AADL Productions Podcast: Shary Brown

Thu, 07/23/2009 - 5:43pm

When: July 23, 2009

In this interview, AADL spoke with the outgoing Ann Arbor Street Art Fair executive director, Shary Brown. Shary talks about the challenges of pulling off the Fair during difficult times, some of the innovations and changes that occurred under her guidance, and her personal memories of attending the art fairs while growing up in Ann Arbor. 

Transcript

• [00:00:04.44] ANDREW: Hi, this is Andrew.
• [00:00:07.12] AMY: And this is Amy. And you're listening to the AADL production's podcast.
• [00:00:10.87] ANDREW: Amy and I recently sat down with Shary Brown, executive director of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. Shary talks about growing up in Ann Arbor, her experience of working at the Art Fairs over the past 20 years, and the logistics of being an executive director in interesting times.
• [00:00:26.73] Could you tell us how you first got involved with the Art Fairs?
• [00:00:30.55] SHARY BROWN: It was almost by accident. I was looking for, slowly looking for a bit of a career change, and I ran into a friend who introduced me to one of his friends, who was leaving her job. She said, you know, you'd be pretty good at that. Without ever having met me before. I thought, well, maybe this would be something to look at.
• [00:00:58.56] So I wound up as the Art Fair Director at the Michigan Guild of Artists and Artisans. 21 years ago.
• [00:01:04.90] AMY: Was this your first involvement in the visual arts, or did you have prior involvement in the visual arts?
• [00:01:11.30] SHARY BROWN: I'm a townie, so I've been coming to the Art Fair, really since 1960. As a little kid, we could ride our bikes really all over town and so I came to those early Art Fairs. I worked in the sidewalk sales, as a teenager. I've always loved the arts. And have purchased things at the Art Fair.
• [00:01:38.20] My husband and I have always had a little budget, and then a little bigger budget as we got older, and a little more flush, to spend at the Art Fairs. So we were always buyers, and appreciators.
• [00:01:54.24] AMY: You've been the director of the street Art Fair for 11 years now, is that right?
• [00:01:58.39] SHARY BROWN: That's right. I moved over I think in 199-- I guess late '97, to produce the '98 fair. At the time that I made that move, I think there was a recognition that needed to be an ongoing, serious dialogue with the South University Area Association about how did the Street Art Fair meet the needs of both the commercial neighborhood, and maintain its prominence as one of the visual art fairs in the country.
• [00:02:39.47] And we're really a small nonprofit. Not very big. We explored a lot of different options, and none of them really worked. So in the end, in 2001, essentially we agreed to be homeless. So we spent the next four months looking for a new home, which would allow the South University Area Association to begin their own Art Fair. So their key fundraiser, really, is what the Art Fair is, would support the activities that they were interested in. So they could run their art fair in the way that they thought was appropriate for their neighborhood, and achieve the goals that they had for that event.
• [00:03:21.51] So we chose, with lots of help from lots of our friends in the community, chose the North University/ Thayer/ Washington Street area which surrounds the Ingalls Mall, at the tower, the Burton Carillon Tower.
• [00:03:38.86] AMY: So how has it changed since moving there?
• [00:03:41.37] SHARY BROWN: It's been an interesting transition. I think the -- this may not seem connected to other people, but when I first came on in 1998 we looked at our corporate logo. The logo that follows the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair along. The earlier version had been of the Graceful Arch, which was no more, and was a wonderful logo for its time.
• [00:04:11.09] We needed to freshen that logo. So we did, and as we did that project, we began to take a look at all of our traditions. What we wanted to communicate about our fair. And interestingly enough, that exercise, I think, served us very well when we moved.
• [00:04:31.09] Because as we moved we began to look at what were the key traditions, what was our identity? What was our connection to the community? What made us such a succesful event? As we looked at what our core values were, it really helped us when we moved. The Graceful Arch is an iconic image of the Fairs, and we wanted to recreate an iconic performance area.
• [00:05:01.28] The tower became our icon, and so our performances, which involves a lot of community groups and local performers, became a really important place for us. We've always had artist demonstrations and this site gave us a chance to build on that artist demonstration at their booth. We call it booth side. So the attendees get this serendipitous experience of falling on a demonstration, looking at a technique, sometimes they're even invited to participate, amongst the work as it's finished.
• [00:05:38.35] So you begin to understand how an artist marries the techniques, the materials, into a design or, really, an artistic voice. So what does the finished piece look like and how to the make it. How do they use one technique to get there.
