From the Director: Leadership Changes

 

Dearest Community,

Warm Summer greetings to everyone. I’ve been enjoying watching the ducklings and goslings along the Muddy River and how the busy streets come to a halt when they begin to saunter across to find fresh grass. It’s such an interplay of chaos and order!

I feel tender as I write this letter and also excited to share the changing landscape of our Center at this time. As many of you know I am now 4 months into my 4th year as Executive Director of the Boston Center. I’ve been a full-time Shambhala employee for 7+ years and have worked under 2 previous Directors. As I reflect on my time as Director, I feel blessed beyond belief to dedicate my life to the Dharma. After such a beautiful and full term of service in this role, come Shambhala Day of 2019, I will be retiring as the Boston Center Director.

There will be much more communication regarding the Director search process, which will likely begin in August. There will be a search committee chosen, which will be comprised of people outside of the Shambhala Boston Governing Council, who will work directly with the International Governance Pillar to oversee the search process. As part of this transition, I will be moving to part-time as Director starting in July.

Having been through two Director transitions myself, I know it will take a lot of support from the community to ensure a strong and healthy new chapter. Please know that every single time you step in and offer a tiny thing, the whole situation is nourished by that energy. We will communicate the needs at the Center soon, so you know the places to step in. Without your grit, care and energy, this experiment of training good citizen warriors would fade into the background of entertainment and materialism.

I want to express the strength and possibility that we have right now. We have an incredibly capable staff, who work with such lungta and thoughtfulness. Our staff have been working on an clarifying our plans and project for this year and will share with the community soon. The BSC Governing Council has been meeting monthly to address key financial needs and aspects of community care in a way that has been deeply inspiring. I will be writing a lengthier state-of-the-union address to highlight these efforts, but wanted to give a sense of how things are feeling at different levels of leadership.

We have much work to do in creating a community that cares about equity, accessibility, and meeting a variety of needs across difference. At the same time, we have made great strides in building a stable foundation and a culture of caring, from which tremendous change and work can be done over the coming years.

This next chapter will call upon our training of humor and love. Please contemplate the kind of Center you want to be a part of, and what you can offer to make that SO.

With love and the Great Eastern Sun in my heart,

Ashley Hodson