Former Akron Art Museum board president Richard S. Rogers sent an open letter to the community Wednesday calling for the resignation of the museum’s current management team and accountability from the board of trustees in light of former staff members’ allegations of racism, sexism and intimidation that were made public last week.
"After watching the tragedy at the Akron Art Museum unfold in the national and local press, seeing the recent feeble and defensive response to the public, and learning that the plans are to keep the leadership team in place, I felt it was time to express my feelings on the matter," Rogers said in the letter sent to the Beacon Journal.
"In light of the recent revelations I expected the prompt resignation of the current management team and a fresh approach. It’s my understanding that the board plans to leave this team in place." Rogers wrote. "Pretending that everything is fine with the museum is not working."
A museum spokeswoman said by email Thursday that "The Akron Art Museum will have no comment on the letter from Mr. Rogers." Board president Drew Engles could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The museum controversy, first reported April 30 in ARTnews, stemmed from former employees who said the museum used layoffs in March amid the COVID-19 pandemic to unfairly target staff, 27 of whom wrote a letter of complaint in June to the board of directors calling for the removal of Mark Masuoka, museum director and CEO.
The museum responded with a statement last week denying allegations regarding recent job cuts, while confirming the museum hired outside counsel last year to investigate allegations involving "workplace issues." The museum also said it plans to bring back 25 of 28 full-time employees "within the next few weeks" through the help of the CARES Act economic relief package.
Neither museum nor board leaders have responded to Beacon Journal requests for phone interviews since April 30.
"The root cause of this fiasco is bad board leadership, lack of enforcement of good governance and failure to follow proven best practices like board orientation and training, a human resource function and routine review of the executive director," Rogers said in his letter.
"The board (primarily the executive committee) needs to be held accountable. I have personally observed inappropriate, aggressive, bullying behavior from a past president and inaccurate, dismissive and belittling comments about employees from others" on the current board, he said.
Rogers said by phone Thursday that the board did not conduct a review of CEO Masuoka under immediate past president Bruce Rowland, who remains on the board. New board president Engles assumed the role in September.
Rogers started as a museum trustee in 1998 and was board president from 2005 to 2007. The museum’s Bud and Susie Rogers Garden, created with a lead gift of more than $2 million by Richard Rogers and his wife Alita, is named in honor of his parents, longtime community volunteers and museum supporters Bruce "Bud" Rogers and Suzanne "Susie" Rogers.
Alita Rogers also previously served on the museum board, from 2010 to 2018. Richard Rogers is former CEO of B.W. Rogers Co., formerly in Akron.
"For five generations our family has made a substantial commitment of time and money in support of the institution," said Richard Rogers, 65.
On Monday, Engles said in a statement that "the museum has recently been inaccurately criticized as using the layoffs secondary to the current pandemic as a form of retribution for a letter authored by a group of concerned employees nearly a year ago."
Engles said every allegation was fully investigated and the board took "prompt action to address substantiated allegations."
The museum would not elaborate on the findings but Engles’ statement said the investigation led the institution to hire a dedicated human resources manager and begin anti-bias training for employees in February.
The board must be held fully accountable to the community in handling the current controversy, Rogers said by phone Thursday: "Their lack of response I think speaks for itself. It’s just another indication or data point that they’re clueless about what to do and how to handle it and that they’re running this institution into the ground."
Rogers said he tried to intervene in June in what he called a "preventable disaster" for the museum.
"When I learned of the brewing troubles with the staff in June of 2019 I made repeated attempts in writing and in person to express my concerns to the board’s executive committee. It fell on deaf ears. In fact the board actively tried to discredit me," he said in his letter Wednesday.
On Thursday, Rogers said he and other past trustees told the board by letter and in person last summer that the museum leadership — director CEO Masuoka and Jennifer Shipman, former chief of staff and director of special projects — needed to be replaced. The board reportedly fired Shipman, who left in August, but Masuoka remained.
"The board ignored a mutiny of their staff and advice from past funders and trustees. Now the result is ruined careers, departure of talent, rock bottom morale, flight of donors and sullying of the museum’s impeccable reputation," Rogers said in his letter.
"There’s millions of dollars of support that’s at risk with this organization and this posture" of defensiveness that the museum has taken, Rogers said by phone Thursday.
Rogers, who questioned how the museum will now attract great artists, exhibitions and staff, called the controversy "a big embarrassment to the city of Akron."
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com
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Former Akron Art Museum board president calls for resignations, blames board for ‘fiasco’ - Akron Beacon Journal
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