• [00:05:55.54] So that's one of our traditions. The Potters Guild has been with us for 50 years. Mr. B has been with us now for 30 years.
• [00:06:02.84] So those were all important elements for us. How do we take what the community looks at as us and move it.
• [00:06:11.59] Another crucial element was logistics. The artist's experiences at art fairs are now very different than they were in 1960, where there were no commercial canopies. We built two-by-four and visqueen structures that leaked. So how do we provide a display opportunity for artists that are very modern and engaged with the audience. And that was the word that we heard over and over and over again after that first year.
• [00:06:47.82] There is space to breathe, it's pleasant, there's trees, there are retaining walls to sit on. And every artist has a space that is worthy of their work, and engages the audience.
• [00:07:02.64] ANDREW: In that process of evaluating your core values. Street Art Fair is the original art fair, but there are now four art fairs. How did you discover that people saw the Street Art Fair differently from the other art fairs. What sets the Street Art Fair apart in people's minds?
• [00:07:19.99] SHARY BROWN: I think the location now. It's certainly a different experience. When you walk onto our site, it's a completely different experience. It's set amongst the University's buildings. The spectacular architecture that we have, that I think really defines us as a college town. But also sets an ambiance for our community. This is what people's visions and memories are of Ann Arbor.
• [00:07:47.10] We did an audience survey last summer. So the question was, what do you call these events? We didn't ask them whether they knew that there were four events, we didn't ask them if they distinguish. So we got a lot of variant on Ann Arbor Art Fair, we got Ann Arbor Art Fairs, which did indicate, I think, a knowledge.
• [00:08:07.74] If you add up all the variants of the Street Art Fair, that was the second most often named name. To me, it indicates that people do have some recognition of the Street Art Fair as an entity. Anecdotally, we hear that a lot. I always start there. I know this is where I'm going to spend most of my time, so we do have a lot of anecdotal appreciations.
• [00:08:37.84] I think the thing that sets us apart both locally, statewide and nationally is our reputation for quality. And we think that's well-deserved. That's the expression we get again and again and again, and that is our core value. In 1965, we started the first jury process, probably anywhere in the country for an outdoor street fair, the board chose quality over quantity. And that phrase, and that choice has followed us through the years, and it's one that, every time we make a decision, it's one that we go back to. Quality over quantity.
• [00:09:15.82] We became involved in this application process, we were one of the first three people in the room when we made it up. And Ann Arbor District Library has been a part of that process. We did the beta testing here, we continue to do our jurying here. So we have a home here that helps us choose that quality. We're harder to get into than an Ivy League school. That's what our reputation is and we want to honor that reputation by being true to it.
• [00:09:49.09] AMY: Most people, even Ann Arborites, have no idea how much is involved in what the logistics of working with the other groups, let alone the city and the University. Can you just give us a little background in what is involved in pulling this off.
• [00:10:03.73] SHARY BROWN: We have, since the early 80's, maybe as far back as the 70's, have a collective committee called the Mayor's committee on art fairs. Where city staff, the four fairs now, University, all of our, Huron Valley Ambulance, which is one of our key non-profit partners, come together once a month and we do our logistical planning. So we do that all together.
• [00:10:34.31] There is no formal Ann Arbor art fairs organization, business structure. So we are, in some ways I guess, competitive collaborators. We produce a guide together, we do a lot of our marketing together. So we've, over the years, identified areas that make sense for us to work together. We have a lot of contracts, for Port-a-Johns, things like Port-a-Johns, tent providers, our electrical contractor is now working in the other fairs. We found that logistically and expense-wise, it makes sense for us to work together.
• [00:11:18.17] There are other areas where some of the fairs work together and some don't. Corporate sponsorship is a good example. We have brought that onto our staff. We have a staff member who, a big part of her job is to work, bring national corporate sponsors to our fair. And that's been our area of growth in the last four years since we brought it on. We've doubled again, doubled again. So we are really bringing a lot of national dollars into our community and that makes sense for us to do.
• [00:11:57.84] The other three fairs hire an agency to do that for them. And they've had success that way. That works for them.
• [00:12:07.94] It's an enormous event for a community our size to host. The infrastructure capacity expands a lot to support this event. The dedication and support that we've had from the University and the city staff. It is an investment that everybody makes, in making sure that this event comes off efficiently and safely and thoughtfully. So we have a lot to thank, be thankful about, from our community.
