberg in Feb. 09 in response to Sen. Coburn’s (R-OK)amendment to remove all funding for the arts in the stimulus package, James Russell writes,”From an economic standpoint, starving the arts is suicidal. Consider the case of the High Line, the park in the Meatpacking District. The City of New York invested $170 million in the project, which directly inspired as many as 50 major residential projects worth as much as $5 billion. And the park isn’t even open yet…. I figured Coburn had taken the trouble to stigmatize arts in this way because so much money is at stake. In a $789 billion bill, the arts bit would have been $50 million — an amount so tiny in this context it’s laughable.” ——- My question is if one of the tennents of our government is ‘no taxation without representation,’ where are the tax paying artists being represented in national and state budgets? That non-profits attempt to fill a void is a good thing for all. In an editorial on another website I pointed out the entire federal allocation to NEA was the equivalent of the cost of 2 Blackhawk helicopters.
By penny
July 10, 2010 11:16 AM | Link to this
I think everybody at my office feels like they are required to give something to CW. Upper management harasses us about it until our ‘goal’ is met. I’d rather donate money to my church, where I can see how it is being used to help needy people.
By Neal
July 10, 2010 11:32 AM | Link to this
Why would I donate money to a ‘non-profit’ that pays somebody more than double MY salary?
By The Miami Valley Needs Culture Works
July 10, 2010 11:41 AM | Link to this
The position pays double NEAL’s salary because Neal doesn’t have the skills to perform this position. Paying 5% to the leader of this organization is well in line with professional fund raising standards. Culture works is important to our community.
By Neal
July 10, 2010 11:55 AM | Link to this
So, a non-profit with a budget of $20M/year should pay the CEO $1M/year? Are these people doing this because they truly believe in the charity, or are they just the pimps, taking their cut off the top?
By d.p.
July 10, 2010 12:07 PM | Link to this
I am a member of the dayton phil. I don’t make anywhere near $84k, more like $20k. I have a grad degree, and about 12 years experience.
By d.p.
July 10, 2010 12:09 PM | Link to this
and no health insurance.
By bill in centerville
July 10, 2010 12:58 PM | Link to this
Culture in Dayton? LOL.