Reflections on care-full governance

Benji Bower & Terra Collective Perform Terra Coda at The Mount Without, Mayfest 2022. Photo by Paul Blakemore.

This week we began our search for a new Chair of MAYK’s board.

To help give a sense of what to expect from the role, we asked our current Chair Anna Starkey to share some thoughts on their tenure and insights into what it’s like to work with us. This is what she said.

Hi. I’m the current Chair of MAYK. I have loved being in this post, and now that we’re looking for someone new, MAYK have invited me to share a few reflections to go alongside our application pack. That pack contains some of the story of MAYK, our values and reason for being in the world, the structure of the board and the role of Chair. 

Just in case you’ve read all that and are still thinking: “OK, but what’s it REALLY like?” I hope this will help fill in a bit more of a picture for you. 

I also hope that writing this contributes to a practice of holding good endings, in organisations and in governance, as a moment to share as roles refresh and people move on. 

MAYK, and all it stands for, is something I feel deeply about and could easily write a too-long blog about.  So I asked myself: what are the three things that leap most strongly to mind about holding this role for MAYK, that might be useful to share?  Here they are, in no particular order:

GENTLENESS AND CARE

Care comes up explicitly in discussions between the team and the board – care for artists and the work and for how audiences experience it, care for each other and the way in which MAYK’s work holds and shares stories, ideas and experiences in a complex world.

Care is a word that we might not always find at the heart of governance but being Chair of the board for MAYK is about holding that delicate thread of care through every board meeting and through the more difficult conversations and decisions, as well as through the easy ones. I feel like I relearn how to do this in every meeting and it’s something I’ll carry with me. 

Gentleness is not so explicitly discussed, but it’s something I want to acknowledge and celebrate - the gentleness with which MAYK go about their work.  Too often I still come across extrovert, loudly confident stereotypes being aligned to perceptions of ‘strong’ governance and leadership. There are other ways to do it well.

I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of how a Chair can set a gentle and care-full tone while ensuring we hold firm to fulfilling the responsibilities of a board – to ask good questions and deal with any urgent tensions and problems.

Sometimes this feels daunting, to stay gentle in any uncertainty, or in tougher conversations about finances or the myriad of other moments that can be hard to navigate in this role.  But more than anywhere else, I have learnt through my time at MAYK that passion and decisiveness and impact can be delivered and achieved through gentle interactions. 

From that gently-tended ground, the work that gets produced in the world is full of energy and joy, fierce provocation and urgent meaning. 

WORK THAT IS BEAUTIFULLY DISTINCTIVE

When I first came to Bristol, I’d stumble into an event or a performance and often when something really surprised me in joyful and mischievous and profound ways, or offered me an experience like nothing I’d had before, it turned out that MAYK was behind it. 

I started to realise that there is something really genuinely distinctive about the work and artists that MAYK produce - not only in Bristol, but nationally and internationally.

This is rare and exciting and is a result of the uniquely sharp senses of the artistic directors, and the unusual way that MAYK work long-term with artists. 

The artistic updates at board meetings are galvanising - a reminder that what might be viewed as the more prosaic work of a board is there to support this beautifully distinctive work that has such an impact for audiences. 

REALLY GOOD HUMANS

As the MA and the YK of MAYK, co-founders and directors, Matthew Austin and Kate Yedigaroff are two very good reasons to want to be Chair, because you’ll be checking in with them in between board meetings and they are brilliant. They started MAYK with a curiosity and heart that still shapes it all today.  And when we’ve not been sure about a decision or a best course of action, or have faced a problem, they have taught me ‘to walk towards with love.’

The team is small and dedicated and Company Manager Danny’s board emails will somehow always cheer you up even when they’re just about wrangling meeting dates.

We have a board of 6 fantastic people who I will miss working with - some have been with MAYK for a while and know how it all works, and some are new in the last year, and already bringing us vital perspectives.  

Being an arts organisation in the world is hard right now, but it’s also exciting and soul-restoring. You’ll be alongside wonderful work and people and it’s a great time to join the board, as we are happy and relieved to have our funding renewed as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

**

“I really want to volunteer to be a Chair when I grow up”, said no child ever. 

 Because Governance remains, on the whole, an unhelpfully opaque Thing that Happens. No-one ever taught me about it, there’s no training, and Chair is the sort of role you only end up finding out about sideways, by sitting on a board as a trustee, or reporting to the board of an organisation you work for.  

You might wait for someone to poke you to take on the role - and so it’s largely been about who you know. It shouldn’t still be like that, and the world is missing out on people we desperately need in governance as a result. 

Chair of the board is a strangely-titled role that really shouldn’t be wooden and rigid and unchanging - so for this moment of change we’re excited to see who might be out there to bring new energy to MAYK and steer the board over the next few years, to bring fresh questions and perhaps a little mischief in your approach as you hold the space for the MAYKing to flourish.

Follow @AnnaStarkey.

To find out more about the role of Chair and how to apply, visit our opportunities page.