• [00:12:40.80] And the citizens of Ann Arbor who have supported this community over the years, and really help make it through their volunteer efforts, and through their financial support. It's one of the country's premiere visual art events, and we should be very proud to have it.
• [00:13:01.07] We think of it as just our little art fair. It's unparalleled anywhere in the country, and we should be proud of it. And we, those of us who to do it every day of the year, are really thankful for the support that we've had from the community.
• [00:13:18.03] ANDREW: Can you give us some of the details, walk us through the jurying process and give us a sense of -- I'm curious about the numbers. How many applications you get and how many people end up actually being in fair.
• [00:13:30.26] SHARY BROWN: It's complicated beyond belief. Just so you know that. We used to do it with slides, you know 35 millimeter slides and projectors. And they went ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk for for 10,000 slides. And we had to handle those slides three or four times each. So you can imagine the intensity of labor.
• [00:13:56.81] From the artist's perspective they had to send duplicate sets of those slides to 40, 50, 60 fairs. So there's big expense involved.
• [00:14:07.59] There was a tremendous amount of mailing, there was all the handwriting to read and put it into some sort of digital format so we could -- that even, when I came and started, we were using a little Mac where you had to swap discs. Almost everything was done by handwriting, and we've grown a lot since then.
• [00:14:28.72] In 199-- very late 1999, we met in Chicago, a couple of us, with the Western States Arts Federation, which is one of the NEA's regionals. Their expertise is in nonprofit arts technology. They had a number of programs that they were running that had components that we could shift over. So we were looking at that time for an online registration, so we don't have to peer at the handwriting and try to decipher it, and enter it, do all of the data entry and sorting and everything else.
• [00:15:01.99] So that would all be done, online, by artists who could keep a profile. They wouldn't have to write it all out a hundred times a year. And then the guy, the geeky guy, you know I think he'd be honored to have that title, was the one who said, why don't you jury? And we had all kinds of reasons why that wasn't possible.
• [00:15:23.42] And, in fact, it wasn't possible until about 2003 when some technologies came along that allowed us to do this. It was actually a little machine called a [? Roku ?], which is now no longer in use. Now we're using Mac minis to do the same thing. But it was an image sorter, basically that's what it did, it took the place of a carousel.
• [00:15:46.71] So now we use digital projection. The artists all upload their images online. The technology sorts all of those images for us and we come in and have benefit of the nice quiet, just a little whoosh in the background.
• [00:16:05.42] And the artists love it. Their expenses have gone way down. We have seen them apply to more shows and apply more smartly to shows. So it's really opened the world up, for both the fairs and the artists.
• [00:16:20.17] We started with eight shows using this system for 2004 season, so we started in 2003. And about somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 artists. We now have more than 330 shows using it, and more than 40,000 artists using it.
• [00:16:38.80] AMY: I'm interested in some of your personal memories of the Art Fair. Your grandfather was the Mayor. William Brown, Jr. I'm wondering if you have memories as a young girl, particularly, that strike you.
• [00:16:53.04] SHARY BROWN: I think the connection with my grandfather, and his role in this community, he was very entrepreneurial. He actually had a little entrepreneurial streak as he was Mayor. He was the guy that built the parking structures. He developed this system of parking meters first, to raise the revenue stream to enable the decks to be built.
• [00:17:20.52] And that was an amazing feat, worldwide. There were no municipal systems like that. So people came from Paris and Tokyo to come to the opening of this car port. Which has now been torn down. It's that legacy of community service. I think our family has always felt an identity with Ann Arbor. I think the importance of his role in the health of the city was a role model.
• [00:18:02.04] I was trained as a lawyer. I went to school to do that. Loved law school, really didn't like being a lawyer much at all. But those are all skills that are transferable to this kind of an organizational endeavor. That was part of what made me feel that this was the right path, this was a good thing to do. This is an important event in our community, I could stay connected with our community on all different levels. That was the guiding principle for thinking this was a really good idea.
• [00:18:35.09] I did come to the fairs as a kid. We had a lot more freedom, I think, as children than kids do now. And I worked on the sidewalk sales. Sitting there and selling stuff off the table. It was great. Great fun. It was a gathering place for the community. I have all of those memories of hanging out with my friends, running into people. As I grew up and owned a house, running into people who'd moved away from our neighborhood, and we'd reconnect at the Art Fairs.
