Being a founding director of a nonprofit arts organization is a bit like being a parent: if you do a really good job, your offspring should one day be able to thrive without you.

These days, many Metro Detroit-area founders are in the process of becoming “empty nesters” as they retire and hand the keys over to someone new.

Often (but not always), an organization’s board will recruit and find a new executive director, independent of the outgoing leader.

“I did not take part in the interviews because that relationship, we believe, is between (board members) and the new director,” said Peg Upmeyer, who co-founded Detroit’s Arts & Scraps in 1989 and stepped down as executive director late last fall. “The plan moving forward did not include me, because the plan moving forward doesn’t need me.” READ THE REST HERE