Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
#349: Dr. Michael Frank (Arts Benefactor) (pt. 1 of 2)
Since many of our listeners benefit from donations, in addition to earned income, we thought we would interview an arts benefactor to highlight what they consider when engaging artists.
Today we released part one of our interview with Michael Frank. He’s a retired emergency physician and attorney who has long been a prodigious arts benefactor. In addition to the support he gives to artists of all genres, he serves on the boards of The Cleveland Orchestra, The Cleveland Ballet and Piano Cleveland. He’s also an active supporter of institutions such as The Cleveland Museum of Art, Playhouse Square and the Great Lakes Theatre Festival.
Join us to hear what motivates Mike and other benefactors to passionately support the arts!
Welcome to the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast, Making Art Work. We highlight how entrepreneurs align their artistry, passion, and vision to create and pursue opportunities to capture value in the arts. The views expressed by guests on the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast are solely their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its hosts. The appearance of a guest on the podcast, the venture they represent, or reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute business advice. Here are your hosts, Andy Heise and Nick Petrella.
Andy Heise:Hi, Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast listeners. My name is Andy Heise.
Nick Petrella:And I'm Nick Petrella. Since many artists and arts organizations benefit greatly from benefactors, we thought we would invite an arts patron to join us so our audience can better understand what motivates them to support the arts and how they determine which artists and organizations they'll support. Joining us today is Dr. Michael Frank. He is a retired emergency physician and attorney with over 30 years of experience in emergency medicine and 25 years as an attorney. Among his many accomplishments, he is a fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine and a Life Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He was also recognized as the Ohio Emergency Physician of the Year in 2007. From 1996 to 2015, Dr. Frank served as general counsel for emergency medicine physicians and its successor company, U.S. Acute Care Solutions. Since retiring, he turned his attention to the arts and serves on the boards of organizations such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Ballet, and Piano Cleveland. He is also an active supporter of a variety of arts institutions, such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Playhouse Square, and the Great Lakes Theater Festival. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Mike.
Michael Frank:It's my pleasure to be here. I I love talking about the arts and my love for the arts, and uh I love the opportunity to share my love for that.
Nick Petrella:That's fantastic. So why are the arts so important to you and the many others who sit in on boards or support organizations with you?
Michael Frank:You know, it's it's a funny question because why does one love anything? Um it's a personal thing, and uh I guess uh the easiest answer is I'm a lover of beauty. Uh and the arts are the epitome of beauty in many different ways.
Nick Petrella:And you've been a supporter of the arts for how long, approximately Well, let's put it this way.
Michael Frank:Um uh you know, the the arts have has been in my family for years. And so part of it, part of it is is my upbringing. You know, music has been in the family. You know, I remember listening to the 78s, uh, you know, the big biggest 78s on the photograph from years and uh musicals and operas, and then we moved on to folk music and so forth. And uh, of course I had my obligatory piano lessons when I was at Tyke, and I moved on to to the snare drum in elementary school, and uh uh and uh after that uh it was the clarinet. Um and uh along the way I sang. I was I used to have a good voice. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but um I used to sang in many different choirs, both in high school and at my temple. And uh uh and after the clarinet, of course, I was a teenager, and um uh clarinet was a little bit stodgy in the era of folk music and so forth. So I took up the guitar. Of course, um and actually uh studied guitar with at a place called Guitar Workshop in uh in New York. Um and uh more more recently have uh have taken up the piano a little bit again. But uh and in the Boy Scout troupe, I was the true bugler. So I I I think I've got just about all of the uh the different sections of the orchestra covered uh from the brass with the bugle and the uh percussion uh and the woodwinds and the strings. So I've got them all covered. Um, you know, graphic art was also uh very uh important in my family. Um and you know, we uh we treasured museums, we had a lot of art in the home. Uh to the and my mother had studied art history and was uh versed in that. And when the kids