• [00:19:09.15] They are awfully big. And we got that disconnect sometimes from the community that says, I love the Art Fairs, but they don't really feel like it's a community event. One of the things that we did in the last, well this is the fifth ever, but starting about 10 years ago or so, we also were looking at how are we a part of a commercial neighborhood? Where's the right location for our fair? What's the right connection to our community?
• [00:19:45.28] We began to dream a little about having a kick off party that was a real community event. And so the Townie Street Party was born. And it has been a tremendous success. It's fun, it's quirky, it's Ann Arbor. We invite all of our community partners to come. I know the library has participated with us.
• [00:20:07.25] That's the connection back to the community, and I think as the Street Art Fair moves forward, if I can leave a mark on my time here, it will be that move, reconnecting with the community, establishing a really strong link with the University, with city government and helping the community relook at this event as a community event, and what it's value to the community is. Because there's also a tremendous economic value that we bring.
• [00:20:39.39] ANDREW: This is your last year directing the Art Fair and it hasn't been an easy one. Can you tell us a little bit about the difficulties this past year of getting the Art Fair on.
• [00:20:53.70] SHARY BROWN: Well, it hasn't been any easy one, no. We talked a little bit earlier about national corporate sponsorships. Our artists fees are also primarily national, so one of the economic values that we have to the community is really bringing all these new dollars in. About four percent of our audience flies here, which if you're looking at a half million people is a really big number for festivals that are usually considered to be local. Art fairs are generally local events. They're unlike the big music festivals that are known to draw visitors.
• [00:21:34.84] So we're very unusual in that way. We're a small town to host an event like this. So the national corporate support, national corporate headquarters that are in Denver, and Coconut Grove, which is essentially Miami, St. Louis. All of those big cities which are basically two and a half million people, and regional business centers, if not national business centers, have a financial competitive advantage for us.
• [00:22:04.84] We have size. The collective art fairs bring a quality and a size unparalleled. So that's one of the main reasons we are able to draw like we are.
• [00:22:19.70] We have been, for 50 years, on a very steady growth trajectory. So we have expanded our revenue streams at a very steady rate, without losing the quality and without losing the ambiance of the event. And being able to reinvest that, so as the cost of doing these kinds of events grows we've been able to meet that and a little more.
• [00:22:47.44] This year our national corporate sponsorships are half of what they were. Even at that, ours are still almost double what the individual other fairs are bringing in, because that was what we identified as a really, it was our opportunity. We are going to have fewer artists this year. We feel that for them less is more. This is a very big event. People don't have a lot of money to spend. And those that do have money are being a little reluctant to spend.
• [00:23:21.95] We want to make sure that each one of our artists has the best opportunity that we can provide to them. They are being more selective about the art fairs that they participate in. So we had a very comfortable number of applicants, about a thousand applicants for about a hundred spaces. This year we had a drop in application, but interestingly enough we had an increase in quality across the board. So the artists are being smarter.
• [00:23:53.76] They understand what chance they have to get in to what fairs. They know that we're looking for quality. So we're going to have a really good fair, it's going to be smaller, which is a revenue source for us. So we're going to take about a $20,000 hit in revenue from having fewer booths.
• [00:24:12.48] All in all, it's about a $65,000 drop in anticipated revenues. I am now working from a fourth budget. We usually do one budget in the fall when it passes the board, thank God. So I've now re-calculated our budget, for the fourth time. We've gone to the community to ask for community support, for the very first time. Interestingly, as part of our long range planning for the 50th, we were always going to, it was just going to be a little different plan.
• [00:24:52.54] We have received responses to that. We've received a couple of grants that we might not have gotten. We received donations both fairly substantial from individuals, right on down to about $25. We are, for the first time, going to put donation stations at our fair run booths, our service booths, at the Fair. We're looking at all different ways. We're saving $25 here and there where we can, and we're hoping that the audience whose enjoyed this event over 50 years, completely free to the community, will step up and think about passing a couple of dollars in the donation station.
• [00:25:40.53] AMY: I noticed you still have quite a few performance venues, many performers will still be coming. I was curious about your thoughts about how music at the fairs have changed. You mentioned the Graceful Arch was very iconic at one point, and many people played the big stages that they sponsored at the time. I'm wondering your thoughts on how that's changed over the years, and how much that's contributed to the experience of the Art Fair.
