Pictured: A large group of CVCA supporters and SYMTP participants and parents gather on the steps of the center to hear about the future of the program. Photos by David Abbott.

In the wake of a series of resignations that took place on the board of the Cobre Valley Center for the Arts the week of Aug. 13, another jolt hit the organization last week, as Program Director and leader of the Summer Youth Musical Theatre Program (SYMTP) Paul Tunis announced he would end his tenure at CVCA in November after completion of the production of “Mary Poppins Jr.”

Tunis submitted his resignation via email on Monday, Aug. 20, stating, “It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing my resignation from the position of Program Director from the CVCA.…

“I do not come to this decision lightly and I fully intend to find ways to serve the youth population of this area in a comparable way as soon as I am able,” he continued. “This will likely involve partnering with or creating a new organization. I hope that the CVCA is supportive of my future endeavors and hope to collaborate again someday with the CVCA from a place of mutual appreciation and respect.”

He wrote that the CVCA will “always be [his] home and the home of many children.

“However, I do not see how my current working situation can make me an effective provider to the youth that I have been committed to serving,” he concluded.

The resignation also announced an informational meeting for families and participants of the program on Wednesday, Aug. 22, assuring the board that the purpose of the meeting was not to take “parting shots,” make calls to action or anything else that would be counterproductive.

“I plan to answer questions about the future, and not the past,” he wrote. “The Center needs to heal, and I can be a better agent in that healing by withdrawing from the situation.”

An email sent to the families alluded to “troubling developments at the CVCA,” declaring his intention to “field questions in person to avoid confusion and minimize the potential for misrepresentation.”

About 75 concerned supporters of the CVCA gathered on the steps of the historic building, seeking information about the schism within the organization, concerned about the direction the youth program is headed.

Tunis addressed the crowd from the sidewalk in front of the Center, dodging occasional pedestrians as the presentation was recorded on video for posterity.

He began by speaking about philosophical difference within the CVCA about the direction programming should go and expressed his desire for it to be a place where everyone can come and feel welcome and inspired.

“Making [it] a place where people new [to the community] could come, and young people could engage with the community,” he said. “When we didn’t have room, we expanded the program and when kids couldn’t afford it, we made sure they weren’t left out.”

He went on to say the he felt threatened and bullied at times during his tenure as program director, and announced that he would take as many staff members as would follow him to the next phase of development of the program.

In a show of solidarity with the student participants, Tunis formed them into a large circle where they performed a pre-show tradition he calls “Inzee-mu.”

“Inzee-mu, canta, canta,” they chanted. “A show that is good is really good: a show that is bad? That’s so sad.”

The moment of solidarity was a brief pause before the social media sites descended into factional sniping, with the different sides of the issue staking out territory and lobbing criticism at each other.

In the tactile world though, there were real questions waiting to be answered about the direction and even the staffing of the Center as it continues to function on a daily basis.

To that end, the CVCA board called a special meeting on Thursday, Aug. 23, to discuss what happened over the course of the past several weeks and to appoint an interim executive board to carry on until the annual meeting next January, when official voting takes place to fill the four lead positions of the board.

At that meeting, local entrepreneur Tanner Hunsaker of Western Reprographics was appointed as acting president. Hunsaker, who is the nephew of the late local icon Kip Culver — the former director of the center — immediately called for weekly meetings of the board until everything gets ironed out.

“We were leaderless and a lot of people were out of town,” Hunsaker said in a subsequent interview. “I want to talk to people and help the Center be the best it can be.”

He added that he does not want to blame anyone or point fingers but wants to help the organization get beyond the crisis and get everyone moving together in a positive direction.

Part of that discussion will concern what to do about the issues surrounding the actions that led to the departure of Molly Cornwell’s White Porch Antiques from the building, the crux of all that has come in the past two months.

One of the problems the CVCA faces, though, is the perception and existence of murky relationships between some of the downtown organizations.

The CVCA is one of five “bed tax” organizations receiving yearly funds from the City of Globe collected from motels, hotels and B&Bs.

Its board oversees programming and the building, but there is a close relationship with the Copper Cities Community Players, of which the SYMTP is an offshoot. There are other tangential organizations, such as the Downtown Association and the Globe-Miami Chamber of Commerce that at times interlace with the organization. That dynamic is at the heart of the charges the former executive board, and Tunis, leveled at Cornwell.

Many of the general board members of the CVCA are involved with the CCCP, and it is sometimes not clear where the line of demarcation might be.

Remaining board members and the CCCP want to make it clear that they did not evict the SYMTP, and that it was by choice Tunis, former executive board President Leslie Kim, former executive board Vice President Abby Jennex and staff members loyal to the youth program left.

According to Diana Montgomery, speaking for the CCCP board of directors, “the Old Courthouse Theater and the third floor of the Cobre Valley Center for the Arts, the space traditionally used by the SYMTP for their productions, are the responsibility of the Copper Cities Community Players under an agreement with the Center.

“The Players have sponsored and worked with the SYMTP since it began in 1998 and have made sure that the theater was available for the children,” the statement continued. “The Players never asked Paul Tunis or the children to leave the Theater or the third floor. That was Paul’s decision.”

Former CVCA Program Director Paul Tunis explains the reasons for his departure to a large group of community members.

Tunis leads SYMTP participants in a solidarity building exercise he calls "Inzee-mu."

For more on this topic, go to the following links:

Arts Center board asks Molly Cornwell to step down

CVCA meeting heats up, but no resolution yet for Molly Cornwell

CVCA executive board members step down in weekend shakeup