went off to uh uh to college and there was an empty nest, uh we had enough art in the home that my mother teamed up with a neighbor and they opened um an art gallery in our house. Wow. Uh and it was actually uh successful enough that they moved to a storefront in the little village of uh Rosen Village in Long Island, uh which is sort of like a Chagrin Falls type of uh, you know, boutique type of community. Uh and they had that that gallery going for many years until after she passed away and they uh they closed up. Um but um when I um of course I had uh I used to haunt the art galleries in Manhattan um just about every weekend, um, as well as the museums. Uh this was a very heady uh times. This was the the times of pop art and op art. There was a lot happening in the music scene. And really the um the real action was not so much in the museums, it was in the commercial galleries, um, the Castelli and the Pace and so forth. This is where it was happening where uh you know Warhol and Rosenquist and Jasper Johns and all these guys were were were pushing the edge. Um so when I went off to medical school in 1970, um, you know, my mother, she she knew what my tastes in art were, um, which tended toward uh Toulouse Law Tract, but also Asian art, especially. So when I moved to Cleveland in 1970, my mother said, Well, you have to join the Cleveland Museum. They have a great Asian art collection. Um, and you know, this was when Sherman Lee was uh you know the director there, and it certainly was and still is uh one of the greatest um Asian art collections in the world. Um and so in 1970 I joined the museum, uh, which means that I have been a member of that museum for 55 years.
Andy Heise:Wow.
Michael Frank:And so that that's a pretty uh firm and long-lasting connection. Um and so uh, you know, even from the beginning, you know, that I um did what I could to support the arts and so forth. Of course, in college I did what I could to support the arts by uh playing the guitar and singing in a coffee house on weekends, um, didn't make much money, but it was a good place to meet girls. Um, because they like the musicians and so forth. But um over the years, as as my fortunes have uh have increased, I've increased my support uh for the the arts, but um it it has always been mostly uh music, uh graphic arts, um dance, ballet, my wife really brought me into that. Uh I was not totally unfamiliar with it because the the first um professional ballet I saw was Swan Lake at Lincoln Center uh as a teenager. Um and so that's something you you never forget. But my wife, who uh she was a um a combination psychiatric social worker and uh criminal defense attorney, uh she uh had studied ballet. I have an old photograph which her mother kept from a newspaper when she was six years old in a line of uh ballet students um from 1956. Uh and when she was uh um a young attorney, instead of joining a gym, she actually took classes at the Cleveland Ballet in Cleveland. And so we we started going to, we were regular um uh attendees at all the Cleveland Ballet productions, and uh we supported them uh financially as well, as best we could. Uh and so those are um those are really the the interests I have and and the the trajectory. And it it's continued to this day. It's obviously a source of uh of great um uh of great joy for me to be involved uh as well with those organizations.
Nick Petrella:Yeah, it sounds like it. And and it's it's personal. This has been going on since you were a child, and and you you just don't tend to give financial support. You're an active participant and have been through the years.
Michael Frank:Aaron Powell Yeah, that that's kind of serendipitous. Uh you know, it's not something uh you know I never uh started out with a goal of uh of accumulating any wealth. I never started out with a goal of uh actually being involved in the administration or the oversight um uh of the organizations. It really uh it just happened pretty organically. Uh you know, I think the first board uh well let me back up, the first arts board I joined was actually locally here in Hudson where I live. Um but I had been familiar with boards for a long time. When I was uh part of my physician career uh was um in the hospital. I had practiced emergency medicine at Barberton Hospital for 24 years, and during that time um I had become involved with the administration uh in various capacities. You start first with committees and so forth, and um people begin to appreciate what you're doing. Again, I never ran for anything, um, but my colleagues uh elected me chief of staff. Uh I never um really uh had my sights on the board of the hospital, but one day the uh the board chair came to me and said, you know, would you consider um being on the board? Okay. Uh and a year later, would you consider taking over as chair of the board? Um so it's nothing that I ever uh petitioned for or really uh looked to do, but I ended up chairing that board um at the hospital for 16 years, um which is probably, you know, I mean the average life of a hospital CEO is five years.
