Departure of Exec Director Worries Indie Press CommunityAny fears about the rapidly depleting life-force of the New York Center for Independent Publishing nee Small Press Center, are, I think, entirely justified. The problem is, its parent, the General Society, has become so embedded in the literary life of NYC that it’s difficult for anybody in that world to avoid having anything to do with them. This became clear when a noted literary commentator was asked to blog a few words about Karin’s departure and was hesitant, as the GS had him down for some speaking engagement or other. The GS has always been regarded more as an institution than the SPC/NYCIP. It’s grown-up institutions rather than seeding-nurturing grounds which are always going to be more respected and, in many cases, ultimately feared.
Karin Taylor, executive director of the nonprofit New York Center for Independent Publishing, was laid off last week, a victim of the current economic crisis. Leah Schnelbach, assistant director of the NYCIP, has been asked to serve as interim NYCIP director. Taylor had been the executive director of NYCIP (formerly called the Small Press Center) for more than 20 years. Clive Beasly, executive director of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, the nonprofit educational and cultural organization that provides NYCIP’s funding, blamed Taylor’s departure on a “murderous economy that has taken a toll on positions.”
The departure of Taylor caught much of the indie press community by surprise and raised concerns about the future of the Center for Independent Publishing's future. In a letter sent to NYCIP supporters, GSMT president Daniel Walkowitz, called Taylor’s departure “a very painful decision,” but also pointed to the economic crisis. “Like many nonprofit organizations,” Walkowitz wrote, “the GSMT is in a very severe fiscal crunch due to the current economic crisis,” and “had no other choice but to layoff the position of the director of the NYCIP.” He emphasized, however, that despite budgetary problems the GSMT remains committed to the continuation of NYCIP and its programs. Among its most prominent programs, NYCIP sponsors the Small Press Book Fair in March, the New York Round Table Writers Conference in August and in the last year launched Splat! A Graphic Novel Symposium.
In a phone interview, Schnelbach said the NYCIP was on schedule to host all its 2009 programs. Schnelbach is currently the NYCIP’s only full staffer. She has help from an intern, but said she would selectively add freelance staff to help support programs and events as needed. She also said the GSMT will conduct a search for a new executive director.
The thing is, to a lot of people Karin Taylor WAS the Small Press Center, and so was the face of indie publishing. Her unflagging graciousness, the breadth of her knowledge of the scene and its players, not to mention her patience and humor dealing with all and sundry types, summed up for me the glamor of the New York literary world. It’s not the building (and it’s a great building) or the institutional element that make the General Society, it’s the people who keep it going—who uphold its honor, so to speak. I can’t understand why the upstairs crew don't see that.
Looking back, I realize now that when Cantarabooks (then CityFables) joined in 2004 we were joining a unique establishment at the end of its run. The Small Press Center was still the Small Press Center—the annual book fair hadn’t yet burst out of its seams—the annual writers conference was still only a gleam in some accountant’s eye. At the Small Press Center I was able to share, face to face with equals, a love of books, literature and vocation. It was the only time in my life I ever felt a sense of cosmopolitan community, and I don’t think it will ever happen again. At least not in New York, which is New York’s loss even more than any single rinky-dink little publisher’s.
This is because the chief concern of the small press movement has always had less to do with career-building or empire-building than in attempting to carve out a place where articulate, curious and inventive people can find each other. With Karin at the helm, the Center was allowed to be, truly, the center for small presses. It was a little bookish Camelot.
