After 25 years leading the Somerville Arts Council, Executive Director Greg Jenkins was fired by Mayor Jake Wilson’s administration in February. The leadership change comes as part of Wilson’s government restructuring at the start of his mayoral term, but it has rattled the city’s arts community and prompted public responses from Wilson, the Arts Council board and local elected officials.
Jenkins was appointed Arts Council director in 2001 and officially left his position on March 6. The departure caught many in the Somerville arts world off guard, particularly members of the Somerville Arts Council board, who wrote an open letter to Wilson on Feb. 13 expressing concern about the timing and subsequent search for Jenkins’ replacement.
“We have heard from concerned community members in regards to this sudden leadership change, and are proactively reaching out to you as we enter the busiest arts programming season of the year,” the board wrote in the letter, noting that the seven-person Arts Council staff was “already operating above capacity.”…