Update, Jan. 28: Vincent has announced to her staff that she will take a “doctor-recommended medical leave for at least two months.”
Metro Human Resources has completed an investigation of complaints lodged against leadership in Metro Arts Commission’s department, specifically naming executive director Caroline Vincent. Complainants Cecilia Olusola Tribble, who was on staff from 2016 to mid-2019, and Lauren Fitzgerald, who was on staff from 2016 to mid-2020, allege that Vincent and other supervisors created a toxic work environment that relied heavily on intimidation, fear and punishment while tokenizing people of color and holding them up to disproportionate scrutiny.
In August, the Scene reported that public records and interviews with former and current staff members indicate that despite the agency’s dedication of public funding to anti-racism and equity training for staff, the commission of volunteers and the community, Metro Arts’ commitment to equity is not reflected in its internal dynamics.
In response to the Scene’s reporting, Councilmember-at-Large Sharon Hurt announced that the Metro Council’s Minority Caucus requested a full investigation of the allegations made. The lengthy fact-finding reports led by Metro HR staffers Keven Palmissano and Monica Anderson find “no violation by leadership of any rules, policies, or laws.” The reports find that at times leadership was not clear with employees about policies and procedures. The HR department recommended that leadership commit to providing clear feedback to staffers when documenting unsatisfactory performance, evaluate its process of onboarding new employees and seek out opportunities for formal management development.
Fitzgerald and Tribble both submitted public comments to the Metro Arts Commission in response to the reports. Fitzgerald writes that Metro HR’s findings “incorrectly inferred that I was a belligerent and untrustworthy [Metro Arts Commission] staff member” and that the report “lacks significant context.” She addresses six areas in which context was lacking or where she says claims by Vincent were distorted, including claims that she escalated situations, impersonated an artist to an insurance company and intentionally hid a conflict of interest.
Tribble’s comment encourages the commission to “look into the practices and policies around time, worker compensation, comp time, [performance improvement plan] processes and hiring with an experienced anti-racist analysis and lens.” She adds that while fact finders were thorough in their investigation, “it should disturb us all that the practices that create such a toxic and psychologically violent environment that forces faithful employees out who love their work are within the bounds of” Metro government policy.
The commission met Jan. 20 to discuss the findings. “It's clear from the fact-finder report and the public comment that we've harmed people,” said commissioner Ellen Angelico. “And we may not have violated any rules, but that doesn't mean we didn't do something wrong. The rules are there to tell us what's permissible and not permissible — not to tell us what's right and wrong.”
Several members, including chair Jim Schmidt and vice chair Matia Powell, said the commission should bring in a third-party diversity, equity and inclusion professional to support the staff and, as Powell said, “build better processes so folks feel like they have voice and choice and can really thrive in this environment.”
A third public comment was submitted by current strategic funding and initiatives manager Janine Christiano, who has documented her concerns with Vincent’s leadership for the commission in the past. The letter alerts commissioners to a complaint she has filed with Metro HR. Christiano, who is Asian American, says she has been subjected to coercion by senior management to harm other people of color, retaliation for acting as an ally to other people of color on staff, tokenism, exclusion, microaggressions and false accusations. She further alleges that she has witnessed the “ridiculing of people of color and white allies through group banter and gossip; cultural insensitivity toward marginalized groups; undue skepticism and scrutiny of people of color community members and staff.”
In a timeline attached to the complaint to HR, Christiano itemizes multiple clashes she has had with Vincent. In one — which Christiano records as occurring on Oct. 1, 2020 — Vincent allegedly discussed an application from District 32 Councilmember Joy Styles for a funding opportunity that included an apparent conflict of interest on the part of the lead artist. According to Christiano, Vincent said: “Is it part of Black culture not to follow rules?” The Scene asked Vincent to confirm this exchange. She replied in an email, “I did not say that” and referred the Scene to spokesperson Emily Waltenbaugh for further questions.
[Update, June 10: An April 27 report from Metro HR found Christiano’s accusation about this conversation to be unfounded. According to the report, former administrative services staffer Nichole Robinson approached interim ED Ian Myers to say that when Christiano discussed the incident with her after it happened, she said that Vincent asked, “Why don’t they want to follow the rules?” The report states that “Robinson’s interpretation of ‘they’ was meaning councilmembers” and Robinson believed “Christiano included the statement about Black culture as her own interpretation.” The report states that Christiano acknowledged this to be true.]
Tribble tells the Scene that she submitted her complaint in August because she knew Metro Arts leadership was continuing to harm people of color on staff. “I would not have brought any of this up if I didn’t know that harm to current employees and community members was still happening,” says Tribble, noting that she told commissioners at the time of her resignation that she feared harm to workers “would continue and the people of color I was leaving behind would experience the same kind of toxic environment I was.
“This environment is a part of the culture that is baked in [to Metro Arts],” Tribble adds. “It’s really about the leadership and how the leadership has continued to operate in this way. [Vincent] has had a choice to do something different, but she didn’t. … As a [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] consultant, I try to make abundantly clear to my own clients that institutional racism is not just an abstract thing. It is about how people make conscious decisions to either create barriers or eliminate them. The leadership of Metro Arts has consciously made decisions to uphold white supremacist values.
“Reconciliation cannot happen until accountability happens,” says Tribble.
When asked what accountability would look like for Metro Arts, Tribble says: “Accountability can look like a whole lot of things. But allowing people to continue in positions of power that have caused harm — that doesn’t need to be on the table.”