• [00:26:07.45] SHARY BROWN: We talked a little bit about the audience survey that we conducted, and that was one of the comments that we got is we asked a couple of open ended questions, is that the audience enjoys the performances. This year we got a mini grant from the Michigan Council on Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Arts Alliance to support our performances.
• [00:26:32.41] We felt again this year, that that's a very expensive program for us to run, but it's also one that we know the community enjoys. Our path through the history of performances at the Fair has been up and down. The Graceful Arch was a key component, and I know the community loved that. I remember going there myself, and it was an amazing iconic structure.
• [00:27:03.06] We want people to come to the Fair. And we feel that they will if we can promote and encourage them to come and enjoy performances that are community performances, and that has also been a part of our legacy. We have many really world class performance groups in the community, and so we like to showcase them on our stage. And those groups rotate through.
• [00:27:32.66] We also have traditional slots for Washtenaw Community College. They have a great performance program, and we all support it. So let's see what we are producing out there as a community. We also have some great new performers. And we want people to walk away like I have. I got to see The Chenille Sisters. And I got to say, dozens of years later, I saw them when. And we want people to walk away from this performance experience in 10 years, 12 years, 20 years from now and say, I saw them Because we think we have that many great musicians, dance groups, magic. It's a really eclectic experience.
• [00:28:25.31] Mr. B is back. Mr. B has been with us for 30 years and he draws an audience. It's one of the few times that you can really see Mr. B just in his element. He loves the art fairs. He invites his own audience.
• [00:28:41.50] That the quality of our music is akin to the quality of our visual arts, and that's really what we're trying to do. We're trying to showcase the enormous wealth that we have in this community. First, by bringing artists to our community that we know we appreciate here, and support here. Well beyond what most communities will support in the visual arts. But also in enjoying the wealth of performance that we have here.
• [00:29:08.37] Potter's Guild, same thing. Who has a potters collective like we have here, they're a nationally known organization, too.
• [00:29:16.41] ANDREW: What first possessed you to put on a pair of wings?
• [00:29:18.68] SHARY BROWN: [LAUGHS] Well, it was logistics, honestly. They weren't wings in the beginning, they were tall hats. When I first went to the Guild's show, there were two locations, one State Street, one Main Street area. The State Street area is 1,039 foot long block with 330 artists on it, in four rows. Vans are big. There were 12 parking places for -- there were 12 booths for every on parking place at that time. That was a long time ago.
• [00:29:59.19] We got them all on, but they're all staggered, in a very orderly fashion, to come in. So here I am, about Wednesday morning thinking, we got them all in, how are we going to get them all out?
• [00:30:11.64] I started talking to the artists, I knew I had four days. I gave my husband $20, once I finally figured out this was going to be a mess. And all the artists had complained that there was a really good system in place, the one weakness of the system was that they couldn't find us. They had to get a pass to come on, so that there would be some order to it.
• [00:30:32.24] But we were all regular sized people and with the crowds that were still there and all the big vehicles, they couldn't find us to get their pass to come back on. So I thought, we have to make -- you know the orange vest just didn't really trying to get it. We still wore those. So I had to make us identifiable. So I sent my husband out to buy the tallest, stupidest looking hats he could find. He came back with these really tall dunce caps. I'm thinking, OK.
• [00:31:00.88] And so we put them on it and the artists loved it. And they're all tired at the end so I realized it had two purposes. One, they could find us and so it did go quite smoothly. Two, they had to laugh. It gave them a chuckle. You really can't yell at somebody that looks that stupid. It broke that tension and everybody walked away with a smile. And it did turn out to be quite good.
• [00:31:27.07] The tradition built over the years, is what happened. And I would have interns and sometimes they'd get involved with it and really join the fracas, and sometimes they wouldn't. So I carried it over. Eventually we did become the Art Fairies and we did have this little parade at the end and we went around saying goodbye to everybody. These artists are our friends. We build a community in a day, and we live in it for four days.
• [00:31:59.54] We really enjoy the people who come back every year, we want them to walk away from Ann Arbor, or drive away from Ann Arbor. We can't control the economics of it, but we can control how they feel about us. That they were welcome in our community, that we provided for all of their needs when they were in our community, and that they just had the best time in our town.
• [00:32:25.48] That's why the Fairy parade. I will miss that part of it.
• [00:32:30.16] ANDREW: What do you feel like is your legacy as a director?
