Felicia Shaw: RAC In the heart of the Loop sits the most important building to an aspiring artist in St. Louis. The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis (RAC) has dedicated their services to the advancement of arts of all forms and their artists, as well as the support of St. Louis and its art as a whole. They help bring to light the many creative and beautiful aspects of St. Louis’ arts. “The Regional Arts Commission is a 30-year-old local arts agency,” Felicia Shaw, Executive Director of RAC, says. “Basically our purpose is a funder. We don’t produce or present any programming. We are a primarily philanthropic organization that receives one hundred percent of our funding from government.” Concerning how they affect St. Louis, Shaw was very proud to say, “We’ve been very influential here in St. Louis, supporting on average more than 250 arts and cultural organizations and programs annually, and supporting their efforts- really investing in the cultural life of St. Louis.” Shaw was appointed the Executive Director of RAC in May, 2015. Originally from St. Louis, Shaw moved to San Diego, but decided to move back to St. Louis for a very touching reason. “I was born and raised here but when I went away to college, I decided to move from St. Louis to San Diego,” Shaw says. “I followed love. My fiancé at that time was drafted by the San Diego Chargers, and he asked me to marry him. So I made a life in California. I eventually landed a position with the San Diego Arts Commission where I spent 17 years there in arts administration before joining the San Diego Foundation, which is a community foundation.” “After that, I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life next. I was really seriously considering it, and then Ferguson happened,” Shaw continues. “Even after being gone for so long, I still had an emotional connection to St. Louis. When I was watching television, I was transfixed with what was going on, horrified to see people who looked like me running in and out of stores, raiding stores; I was so embarrassed. After that, after I got a chance to listen to people and hear what they were saying, and why they were so upset with the Michael Brown shooting. I was sad, mainly because some of the things they were saying were the same things that made me feel like I needed to leave St. Louis in the first place. I felt that St. Louis wasn’t progressive, and it’s still so racially segregated. Then to hear this in 2014, to hear the same things going on, I was really, really disgusted by it.”
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“But then after that, after having all those feelings, I had a tremendous sense of guilt because no matter how I felt about what happened, sad or angry, I left,” Shaw explains. “I began to think about, ‘what can I do to help?’ I mean, what could I do to help when I was so far away in California? And then as things would have it, the stars were in alignment, I guess. I learned that Jill McGuire, who had been in this position for 30 years, was retiring. Shortly after, I was contacted by an executive search firm who asked me if I was interested in the position, and it seemed obvious that this was my opportunity to go back- to leave San Diego and come home to St. Louis and see if I can make a difference.” As inspiring as she is, being very recently appointed Executive Director, Shaw feels she has some very big shoes to fill. However, she has insightful ideas for the future of the organization. “Jill McGuire was the previous executive director, and the Commission said, ‘Great job Jill, but now let’s see how we can build on the legacy that you’ve created and take this organization to the next level,’” Shaw says. “So what I’m looking at is how do we leverage the $6.2 million that we receive annually from the tax base and grow the arts community; particularly in ways that promote more community based organizations and those that are serving the under resourced, while still investing in our larger regional organizations as well.” It’s a very big responsibility for anyone, especially when working in a big city, but Shaw maintains an air of confidence about her. “It’s a big task, because you don’t want to destabilize what you already have,” Shaw explains. “But certainly when you look out over the landscape at what’s happening here in St. Louis, not just since the Ferguson incident, but just looking at some of our neighborhoods that have not had any investment. They don’t have access to the arts as culture, and there is a lack of vitality and vibrancy. I think that is a huge role for the arts to play in terms of social change and civic engagement. So I’m interested in seeing what I can do to lead the organization in that direction and see if we can make it better.” It seems that the board chose wisely in their decision to appoint Shaw. Along with her new and inventive ideas, RAC still has all of its usual services such as artists’ workshops, grants and providing free event space for artists. RAC differs from the ArtsKC in Kansas City in that RAC does not present arts or have events. Instead, they fund the plethora of arts agencies that operate in St. Louis. For more information about RAC programs and services check out their website at racstl.org. V text CURTIS GALLOWAY art REGIONAL ARTS COMMISSION OF ST. LOUIS