Nick Petrella:Yeah.
Michael Frank:Uh board chair is probably even less. Um so uh I consider 16 years a ri a real achievement. Yeah. And the phrase herding cats comes into mind. So I can only imagine. But it it it really is, it really, like the other boards, it really is not um, you know, chairing the hospital board, it's not a healthcare business. It's a people business. And the same thing is true with the the arts organizations I'm involved with. It's really not so much an arts administration, it's a people administration. It's a it's a it's a people business. And there's a lot of similarities and analogies, uh, a lot of transfer of the learning I did over the 16 years uh the hospital board uh to the to the boards that I'm involved with. But that first board in Hudson, there's a small group called Music from the Western Reserve, which has been going on um I think over 20 years now. Um it's a small group, and uh they bring in outside talent, um, quality talent, uh, six times a year on Sunday afternoons at a church. Um very small budget. I think the total budget is probably uh uh less than what each of the individual uh board members of the Cleveland Orchestra give every year. So um so it's a real small operation, but it's a quality operation. And um, you know, somebody, uh one of my friends, uh former Heights and I told me about it, invited me to come to a concert. Um you don't really have to ask me twice about going to a concert if somebody recommends it. Um and so I liked what I heard, um, and I provided some financial support and uh was contacted uh later that year about um about the organization. Uh it's got a small board and they were looking for new members, and so so I joined that board. Um but but I gotta tell you, you know, that's that's one of five that I'm uh an active board member.
Nick Petrella:Right.
Michael Frank:But if you've seen one board, you've seen one board. Um they're they're all different, they've all got their their quirks, their problems, their successes, and so forth. So um that was the first. And um and again, it's not um uh you know, the the orchestra board um uh is totally different from anything else. Yeah uh and I've uh it it's probably going on two years that uh since I joined that board. Um but initially um when I was first uh uh you know I first uh met my friend Robin Blossom uh at Blossom. Um and uh almost immediately after she started pestering me about uh you know joining the joining the board of the Cleveland Orchestra. And of course my immediate response was absolutely not. There is no way. So um anyway, a year later um I joined the board and uh um of course I I had Lack of willpower. Yeah, and uh I I had to join the Blossom Committee uh as part of that, otherwise I I would have had my head handed to me by Awkward Conversations, yeah, by Robin and some of the other uh other friends uh involved with the orchestra. So um let's see, there's the the orchestra Apollo's Fire also happened fairly organically. Apollos Fire. Um you know, I knew about Apollos Fire for years, uh, and I've been supporting them uh with a modest financial donation for years. Uh it's gotta be over 10 years that um, you know, I'd seen the brochures and uh read about them. I liked um I liked what I heard about it. Um and I had never been to a performance of a police fire. Um, but uh there's also something interesting about that, you know, I had supported them. And uh, you know, every year you get the renewal letter, thank you for your support, and we hope that you'll you know renew your support or increase your support to to this. And um, and when you there was a little handwritten note um from uh Jeanette Sorrell, who's and it said, would you consider um you know 250 instead of 100 or whatever? And okay. Um and it it um it demonstrates is you'll never get what you don't ask for. If you ask for it, you know, the worst that can happen is someone says no. Um anyway, so um I had not been to a performance of a polisfire, and several years ago they were having their an anniversary performance at uh at Severance Hall. Um and I was at an event at the Cleveland Museum, and one of the development people there who I know uh is a board member of Apollos Fire. And she said, Well, are you are you going to the anniversary performance? I said, No, I'm you know, she says, Well, you know, why aren't you going? I said, Well, you know, I've never been to a performance. She says, What? You've never been, you know, she knew I was a supporter. She said, You have to go. Um, and she got me a ticket, and uh, you know, I went to the performance and I was just blown away. Uh it was, I mean, the music was uh uh they had Mozart and uh the Chevalier, uh the Saint-Jeurs, and uh they had one of their uh their best calling cards is a violin duel. Um, you know, they have violins playing against one another. And in this this case, they had the usual uh Alan Chu and Emmy Tanabe, who's the usual, but they also had uh the guest soloist, uh Francesco, whose last name escapes me now. But the three of them were going at it. Uh and it's it's the kind of performance which is so memorable, you'll never forget it. Um and so after that, I started regularly going to the performances and meeting people, and uh and one thing led to another, you know, lunch with Jeanette and some of the other development people, and uh eventually they said, well, you know, uh we know about we know you're on some other boards, so um You have time. So it's a whole let you come on ours. Well listen, I'm I'm learning how to say no.