• [00:32:34.77] SHARY BROWN: I think the relocation is the most visible part of it. The application is a really important thing, and there's one thing that we haven't talked about which is a relatively new endeavor and that's the zero waste initiative. About four years ago now I talked with the Ecology Center, we took a couple hour tour of our site with three of their key people, and Recycling Ann Arbor. It took us a couple of years to really build on that first tour, but we did. And the Ecology Center helped us plan a zero waste --
• [00:33:18.83] We just wanted to do better recycling, and they kind of looked at us and said, but you can do zero waste. And we said, OK. It takes a commitment from a staff to make that happen, because it's a whole different way of doing business. We feel it's important. We had been doing some amount of recycling for probably the past, 19 years. So it's not something that was unknown to us, but this is, we're doing this in a way that's really not been done anywhere else.
• [00:34:02.32] The first year we recycled about nine tons from our site alone, which is about 1/6 of the total area of the art fairs. We reduced our waste enormously. We were using three dumpsters, we got down to one dumpster. So almost everything that could be recycled was recycled.
• [00:34:30.89] This year the Townie Street Party, we're hoping we can make it almost entirely -- all the food and food service items will be compostable. So we're hoping that that can be almost entirely compostable, all of that waste.
• [00:34:47.94] We are moving gradually towards a bulk water distribution plan, both at the Townie Street Party and at the Art Fair. So the city of Ann Arbor has come in and they've built more of the taps that they use for the hydrants. If you bring your own water bottle you'll be able to refill it for free.
• [00:35:08.84] Absopure is our water sponsor. They are still going to supply us with a few of the plastic bottles, which we will recycle, but they're going to bring us most of our water in the big reusable containers, and provide those so you'll be able to get cold water, cool water, at all of our water stations. We have souvenir water bottle for sale. They're really good bottles for very affordable price. They have the original logo of the fair on it, which is a fish, that's hilarious. Little fish with bubbles water bottles.
• [00:35:42.83] We're having fun with it, but we found last year that the audience really appreciates, wants to do this. We don't think there's anybody in the country that's quite figured out how to do the bulk water. So that'll be a first for us and across the country. Last year, after our first year, we were invited by the DEQ and the Michigan Festivals and Events Association to be one of three organization presenting at their annual conference. So we're really proud of that.
• [00:36:16.86] Recycle Ann Arbor and the Ecology Center, City of Ann Arbor, have really all pulled together. So all out of the infrastructure that we've acquired in the course of doing this, and really all of our knowledge base is available to any event in the City of Ann Arbor that wants to go in this direction.
• [00:36:42.17] AMY: When do you start worrying about the weather? Do you watch weather reports?
• [00:36:46.69] SHARY BROWN: Yeah, one eye open, one eye closed. Don't tell me, don't tell me. I don't know. We laugh about doing the no rain dance. I don't know if you want to come in our office, we look like a bunch of lunatics, there's stuff everywhere. It is what it is. We're prepared for it. Two years ago we had our first tornado warning and we did successfully evacuate our site. We were probably 2/3 of the way there by the time the sirens went off.
• [00:37:22.23] Weather is important to us, it's the biggest component of our emergency plan. We have a tremendous support from the county, from the city, on this, so that's been a huge move forward since when I started 21 years ago. There was no planning, it was basically, don't worry about it, we'll take care of it. I'm too fussy to have somebody else say, don't worry about it, I'll take care of it. No no no. I want to know.
• [00:37:54.59] So we do know now and we do work together, very closely. All four fairs with all the emergency operations teams that are in place.
• [00:38:03.89] ANDREW: After you retire, what's next?
• [00:38:06.26] SHARY BROWN: I don't know. I really, honestly, don't know. I will be at the Street Art Fair until the end of September. It's probably going to take me about six weeks to clean my office. We want to leave things in great shape for the next director. There's a great foundation there. I know that I'm going to take a month long vacation, that's as far as I've gone. This is a big year for us personally.
• [00:38:41.41] My husband hits a milestone birthday, I hit a milestone birthday, and we will have been married 25 years.
• [00:38:47.23] AMY: Congratulations.
SHARY BROWN: Thank you. For us it's a really, it's a fun year with lots of fun things to look forward to. So we're going to go on a month's trip. And I'll be back and start thinking about what I want to do next.
• [00:39:01.20] ANDREW: The 50th annual Ann Arbor Street Art Fair runs this year from Wednesday, July 15 to Saturday, the 18th. You can learn more at artfair.org.
• [00:39:10.38] AMY: You've been listening to the AADL production's podcast, at the Ann Arbor district library.