Katie Kurcz

Tuning up (with) Chicago Arts Orchestra: Planning for a Music Rich Future

Posted by Katie Kurcz, Oct 23, 2014 0 comments


Katie Kurcz

Katie Kurcz Katie Kurcz

Three years ago, Chicago Arts Orchestra (CAO) came to the Arts & Business Council of Chicago (A&BC) for help in taking their organization to the next level–shifting from knowing the next move toward knowing the next ten moves. At the time, CAO had a board of five members, an annual budget of $50,000, and the Founder/Artistic Director as the sole staff member. Although a small organization, they had six years of impressive programming under their belts, a strong artistic vision, and a committed core of musicians and supporters.

What became immediately clear was the need for CAO to develop a strategic plan. Through our Business Volunteers for the Arts (BVA) program, we matched a team of three talented pro bono consultants to guide CAO in developing a roadmap for the next three years. Over the course of six months and with nearly 200 hours of consulting, the BVA and client team developed an ambitious set of measurable goals to achieve by 2015, including: doubling the budget to $100,000, increasing to six concerts per season, hiring the first ever full-time executive director, expanding the board and developing greater visibility.

“We changed from lurching from concert to concert to thinking about the horizon and running this organization more like a business,” said Ilan Geva, Board Vice President. The project helped CAO focus on principle issues, coalesce as a group and develop sound financial management practices. The project also identified and defined staff need, resulting in the hiring of an intern to manage more of the administrative responsibilities.

Since the completion of this first project, the Team Lead consultant was asked to join the board and accepted. “I knew they needed help to achieve the aggressive goals in the 2012 Strategic Plan. After all, I helped write the goals as Team Lead for the strategic plan project,” said Sharon Horos who is now serving as CAO’s Board President. Sharon’s move to CAO’s board is an example, and one A&BC has seen repeated with other BVAs joining client boards, that illustrates the tremendous commitment of our BVA consultants.

Sharon has initiated a second project through the BVA program based on the priorities identified in the strategic plan. However, this time she’s serving on the client side. We’ve recruited a new consultant team to assist with drafting revised job descriptions and designing a new organizational structure defined by CAO’s need for increased efficiencies in the wake of organizational growth.

With A&BC’s commitment to CAO’s long-term organizational needs, they were ushered into our On BOARD program and are currently courting a prospective board member, In addition to On BOARD development and growth opportunities with A&BC, the board and staff members of CAO are regular attendees at our educational and professional development workshops.

“Ultimately the participation in these workshops and seminars summarizes the great value that the Arts and Business Council has for us- it is a resource to small organizations like ours that helps us become world class organizations while making the best use of our limited resources. The Arts and Business Council has helped us become a premiere musical organization on a limited budget and also encouraged us to make better, and more efficient use of the human resources available to our organization within the Chicago community. Our experience is not unique, the Arts and Business Council does this with many organizations, in effect contributing to the overall artistic health and cultural vitality of Chicago and our region,” said Javier Mendoza, Artistic Executive Director, Chicago Arts Orchestra.

Since connecting with A&BC three years ago, CAO has experienced tremendous success with A&BC’s programs and services. CAO attributes much of their recent accomplishments - in increasing their budget, audience and board - to the continuum of care approach of A&BC. With their strategic plan in place, key funding highlights over the last few years include first-time awards from the Donnelley Foundation and Illinois Arts Council. And this year, we were thrilled to see CAO receive the Professional Orchestra of the Year Award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras! Arts organizations like CAO are why we exist–working behind the curtain to help our clients build a sustainable business that lets them focus on what they do best: creating art. Our work is not complete, and we’re excited to continue our partnership toward CAO’s ongoing triumphs.

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