Keeping It All in View

Margie Johnson Reese, who will take over from Adolfo V. Nodal as general manager of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs on Monday, offered no immediate comment on the state of the arts in L.A.--or what she plans to do about it--during a recent two-day visit before her permanent move here from Dallas, where she has served as that city’s director of cultural affairs since 1995.

Reese, 50, a native of Baton Rouge, La., laughed as she described the way she’s been peppered with very specific policy questions during her brief meet-and-greet. “ ‘What are you going to do about theater in Los Angeles?’--I don’t know, would you just let me get here first?” she joked.

“What am I going to do? What I think is best, always, with the understanding that I work for the people of Los Angeles. That’s very clear to me.”

Reese does outline a general goal of creating a more institutionalized cultural policy for Los Angeles, similar to the city of Dallas’ Cultural Policy she implemented during her years there. She described that document as a “statement of mission endorsed by an elected body” that includes a promise of the city’s annual financial commitment to the arts as a means of leveraging private support. “I may be speaking out of turn, but I haven’t seen a policy here, and if it does exist--let me be politically correct here--it’s a document I’d like to take a look at.

“It’s not just language, it’s goals. This is what we want our city to look like, this is how the arts will play a role in the future development of the community.”

But Reese also plans to approach her new city the way her Creole grandmother used to savor a cup of coffee--slowly. “The thing to know about people from Louisiana is they like to share their heritage with you, and they like to take a long time doing it,” she said.

“You know why coffee in Louisiana is rich and dark and full of chicory? It’s because you should take your time, and savor it.

“A part of my style is reflective of that--I can never get away from the fact that my grandmother would sit in the mornings and drink her coffee, and we would sit around in a little circle waiting for her to finish so we could pass around the cup with the sugar in the bottom, the best part.

“So if you wait long enough, if you have some patience, you are going to get to the best part. For me, I’ve worked very hard, in many communities, and maybe this is the sweetest part.”

Whether there will be time for Reese to savor the moment remains an open question as she takes the helm of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, which funnels money set aside by the city’s annual budget, as well as other government and private funds, into hundreds of cultural and arts activities.

With a budget of $16 million, it is the second-largest cultural affairs department in the nation, behind New York City’s. The $12.2-million budget in Dallas was smaller, but so was the city. In L.A., the funds must be spread thinner, over a larger population. Reese also enters the fray as term limits bring the city a new mayor and six new City Council members.

When Nodal, a Cuban immigrant raised in Miami, took the position in 1987, the Cultural Affairs Department had a budget of $3.5 million. In his 12 years, Nodal oversaw a department whose budget quadrupled, but one that was plagued with contention between the old guard and the new guard over the role of the artist in the community, as well as occasional clashes over the restructuring of programs.

In L.A., Diversity Always Figures Into the Equation

Those clashes came to a head in the art community’s reaction to Nodal’s 1991 cultural master plan encouraging social responsibility for artists and attempting to ensure equitable division of grants among the city’s ethnic groups, rather than awarding funds purely on an “art for art’s sake” basis. That debate cooled over time as the department implemented an individual artists’ grant program, but the department still maintains its policy of multiculturalism.

Carolina Guevara, senior press deputy to Mayor Richard Riordan, said the mayor’s office held a national search for Nodal’s replacement, and Reese’s experience in dealing with just that issue--diversity--made Reese the first choice for the post.

“She was perfect for L.A.--the cultural diversity and ethnic diversity of Dallas are comparable to our city, plus the comparable size of staff and amount of the budget make her a perfect fit,” Guevera said.

For her part, Reese said she welcomes the challenge of Los Angeles. “Personally, I look forward to the chance to learn and grow from meeting all those people, finding out what things about their culture and heritage they want to preserve for future generations. It’s difficult to gain the trust of all those certain groups, but I don’t think it’s impossible.

“In your attempt to be fair, you do get criticized often for trying to ‘level the field’--not just in the world of the arts, look at the public school system. . . . It comes with the territory; no matter which way you go, you will face criticism if you are a public servant.

“Let’s not fight over one piece of the pie, let’s work on how we can grow the pie. We’re here to serve every citizen, and if that means this year I have to focus on visual arts, or next year performing arts, sometimes as a community we have to learn to wait our turn, to share differently.”

Reese is one of six children. Her father, who still lives in Baton Rouge, was a meat cutter, and her mother, who passed away last year, was a cook for the public school system and an accomplished Creole chef (“We ate well”). During her eighth-grade year, an arts-in-the-schools program brought to Reese’s classroom a New York theater artist who inspired her to get involved in theater and speech. “So when you get me talking, at some point you have to tell me to shut up,” she said.

She went on to major in theater at Washington State University. Reese also holds a master of fine arts degree from Trinity University, and studied toward but did not complete her doctorate in education and arts for the handicapped from Texas Women’s University.

Reese met her husband, attorney Foster Reese, while attending Washington State, and his career took them to Dallas. Their daughter, Marlena, 19, is a sophomore and field hockey player at Wake Forest University. Foster Reese will remain in Dallas until the couple’s son Johnathan, 17, completes high school, then will join his wife in Los Angeles.

“This is not an easy decision--this is leaving friends, and a support system, and a cultural community that I have the greatest respect for, and I think it’s mutual,” she said of her decision to leave Dallas. “I feel like I’m leaving a huge piece of me behind, my home is there--that I can never replace in this real estate market! My friends are there, my church is there.

“But I bring all of that spirit with me. I bring all of that positive energy to this city, and to this job,” she said. “I love the arts, and I love bringing arts and the people together. I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s part of my being.”