Jennifer Hutchins

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jennifer Hutchins became the Executive Director of the Maine association of Nonprofits in July of 2016, where she leads a member network of more than 900 charitable nonprofits and 150 private partners. Prior to joining the Maine association of Nonprofits, she led the city of Portland's efforts to strengthen the creative economy as Executive Director of Creative Portland. Thanks for coming in today.

Jennifer Hutchins:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you've actually had a foot in all kinds of different sectors. You've got some public policy experience, you've got some creative sector experience. Now you're doing nonprofits. What was your original thinking on how your life would unfold when you were, say, a senior in high school? Did it look like this?

Jennifer Hutchins:

Well, that's a great question. I was just talking to some young people the other day about my path. I actually, when I first graduated from high school, I wanted to go into international banking. This was back in the day when Melanie Griffith was defining what it looked like to be a working girl. And so I pictured myself with the big hair and the big shoulder pads and the high heels going down the boulevards of Paris and London. And that's what I thought I wanted to do. I went to college and that's where I discovered more deeply what my real values were and where I still had high aspirations for doing a lot of international travel and getting to know a lot of different types of people and a lot of different types of cultures. I realized that it wasn't in the private sector that I really wanted to have impact. I have spent time internationally and I've spent time in some of our larger cities in the United States. Ultimately, however, I determined that living in a place like Maine provides an opportunity to have greater impact in my community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You originally came to Maine as a child of Navy parents, right? And you moved here because I believe it was your father that was stationed at the Naval air base at the time.

Jennifer Hutchins:

Yeah, my father is a retired Navy pilot and had spent some time stationed at Brunswick Naval Air Station, and they really liked it. And so when he got out of the military, he was still young enough to fly commercially. They chose to move to Maine from Southern California. So that was quite a change for my teenage older brothers and myself and just getting ready to go into middle school. I remember moving here in the dead of winter from Southern California and coming home from school and saying to my mom, they're wearing boots with chains on the bottom, the famous L.L. bean Boot. Which I still have that pair of boots, and I'm quite proud of today because I'm not wearing any of the fancy new ones. Mine are old school, but when I first moved here as a young kid, I really questioned the style choice of those L.L. bean boots. But I quickly grew to love living in Brunswick, and I eventually graduated from high school in Brunswick Main.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So it's interesting that you've had the chance to live in other places. You obviously could. You could still be in D.C. you could go back to Southern California. You could go somewhere international and be Melanie Griffith. I mean, presumably.

Jennifer Hutchins:

Yeah, yeah, I guess.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But you still are here. What's kept you here?

Jennifer Hutchins:

Well, first and foremost, family. When I moved back to Portland, having lived abroad and lived in bigger cities, at first I didn't want to stay. This was 20 years ago when Portland wasn't quite as hot. I was in my 20s, and it seemed like everybody lived out west, and there were the big cities out west that were really drawing people at that time. For the first couple of years, I really resisted staying in Maine for too long. And then I had a really. I was taking a photography photography class at Maine College of Art, and I was having a conversation with the instructor, and she said to me, you know, Jen, if you go to New York or Boston and you try to be a Photographer, you're going to be one in a sea of people. She said, if you stay here, you actually might have a shot at making a niche for yourself. Now I ended up choosing to get my master's degree at the University of Southern Maine and staying here. And so my niche ended up being policy and community development, public policy and community development. But the same remained. It was the same case. I would meet with professors and they would say, that's a really great question. Why don't we find a time when we can meet with one of the governor's policy advisors or why don't you give this CEO a call? And it was amazing how the access to decision makers and people who wanted to make a decision difference was just one degree or two degrees of separation. Whereas I knew that if I moved back to Washington D.C. or I started a new career in New York or elsewhere, it would just be so much more complicated to really feel like I could connect with people who were making a difference.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What was it about the creative economy that kept you working as the executive director of Creative Portland for so long?

