{"id":2455515,"date":"2020-03-08T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=322290"},"modified":"2020-03-08T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T04:30:00","slug":"search-for-aspens-opera-house-executive-director-could-take-most-of-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/search-for-aspens-opera-house-executive-director-could-take-most-of-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Search for Aspen\u2019s opera house executive director could take most of 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It will likely be the end of the year before the city of Aspen finds a new executive director for the Wheeler Opera House.<\/p>\n

The timeline to replace Gena Buhler, who has been the head of the Wheeler for the past five years and who announced her resignation last month<\/a>, was discussed by the citizen board that oversees the municipal government-owned facility last week.<\/p>\n

Board members said the hiring process for Buhler took at least six months, with a national search and a local committee set up to review candidates\u2019 resumes.<\/p>\n

Board member Amy Mountjoy said the process was thorough, and it proved successful because the Wheeler landed Buhler, who has been an asset to the community\u2019s cultural and historic performance center.<\/p>\n

Scott Miller, the city\u2019s interim assistant city manager and public works director, said there is no current plan to replace Buhler but one will evolve soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to do it right,\u201d he told the board at its Wednesday meeting. \u201cMore to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

He thanked Buhler for her dedication to the job, and said the more diverse the search committee to find her replacement, the better.<\/p>\n

Buhler said she will stay on full time through May 22, and has offered to consult on a contractual basis through December in an effort for the city to not lose any momentum and traction with programming and production at the Wheeler.<\/p>\n

City Manager Sara Ott said on Thursday that she has not discussed Buhler\u2019s offer but that Miller is developing recommendations to her for the best transition plan for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident he will take Gena\u2019s offer into consideration, but it\u2019s premature to comment either way right now while his work is underway,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Michael Goldberg, owner of Belly Up, Aspen\u2019s central music venue and bar, said his collaboration with Buhler and the Wheeler has been unparalleled compared with previous executive directors in terms of booking complementary acts and not being in direct competition with each other.<\/p>\n

When asked at the board meeting what they should be looking for in the next executive director, Goldberg responded, \u201cCan you clone Gena?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what we\u2019ve been able to accomplish in the last five years \u2026 was a real spirit of collaboration and trying to figure out what we could mutually do that would benefit the community,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cMost of the time I think we\u2019ve succeeded in having something that works for the community, i.e., the Wheeler and us as well, as a privately held entity with no subsidy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that there\u2019s been many nights in which both venues have had sell-out crowds with different types of musicians, and he credits the relationship, trust and lack of ego between himself and Buhler as the reason for their successes.<\/p>\n

Wheeler board Chairman Chip Fuller said the symbiotic relationship hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of that and we want to continue it and grow it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe good news is you guys set the mold for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller said there is a possibility that two interim directors get appointed in Buhler\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

Board member Ziska Childs suggested that there be two permanent positions created instead of an executive director \u2014 one should be an artistic director and the other a director of the facility itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause someone who has both of those skill sets is rare and they are difficult to find,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Buhler said she will discuss with Miller her recommendations for the job description moving forward because from her vantage point, it is two positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like most days I\u2019m doing two jobs,\u201d she said. \u201cArtistic director is a very specific job and for those who do it well they are doing it full time and I kind of split my focus on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It will likely be the end of the year before the city of Aspen finds a new executive director for the Wheeler Opera House. The timeline to replace Gena Buhler, who has been the head of the Wheeler for the past five years and who announced her resignation last month, was discussed by the citizen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 11:40:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}