OVERSIGHT

Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm…

                                                   —Winston Churchill

There you have it. I suppose I can’t really think of anything more appropriate to say after the year we have had, and the lingering experience with all things Guild related.

Somehow then, I naturally have concluded that we need something at once drastic and obvious for our council to continue benefitting us in the future, hence the title.

It should go without saying that the pandemic has affected us in varying and troublesome ways, and continues to do so beyond the year-long events, but we shouldn’t have given up on other pressing and significant pursuits as much as we have. 

Or maybe at least just temporarily, and now with more urgency we find the timing is right?

If the idea of normalcy becomes more common in the days and months ahead, I certainly do not want to make the mistake of accepting status quo, or returning to things the way they were.

I have made it no secret that I rejected a widespread effort of putting profit over people during the pandemic, and feel some members, and the staff, have fallen short in a not so unsubtle way. 

Hiring practices should in no way have been affected as much as they were when little change had taken place on annual shows that a lot of us depend on in our perilous freelance tightrope act we all call our jobs.

Unfortunately, that’s not the least of it. As I witnessed in pre-negotiations, and in other ways too many to list, there is rampant conflict of interest, staggering lack of progress and vision, if not utter incompetence in so many ways at the Guild too.

Sorry, but witnessing this for the 30+ years has made it necessary for me to put it this bluntly. 

It has become clear that we need an Oversight Committee. Not only has this become apparent to me for reasons of important moral value and holding people accountable for certain behavior but also to hold ourselves accountable too. There needs to be a better way to report concerns and recommend solutions without fear of consequence or reprisal and doing so in an anonymous way. 

A lot needs to be attended to, then, hopefully we’ll sustain enthusiasm even through our past failures.

Sincerely,

Doug Smith.