The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) board of directors has cut ties with now-former CEO Rachel Graham, the organization’s interim board announced at a virtual special meeting Wednesday following a closed session that lasted over an hour.
After more than half of the board’s members resigned last week, the remaining board members on Wednesday voted unanimously to appoint JRM Consultancy CEO Robyn Murphy to serve as BOPA’s interim chair and CEO.
“The board of directors of BOPA and CEO Rachel Graham have mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately,” the board said in a statement after returning from closed session. “We have appointed Robyn Murphy Interim Board Chair, and in alignment with our bylaws, she will also serve as CEO while we search for new leadership for the organization. The board has also identified someone to lead the Arts Council in an interim capacity, and we will separately announce who that is later this week, when we have a formal agreement in place.”
BOPA’s board of directors held the special meeting virtually over Zoom to nominate a new interim chair and executive committee.
The interim board of directors lost eight of its 13 members, including former interim chair Andrew Chaveas, when they resigned after Mayor Brandon M. Scott terminated the organization’s contract with the City of Baltimore.
Graham had scheduled three listening sessions that were to begin on Tuesday to hear from Baltimore’s creative community on how BOPA can support them after the contract with the city ends on Jan. 20, 2025. Those meetings were cancelled without explanation or rescheduled dates.
Scott terminated the city’s contract with BOPA after years-long concerns over financial responsibility and transparency, and BOPA’s ability to uphold its contractual obligations to produce festivals and events. The contract’s end means after Jan. 20, 2025, BOPA can no longer work as the city’s arts council, film office and events producer, or provide staff support for the city’s Public Art Commission.
Those remaining on the interim board are Murphy; Derrick Chase, Founder and CEO of Stand Up Baltimore; Andy Cook, Executive Director of Made In Baltimore, a division of the Baltimore Development Corp.; April Lewis, Director of Community + Culture at Open Works, and Tonya Miller Hall, Senior Advisor of Arts and Culture in the Mayor’s Office.
Lewis agreed to remain in her role as interim board secretary. Chase made a motion to nominate Cook as interim treasurer, which Cook declined. One of the board members noted that the board’s bylaws do not require they appoint a treasurer or a vice chair in this special meeting, so all members agreed other items would take precedence over filling those positions.
“I think we have an opportunity, as Tonya said, to look within how we add to this small but mighty board in the next couple of weeks and potentially fill that role, either with a candidate that we come up with, and/or find an alternative as we try to work through the most pressing things and focus,” Murphy said.
At the meeting’s start, a motion was made and approved to add a discussion of finances to the agenda. The person best equipped to brief on that matter, BOPA’s director of financial operations Tamara Robinson, noted that since she wasn’t originally on the agenda, she was not prepared to present in open session. She requested time to prepare a report, agreeing the board should understand the finances before they make decisions about personnel. Members of the interim board of directors are volunteers.
Other agenda items included discussion of the Governance and Trustee Development Committee and a closed session to discuss personnel updates.
The Governance and Trustee Development Committee would normally be tasked with seeking and bringing forth new trustees, but not many of those on the committee remain. Rather than create a task force to add members to the committee, the remaining five board members agreed to add themselves to the Governance and Trustee Development Committee, with Murphy acting ex officio as the Board Chair.