Jennifer Hutchins:

My early career had started in advocacy for arts and culture. I worked for an organization in Washington D.C. called People for the American Way, which was a First Amendment organization. And I did research into challenges to creative expression. It was founded by the TV producer Norman Lear, who was concerned about the impact that the religious right was having on the media waves. And so he started his own watchdog organization that was making sure just tracking how that movement was impacting the media. And so I became very familiar with the National Endowment for the Arts and the back then challenges to the National Endowment for the Arts around artistic expression. I also come from a long line of musicians and actors. And so the arts and culture, just from my family's perspective, were very important to me. And then I also had spent after college, spent two years in Europe and saw how the Europeans embed arts and culture into their daily lives. It's not considered something like entertainment that you do when you have an extra few dollars. It's embedded in everything that they do. And so I became very passionate about advocating for the arts. And so I built on that interest in public policy, my interest in arts and culture with my public policy skills. And that's really. And then the creative economy work really came out of some of those attacks to artistic expression in the early 90s as a way for people to understand the importance of arts and culture in our lives beyond just the entertainment value. And so I really became very interested in how the creative economy, economic Development work really was integrating and developing a whole new case for why we need arts and culture in our communities.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What did you learn? What were some of the lessons? Why do we need arts and culture in our communities?

Jennifer Hutchins:

Well, I firmly believe that Portland wouldn't be Portland without all of those arts and cultural institutions. I think that when you go out now and you ask people about Portland, certainly they listen. Restaurants is right at the top of the list, and some include restaurants as part of the creative economy at this point, for sure. But even deeper than that, I really believe that people respond to the ethos, the zeitgeist of a community. And I firmly believe that the history of Portland has been shaped so much by cultural institutions that have been here for decades. And then more recently, some of our institutions that are about 30 years old. Portland Stage Company and some of these other institutions, Maine College of Art and the Museum, of course, have been here longer than that. But then in the 70s, there was another wave of cultural institutions. And I think no one can deny that it's what really makes a true impact of what the community is. I think the other thing that I learned that was really interesting in some of the research that we did is sometimes you think of the creative economy as only impacting urban areas. And what was interesting to learn was to go to other, more remote parts of Maine and realize that there is an activity and a vibrancy to a community that is magnetized by creative activity. And again, even in some of our smaller communities, where it might be harder to find a cluster of activity, if you will, there's really demonstrated value in people who want to be there, who are creative people just doing great things. And then as a result, economic activity comes with that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As you're talking, I'm thinking about the Stone Mountain Arts center out in Brownfield, which, I mean, that's a perfect example of something that grew out of Carol Noonan's love of music and kind of seems like it's plopped down in the middle of nowhere, but it has been so accepted and loved by not only the local community, but also the greater community.

Jennifer Hutchins:

Yeah, that's an excellent example. Another really favorite example of mine is the Stonington Opera House. And what I really love about the Stonington Opera House, and I think Stone Mountain's very similar, is that if you initially go to Stonington, you see a very, very traditional fishing village. Really not at all like a more developed community like Booth Bay harbor or Camden, but very much still a fishing village, a working village. And so you might at first think that plunking or renovating an old community center and opera house into an art center that does Shakespeare and plays and movies and community events, that they might have a hard time integrating. And really, to the contrary, the people who founded that organization and who maintain it have really done an exceptional job. And I feel like I know a little bit of what I'm talking about because I married a man whose family is from Deer Isle, Stonington, one of the weeds. The weeds in the Eatons were the early European settlers of Deer Isle. And so my husband's family are still fishermen in that community. And so when we visit Stonington and we talk with people who have been living there for many years, families who've been living there for decades, they only speak very highly of the opera house, and they refer to going to events there. And so, you know, again, I think Stonington wouldn't look the way it is without the opera house. And they've done a phenomenal job, in my opinion, of integrating themselves with people who've been there longer than they have.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Music is a particular interest of yours and you have an affiliation with mam.

Jennifer Hutchins:

That's right. Maine Academy of Modern Music. Yeah, I'm on the board, and my daughter Sadie is a musician there. What a fantastic organization. My daughter Sadie is shy and introverted, but we have my parents old piano, and she started piano and singing a little bit when she was young. And over time, she became familiar with Maine Academy of Modern Music and said she wanted to be in a band, much to our surprise. And because of her introversion and her shyness. Well, suffice it to say that much to our surprise, Sadie manages to get up on stage and sing in front of 300 people at their annual Girls Rock concert. And it's just so inspiring to see a kid who wouldn't dare speak a word in class get up and sing on her own an Amy Winehouse song or a Gina Spector song and just really thrive in that environment. And so I'm so grateful for that experience for her because otherwise, I don't really know what. I'm sure she would figure out how to come out of her shell. But it was so helpful for me as a parent to see her have a really constructive venue for expressing herself and coming out of her shell in a way that made sense for her.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm struck by the fact that in order to bring the arts to the Maine community and really the larger community, that we actually have to have nonprofits supporting them, because as you've mentioned, we aren't like other parts of the world where the arts are really integrated into governmental funding, for example. So is this one of the ways that you became interested in nonprofits or. Tell me that story.