Nick Petrella:I just want to take a second for so for the listeners uh that we link to everything that our guests or whatever, whoever, if we bring up something, we link to their website so you can learn more about them. It's a period ensemble with period instruments, Apollo's Fire, and then of course every other arts organization that and and musician you mentioned will will link in the show notes.
Michael Frank:Yeah, that that's good. And especially for music from the Western Reserve, which has a uh a limited following, which which is increasing, and we're we're doing something very interesting this year. Um the first performance which is coming up is going to be Theron Brown, um uh who you know he's an amazing uh jazz pianist, a professor, he's a wonderful teacher and so forth. And uh and so we are um uh we are making that performance free of charge. Free of charge. Oh nice. So that's that's a really good price. Um we're looking for a lot of people. He's a great musician. He is terrific, and he's a wonderful human being. He is just uh he's a peach of a guy.
Nick Petrella:So maybe that's somebody we'll get on someday. Yeah, he'd be great. That'd be awesome. That'd be great.
Andy Heise:Yeah. Sure would. So, Mike, you had, you know, professionally you were working in uh emergency rooms, you were an emergency uh room uh doctor, and you were on uh professional boards at the at the hospital, and then you started joining boards um for some of the organizations that you financially supported, as you just talked about. Was there anything surprising to you about how those arts organization boards operate and how they sustain their their mission?
Michael Frank:Well, uh as I said before, if you've seen one board, you've seen one board. Right. Uh and there are differences. So, no, I wasn't surprised. I was uh um you know, one of the things if you join a board that's perfectly functioning and the organization is rolling in dough and uh everything is going smoothly, um there's not much interesting there. Um if if there are problems, that that's opportunities. You know, you can make a contribution. Uh and so no, I wasn't too surprised by some of the uh the defects, I would say, or um the the problems of some of the boards. Um uniqueness, I think. Yeah, uniqueness. But it you know, it's a process. You can't one of the things you can't do is go in. Um and I gotta tell you, the other the other thing which made me attractive to uh, I think the boards, including the hospital board, is and I'm also an attorney. Um, you know, and I've I practice law for a long time in a in a corporate setting for my own company. Um but the one of the things you you really can't do is go in and say, you're doing this, this, this, and wrong. So you've got to do it this, this, this, this way. That's a a guaranteed way to have you isolated, if not ostracized. Um, you know, like I said before, the boards, they're not an arts business, there's it's a people business. Uh and you can't just go in uh and bulldoze. Um and even if you even if you're absolutely completely certain that you're right about what they're doing wrong, yeah uh and the better way to do it, uh you have to it has to be a very gradual uh it's better to have people think it's their idea. Um that's that's the ideal way.
Andy Heise:I thought that's where you were going, yeah.
Michael Frank:Yeah, I mean that that's that really is the uh um you know in my uh my college study, my college major was uh was interdepartmental philosophy and psychology. And my focus in psychology was small group behavior, um, which has actually stood me in good stead for just about every organization I've been in to recognize certain patterns and uh and the way people behave. Um you know, I I I guess if there's anything which has surprised me about all these groups is how um how there is a lack of knowledge or appreciation by the other people about how groups work and about how they are contributing or detracting from the work of the group uh in ways which are uh if you have some insight into small group behavior, which are absolutely transparent. I mean, it's it's right on the surface and it's amazing sometimes that people can't see it. Even to the point, you know, I I taught a seminar of uh of uh medical students at Neo UCom once. It was uh um it was about dealing with patients and so forth, and I was kind of surprised that they weren't teaching the students about how to read nonverbal language. Um you know, about how, you know, when a patient goes like this, what that means.
