“Home and away,” the theme of the 16th annual Chicago Humanities Festival, will explore “our sense of rootedness and belonging,” writes Peter Kuntz in the program introduction.
Kuntz is the acting president of the festival, and his sense of rootedness and belonging could be surer. He would like the qualifier dropped from his title and his place fixed within the non-profit organization. But that would require the festival’s board, in its hunt for a permanent president, to opt for the one at home, not one away.
The presidency has been open since Feb. 23, when Eileen Mackevich resigned under pressure — a move offering a rare glimpse of infighting in this lofty-minded organization. She had guided the first 15 festivals and had a hand in planning the 16th, now under way with programs for children.
Mackevich, now a consultant to non-profits, said last week that she had “the pleasure of creating something that has become a tradition.” She said she would be traveling and probably miss the festival, “but I know it will be popular.”
The 48-year-old Kuntz acknowledged he is a candidate for the president’s job but offered few details about the board’s job search.
“It continues,” he said Wednesday. “They have not set a specific end date for when a decision is to be reached. That’s all that I know.”
Richard Franke, the retired investment banker who is the festival’s founder and chairman, said Thursday that 140 people had “shown some interest” in the position. He believed some prospects might attend festival programs to get a better sense of the operation.
“It’s still a courtship,” he said.
Marilynn Thoma, co-owner of Van Duzer Vineyards, is the board’s vice chairwoman and heads its six-member search committee, which is being assisted by DHR International Inc. She said the search began in earnest June 1 and has cast a net across this country and others.
“We feel like we may be getting close,” she said Thursday. But she noted that the search hasn’t entered the finalist stage and that “if an exciting candidate were to come to our attention now, we would take a look.”
Franke said, “We don’t think a deadline is a reasonable thing. We have a wonderful staff in place, and the pressure to have it done in a short period of time is not there.”
He spoke highly of Kuntz and dismissed the notion that this festival would be a trial run of his leadership skills.
“We would expect Peter to do an excellent job, and he will do an excellent job,” Franke said.
Kuntz maintained that the job uncertainty has not distracted him. Producing the festival, he said, “takes precedence. I’m already putting a lot of my energies into early planning for next year.”
The working title for the 2006 festival is “Peace and War: Facing Human Conflict,” which will examine amity and belligerence “from the societal to the personal, on battlegrounds both literal and metaphorical,” according to a planning paper.
But the focus now is the smooth running of an event that spans 16 days and 30 sites and features hundreds of noted authors, scholars and performers.
(Scheduling conflicts caused some performers to cancel appearances, notably Broadway composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz and actors Joan Allen and Mia Farrow.)
Kuntz said some presentations are sold out. But no-shows are not uncommon when most tickets cost but $5, and seats often are available the day of a program. Kuntz noted that the closing lecture, on Nov. 13, by author Salman Rushdie sold out early, but additional, balcony seating subsequently was arranged in the venue, DePaul University’s Merle Reskin Theater.
The festival has branched out to new sites this fall — including younger-set haunts Schubas Tavern and HotHouse — but will be absent for the first time in years from the Chicago Historical Society, because of remodeling there.
Other changes are not as obvious.
“We are working even harder than we have in the past and more closely with the panel-discussion moderators to make sure they are very conversant with their subject and the members of their panel,” Kuntz said. “We’ve had some situations where panelists and moderators were meeting each other the day of, and, in some cases, it would show.”
More author programs will have writers being interviewed onstage rather than just reading from their latest books.
“We found audiences and often the writers enjoy the conversation approach,” Kuntz said. “Some of our people are coming through on book tours, but we want them to realize this is not just a reading at the local Borders, this is a festival that has its own integrity and thematic thrust.”
The number of programs has been reduced somewhat, but the festival remains a challenge to navigate and absorb fully.
“It’s so unfortunate that no one person can see more than about 20 percent of the festival,” Kuntz said. “No two festivals are alike — the one you go to and the one I go to are, invariably, slightly different.”
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cstorch@tribune.com