Jennifer Hutchins:

Yeah, sure. So if I. If I had had the talent of being a singer, I would have done that first. However, I have realized that it is best for me to keep my singing as an avocation. And so if I, in terms of my profession, if I can. If I can be the aficionado and I can be the advocates of. For artists and people who are doing good work in the community, I'm happy to recognize where my true skills lie. So the way I look about at the nonprofit sector is that it's really. It's the way the American system has set itself up for taking care of the work that either the public or the private sectors have either opted not to do or can't do themselves. And so what happens literally with nonprofits is that a group of community people get together and they say, this work has to happen in our community. We are passionate about having these values, these activities. Whatever mission it is that they've come to, we want this in our community. And they've determined that it won't either be funded through the public system or it won't be funded through the private system. And as you said, and as I was mentioning about being in other parts of the world, in the United States, the arts and cultures tends not to be valued to the extent in either the public or the private sector, as much as you see in other parts of the world. As a result, a lot of the arts and cultural activity does happen supported through the nonprofit sector. We have about. Of our 900 members. And then we also know this is similar to the entire population of nonprofits. Roughly 16 to 20% are arts and cultural institutions. I would venture to guess that most of the cultural activities that people participate in, there's a nonprofit behind them that is working hard to expand access to communities, to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to do that. And it certainly is the nonprofits that are the ones that are taking care of that work.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What is the advantage of having an association of nonprofits?

Jennifer Hutchins:

So our association is. One of the primary activities that we do is provide information and education to nonprofit staff and board members and volunteers. And so we really want people to see us as their. The place they go when they have a question. And our members are and do call us on a daily basis with various questions that pop up. And we also want them to be able to go onto our website and get what we call the best practices of being a nonprofit. The old adage is that you've seen one nonprofit. There are so many different kinds, different sizes, different missions at the same time. There are some standard ways that in terms of ethics and values, in terms of legal responsibilities, in terms of fiscal responsibility, a checklist of things you need to take care of. And we try to be that resource for everyone. So that's the education side of making sure nonprofits have the information they need to be efficient and effective. But we also do quite a bit of work in advocacy, and that's around making sure that the voice of the nonprofit sectors at the table. As we've already talked about, nonprofits are filling a very important role in the success of our main communities. And to that end, nonprofits really need to be at the decision making table when a community is figuring out the steps that it wants to take to rectify issues or take advantage of opportunities. And so we feel responsible for making sure that people outside the nonprofit sector understand who nonprofits are, understand the impact that they're making, and facilitate the opportunities for nonprofits to work more closely with their community partners to support Maine nonprofits.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've been doing this particular job for about a year and a half, and that's enough time to know what you know and know what you'd like to know. What are some of the things that you've learned that you are surprised by, and what are some of the things that you'd like to keep trying to figure out?

Jennifer Hutchins:

That's a great question. I think in the first year and a half in this job, I think what I've learned the most is really mostly about me. And that sounds really self centered, but one of the things that we try to emphasize that the Maine association of Nonprofits is the need for Maine to have leaders who are prepared to work collaboratively, transparently, with integrity in a collective fashion. That moves Maine forward. And so I have made it. I've had the opportunity because our association places so much emphasis on providing nonprofit leaders with the awareness, the self awareness of what they bring to the table, the type of leadership skills and attributes that they bring to the table. I have learned a lot about my own leadership style and the things that I think are the qualities and the attributes that I think I can add to add to our community, add to the state. And this has been really helpful for me. It's. It's a little bit like you've got to understand yourself before you can really start to understand Other people. The second part of your question is, what more do you want to learn? I'm really excited about following this path a little bit. You may have heard recently that the Maine association of Nonprofits has adopted a new program from the organization LIFT360, a program called Emerging Leaders. And it's for younger people, younger professionals who are interested in supporting nonprofits to go through a program by which they learn how to serve on a nonprofit board, and they will learn a little bit about themselves as leaders and how they can contribute. And I'm really excited about this opportunity. Lyft did a great job of getting that program started and has run it successfully for several years. We're excited now about building on that foundation and potentially moving it to other parts of the state. As I said, I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned a lot about the qualities of leadership that I think are going to be really important to Maine's future. I'm excited about the prospect of working with people out there in the community and. And applying those newfound skills and attributes to the issues impacting Maine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's interesting that you would talk about younger people being on boards, because a lot of times, and maybe this is a complete misperception on my part, but there is the idea that once you retire, you join a board or several boards. So I always think of older people who have a lot of experience and have been doing things for a while, and they're coming in and they're going to add their valuable knowledge and connections to a board. But what you're talking about is completely opposite. It's sort of a fresh perspective and a different approach, perhaps. Why is that important?

Jennifer Hutchins:

The nonprofit community nationally for a while now has been talking about the need to diversify the perspectives on boards. And that's diverse perspectives from a lot of different angles, Whether it's gender diversity or ethnic diversity or age diversity or profession diversity. Many nonprofits are contemplating the idea that they should really have clients who benefit from their services, make sure their representation is on the board. At the same time, there's a lot of research out there, and this was in the creative economy as well. That makes it very clear that having a variety of thinkers and a diverse viewpoints leads to more innovation, leads to more creativity. Some of the major corporations these days are talking about how the more diverse the team is, the better outcomes. I think there's definitely an awareness out there. There's been lots of research. The trick is how to actually make that happen. And there has been some recent research that we know about nationally. One is called Race to Lead. That is talking about how people from communities of color are having a hard time getting into nonprofit leadership positions at nonprofit organizations and realizing that a lot of the resistance is coming from an implicit bias on the part of the stereotypical board member. As you're identifying, the challenge for us now is not in the is it important? I think there's a lot of evidence that suggests that it is very important and beneficial. The question is, how do we make that happen? If we go back to age diversity for a minute, Some of that is just a practical who has the time to serve on a board? As you said, the first group that you mentioned were retirees. And they are some of the ones that are the most effective on boards just because they are the ones who have the time to show up. What people are thinking about is as a result of that, we need to change the way we think. We need to be flexible in the way boards govern themselves, in the way boards receive that type of perspective. It may be that the 30 something who's just starting a family and has a full time job and commitments in and outside of work, they may not be able to go to a board meeting once a month for three hours. They may have to be able to contribute in alternative ways. And so that's another reason why I'm excited about this new program is by bringing that program into the main association of nonprofits, we can really start to chip away at the how do we get these new perspectives on these various boards?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's interesting that you have, you sort of have a foot in both camps. You have the right brain, left brain thing going on. You've got the creative and then you've got the more perhaps linear. And I know that this has been a whole journey for yourself. If you were able to talk to yourself at the age of 17 or 18, when you thought you were going to be Melanie Griffith with the shoulder pads and the good hair and the streets of Paris and London and all that sort of thing. What would you say?

Jennifer Hutchins:

Stop worrying. Sometimes I think about all the time that I spent worrying about what if I had done this or should I have done this or did I miss this opportunity and was I good enough? And I'll never be good enough. And I just literally think about the time, the literal time that I spent worrying and had I been able to take that time back and just pour it into whatever interested me that day and instead of judging what I wasn't doing, but to focus on what I was doing and to find the things that truly interested me, the things that woke me up and shifted the amount of time I was investing. I really would love to reinvest my worry time. I don't know. I mean, I do seem to now that I approach my 50s, I feel like maybe my worry time is finally starting to abate. But I did a lot of hand wringing in my 20s.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I don't think you're alone in this, so at least I'm in your group anyway. So it's good to hear you say that. I've been speaking with Jennifer Hutchins, who became the Executive Director of the Maine association of nonprofits in July 2016. We're happy to have you doing the work you're doing and really appreciate your taking the time to talk with us today.

Jennifer Hutchins:

Thanks. It's been really fun.