Nick Petrella:Yeah.
Michael Frank:You know, and um things like that, but there are a variety of things like that. Um but it's also uh something that apparently a lot of the people on the boards don't really appreciate either. Um reading nonverbal signals, uh, as well as uh you have to take content to the next level. I mean, the content of somebody's uh opposition to a motion, um, and so forth, uh, that it might not just content. It depends on sometimes it it's a dynamic between that person and the person who made the motion. Um so there's there's a lot going on at the board meetings. Um you know, anybody who tells me uh that that board meeting was really boring, well, pal, I got news for you. You weren't watching the signals. Yeah. They weren't paying attention. There was well, or or they didn't have the tools for understanding what really was going on. Yeah. Um because it it there's a lot beneath the surface. Yeah.
Nick Petrella:What do you consider before supporting an artist or an arts organization? Are there certain missions or goals that resonate with you?
Michael Frank:Well, sure sure. I mean, there are certain missions and goals, but um it goes back to if you've seen one board, you've seen one board. I mean, there are different reasons for supporting. Uh, you know, music from the Western Reserve, small organization, doing good things, probably not gonna, it's not never gonna be a world-beating organization. Um, but I like the smallness, I like the uh the collegiality, and um, you know, um so uh I give it my support. I I especially like um you know, there are organizations I support, which, you know, I have no interest in being on the board. Uh the Cleveland Museum of Art, for example, um uh is one of the uh the organizations uh uh I support most generously uh because of you know my history with them uh goes way back. And I think that that to me it's very important. Um I'll longevity may be important, uh, and I think that's important for the Cleveland Museum, Cleveland Orchestra as well. Um you know sometimes I feel that you know I most generally support organizations that don't really need it. Um on the one hand, some of the smaller organizations uh a larger contribution could be life-changing, which which might be a mistake. Um because one of the things that I look for um and that I try to counsel people without seeming like I'm counseling, you know, uh, is that you need to have a plan. You know, uh you may not be a fair of organization, but you gotta pretend like you are. Uh and in in one instance, I you know met with the executive director and you know, I asked what um you know, what's your strategic plan? What's your outlook for three three years down the road? Wasn't there. Um but this is something you gotta um you know get some help with, get some help from your board. Um you know the question is why wasn't the board doing that, uh taking a look at that. Um so you know, I'll look at those things, but that doesn't mean I won't support it. Uh if there's an organization which doesn't um is not consistent with my my goals and my uh my values and so forth, I won't support it, or I will withdraw my support from an organization. We sometimes they change the mission, and that that's happened in a couple times. You know, my wife and I did not have children by intention, um, and so um we decided um long time ago uh that instead of establishing a foundation that will live on after our uh our deaths and you know continue to support so forth, we had seen missions change and so forth, and we we didn't want to uh think that after our deaths we'd be supporting things that we really didn't want to support. And we would try as best we could to distribute our assets uh during our lifetimes uh and immediately upon our deaths. And I've continued uh to do that um, you know, after my wife passed away, honoring those goals. But um while she was alive, there were a couple, there was an organization, not an arts organization, uh more politically uh based, which uh changed some of its mission. And you know, they came and said, you know, you want to contribute? No. You know, this is what you're we don't like uh that you're doing this. We think it's wrong. And no, we're not gonna support it. Um and that's happened on a a couple of occasions. Um you know, unfortunately it doesn't happen often, but um you know that's uh you know, organizations which uh it doesn't mean they do everything right. You know, there are some things, for example, that that I don't like that the orchestra does or the museum does and so forth, but uh overall uh their trajectory is is uh is wonderful uh and so I continue to support them. Yeah. But that's what I look for.
