Retirement ended Bob Pinson’s time at the Arts Council, but not his commitment to serving Fayetteville through the arts.
For many within the Fayetteville community, the name Bob Pinson has long been connected to the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County. After a carefully planned retirement from the organization, the announcement of his new role as interim executive director of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra may have seemed unexpected, to say the least.
But for Pinson, retirement was never based on a number of years. It was about reaching a sense of completion while still carrying a desire to build community and connections through the arts.
Despite three years of planning intended to prepare the Arts Council for its future, Pinson had not anticipated how it would feel to step away from work that had kept him connected to Fayetteville and its cultural community for so many years.
“I really kind of realized that I really wasn’t ready to just step away,” he said. “I’m not ready for that yet.”
Pinson still had more he was willing to contribute. He simply did not know where that contribution would lead next. The answer came through the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra.
The organization was entering its own period of transition, creating an opportunity for Pinson to bring his leadership experience into a role that remained connected to the arts while allowing him to serve the community in a different way.
The symphony was not unfamiliar to him. His work through the Arts Council had already given him years of interaction with the organization and an understanding of both its accomplishments and the areas where additional support could help it move forward.
Accepting the interim executive director position was not simply a return to work after retirement. It was a continuation of the kind of work that has followed him throughout his life: building relationships, strengthening organizations and creating opportunities for people to connect
through the arts.
Pinson brings years of hands-on financial knowledge and experience to the role as he helps the symphony close out its fiscal year, prepare to select its next music director and consider how decisions made now will shape the organization’s future.
“This year is a foundation-building year,” he said.
For Pinson, that foundation begins with the people connected to the symphony and the relationships it has built within the community. It means reconnecting with supporters, strengthening community relationships and ensuring the organization has the structure and resources needed to continue growing. For Pinson, leadership has always come back to people.
A 21-year Army career taught him that lesson long before his work in Fayetteville’s arts community. The titles and responsibilities changed after his military career, but the value he placed on relationships did not.
“As an infantry guy, it’s about people,” he said. “It’s being able to work with the people that you’ve got and to take care of the people that you’ve got.”
That people-first approach now guides the way Pinson is helping the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra move through its 70th year and one of its most defining transitions. The organization is preparing to select its next music director through a process that brings the community directly into the decision.
Four finalists will each lead one of the organization’s major concerts during the upcoming season. Each candidate will rehearse with the musicians, meet with the search committee and spend time getting to know Fayetteville before taking the stage.
The process will show not only how each finalist conducts, but how each connects with the musicians, the organization and the community.
“We’re trying to make each one of those experiences identical, so it’s a true apples-to-apples comparison,” Pinson said.
The concerts, held at Huff Concert Hall at Methodist University, will allow residents to hear each finalist and take part in the symphony’s next chapter.
“Yes, we’re looking at them, but they’re looking at us, too,” he said.
For Fayetteville, that creates an opportunity to show each candidate more than an audience. It allows the community to demonstrate its support for the arts and the place the symphony holds within Fayetteville.
Pinson wants residents to recognize what already exists here and become more engaged with it.
“If you haven’t been to a symphony production, you’re really missing out,” he said.
He sees live music as an opportunity to step away from everyday pressures, share an experience and appreciate Fayetteville’s cultural community.
“We as a community ought to really be proud of what we have,” he said.
That belief is part of what made the symphony such a natural next step for Pinson. He changed organizations. He changed titles. Even the uniform had changed long ago. But the part of the work that matters most to him did not.
Moving from retirement into the interim role was not simply a return to work. It was the recognition that Pinson still had more to give to the community he calls home.

(Photo: Bob Pinson recently took over as interim executive director of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. He had retired from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County earlier this year. Photo by Linda McAlister)