On the morning of Tuesday, May 30th, the staff at the Oats Park Art Center in Fallon, NV arrived at the building and discovered that more than 100 pieces from the Permanent Art Collection had disappeared. The works, curated over 30-plus years, were a beloved community asset and the legacy of past Executive Director Valerie Serpa and her husband, Kirk Robertson on behalf of the Churchill Arts Council. The Churchill Arts Council Board of Directors believes that now-resigned Executive Director Michael Scott undertook an unauthorized, intentional effort to dismantle the collection.
“We are shocked and devastated that this collection has been gutted by the actions of one man,” said Board Chair Theresa Guillen. “This is a complete betrayal of the memory and hard work done by Valerie to build this collection and was completely unauthorized by the board. We are exploring all of our legal options to remedy the situation.”
Scott stepped in as Executive Director after the untimely death of Serpa in a plane crash in December of 2021. He had served for several years as the creative director, helping Serpa after her husband died in April 2016.
Scott notified the Board last October 2022 that he would be resigning his position with the Arts Council on June 30, 2023. In January, during a planning session, he recommended that the Arts Council should shut down. According to Guillen, Scott told the board they would not find qualified applicants for the director position who would want to live in Fallon. The board rejected that recommendation out of hand.
On the evening of May 30, Scott emailed his resignation, effective immediately, to the Board of Directors. A binder left by Scott shows thirty-three “loan agreements” signed by the artists between March 15, 2023, and May 16, 2023, most of them returning multiple works of art to the respective artist. The Churchill Arts Council website, detailing the permanent collection, was also stripped of most of its content.
“Beginning on March 15, he took it upon himself to contact the artists and collectors who had been responsible for that artwork being at the Arts Council in the first place,” said Sean Rowe, an attorney with the law firm of Mackedon, deBraga, & Rowe. “He contacted them and regardless of whether those were gifts or actually on loan entered into new agreements with each of them saying this was on loan and can be requested returned, and subsequently had them execute a document requesting the artwork to be returned.”
Guillen said the most important thing to the board right now is the relationship the Arts Council has with the artists who over the years have contributed to the permanent collection. “We feel that there could possibly have been some damage to that, and we want to make sure that they are aware of how we feel.” She said this is not something the Arts Council wanted to have happen or was aware of.
“Collectively, we have worked so hard to provide the finest arts programming to the Fallon, Churchill County, and Northern Nevada communities,” added Guillen. “This collection was a source of pride and inspiration for so many community members and we’re all devastated by this betrayal of trust.”
The City of Fallon has long supported the Arts Council. “Despite Mr. Scott’s attempts to undermine the first-class arts and culture programming that the Arts Council provides to the community, I know it will continue to carry on Valerie and Kirk’s vision,” said Fallon Mayor Ken Tedford. “The City of Fallon will continue to support the Arts Council as it provides the community with the invigorating art, music, and literary events which have brought so much pride to our community.”
Members of the Arts Council have spent the past couple of weeks pulling together to ready the barren building for the last two events of the season – the poetry reading that was held last Saturday and the Concert in the Park scheduled for June 17. “Our staff has gathered art and some remaining items to be in the bigger common area, we reached out to our community if they have art associated with the art center to see if they feel comfortable loaning for a time while we work to retrieve and or build a new collection.” She said the board and staff each have their tasks to do in reaching out to artists or working on paperwork.
Additionally, the board has been in the process of hiring a new Executive Director and continues interviewing with a target of bringing on the new director by July 1, as they have intended since Scott tendered his resignation last October.
“You can’t take the walls off the building, you can’t take the people out of the community,” said Guillen. “There is a long list of people who contributed and built this. It brings the steel out in all of us.”
The Arts Council will close its current season on June 17, 2023, with a free In-The-Park Concert with roots music performer Paul Thorn. For inquiries, contact [email protected] or (775) 423-1440. The 2023-24 performance season kicks off in August with an In-The-Park Concert performance by Blair Crimmins and the Hookers and will be releasing its 2023-24 performance, film, and exhibit calendar in July.
Scott did not respond to messages left requesting comments.
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