Andy Heise:Yeah.
Michael Frank:Great.
Andy Heise:When it comes to building effective advisory boards, are there things that arts organizations um in your experience uh maybe do differently than professional organizations like at the at the hospital? I know I know you the the common theme here is that they're both in the people business. Uh but they're you know very different missions and operations and things like that. So are there things that uh building effective boards within arts organizations do?
Michael Frank:Well, first of all, uh you started out by asking about advisory boards. And let's make a distinction because there are boards of directors which actually, in most cases, especially, for example, in the hospital or in a 501c3, the board has the legal responsibility for managing the organization and the direction. Advisory, now many organizations, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, such as the Cleveland Ballet, have advisory boards, advisory councils, Cleveland Institute of Music, for example, where I've learned to say no, but by dint of uh of my support, I'm on what's called the Board of Governors, which I get to vote on certain things. I don't have any responsibilities, I don't have any committees. I like that. But it's really not a board which has the responsibility. It's an advisory council or an advisory board. So there are um there are differences there. Um and there are some people uh who they don't want the responsibility of being on the board, um, both be because of the responsibility, but also because um of the work that's expected of you. Most boards expect the board members to be on certain committees. Uh and um for those boards, uh, the committees are where a lot of the work gets done. Um that's not true of every board. Um but in many of the boards, it's the advisory um boards or the advisory councils where a lot of work gets done. I think one example is the Cleveland Museum of Art. And I got to say, the Cleveland Museum of Art is very dear to my heart, as you probably gathered. Um and um uh I'm not saying that uh they would ask me to be on the board, but I think they know that I won't be on the board. Uh but uh you know, I am on one of the committees which is uh which uh admits people who are not on the board. In a lot of committee committees, you can be on a committee or an advisory board, you don't have to be a member of the board of directors, which are also termed trustees, which is an important uh way of calling it. Um but the committee that I'm on for the uh at the Museum of Art uh deals mostly with development. Um and so we're we're privy to a lot of confidential information. Uh we make a lot of decisions which are implemented uh by the administrative staff of the Museum of Art. Uh there are members, uh the chair of the uh the museum board sits on this committee with the past chair. So it's not uh it's not an unimportant uh or peripheral committee. It's central to a lot of the uh the administration and the operation uh of the museum. And so I find that to be very rewarding uh and you know very important uh without having to actually be on uh on the board. So it and there are a lot of other people on that committee, it's a fairly large committee. Uh and you know, it's often said that when you have too large a committee, it's no good because it's too many people. Uh, when there's too few people, it doesn't work because it's too few people. Uh I don't find the numbers really important. Um the operation is more important. The Cleveland Orchestra has the largest board I've ever seen. Huge board. But a lot of the work gets done in the committees. And I mean real work. Um and uh, you know, I'm on, in addition to the Blossom Committee, I'm on the investment committee, but also the finance committee. Uh and I try to get on the finance committee uh of every board that I'm on, except for music from the Russian Reserve, which doesn't have any committees because it's it's a small board and it's it's a committee, a committee of the whole. Um but the finance committee um and again this goes back to the uh uh to the idea of um of one board, you've seen one board, you've seen one board, but the finances is where you can really tell what's going on with the organization. Yeah. Um and this is something which I uh not every board member appreciates. Um I think the uh the administrative hierarchy of each of the organizations, uh organizations appreciates it. Um but you know it if I even if I'm not on the board, I want to see the numbers. I want to see, and um this is one of the problems that we ran into with the Cleveland Ballet a couple of years ago. We had the big big dust up, is uh the board was not being given appropriate financial information. Uh it it it got beyond the board. Um, and so that that was that was a problem. Um but seeing the numbers is how you can really tell a lot of what's going on with the board, what's going to go on. Yeah. Um yeah.
Nick Petrella:So those are your business lab tests as a doctor, right? I mean, that's most of the true. Yeah.
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