In January, The San Francisco Foundation and Grants for the Arts, with support from The Wallace Foundation, hosted a daylong Dynamic Adaptability Conference. Over 700 community members attended, learning from creative thinkers from the arts, neuroscience, business, media, and philanthropy.
Neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer encouraged us to reclaim our value proposition and have faith in our stories. His research on meta-cognition drew upon many examples of artists. Lehrer also stressed the importance of building in periods of relaxation as part of the creative process, cautioning when people get too focused on solving a particular problem, this often results in being ‘locked in’.
James Rucker from Color of Change and Hugo Morales from Radio Bilingüe called for rethinking relationships to audiences and donors and forming deeper and more authentic connections to communities. Merely broadcasting invitations isn’t enough in the socially engaged, interactive, high-touch, and multi-platform online environment. Read the rest of this entry »
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Continuing from my first blog post…
Feeling like we’d leveled off in our effort to build broad support for the arts, we decided to get more information. We studied how people think about the arts — that is, we engaged in some real research over the past 18 months. With this information, we’re crafting a new communications strategy—one built on a deeper understanding of the best ways to communicate about the arts—that we believe will lead to increased shared responsibility and motivate action in support of the arts.
In order to create a more constructive dialog, we had to explore the dynamics of the current public conversation—in the media, for instance—as well as in the thinking of the majority of people who do not focus on the arts in their daily lives. Understanding attitudes and beliefs more deeply is a key to negotiating them more successfully in future efforts. A new argument, or lens, on the issue is useful to the extent that it can move people to a collective perspective and shared action in support of the arts.
When legislators, business leaders, community leaders, and others all take in the same core message seen through the same lens—and in turn repeat them to their own constituencies—the resulting echo chamber can begin to transform the accepted common sense on the issue. Read the rest of this entry »
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The first question (suggested topic) posed for this panel blogging on the Private Sector relationship was: How to define the relevance of the arts to business in the face of urgent and basic social needs. Once again we make the mistake of always approaching the business relationship from the perspective of our needs and not theirs. It is, think, an arrogant conceit and a strategic misstep to always approach this issue from what we want and need.
For three decades, the nonprofit arts sector has been seeking – with very limited success – to capitalize on intersections between it and the corporate / business community. The vast majority of efforts in this arena have been small and localized (i.e., individual arts organizations attempting to build bridges and form partnerships / alliances on individual, isolated projects, often limited to seeking corporate sponsorships; or Arts & Business Council/Business Committee for the Arts initiatives, for which arts organizations have shown far more enthusiasm than businesses). Larger forays into the promotion of sector wide collaborations have principally been limited to periodic dialogue characterized by the most general of precepts; lacking specificity, strategic / practical next steps, and any timeline for the accomplishment of specific agenda items. Read the rest of this entry »
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The increasing globalisation and interconnectedness of our societies and our economies means that the trends here in the UK and those in US are not wholly different from each other. Consumers on both sides of the Atlantic are becoming increasingly demanding, culturally literate and media savvy. To engage with such customers and to retain their loyalty, businesses must create meaningful consumer experiences which, in turn, require those businesses to be more authentic, trustworthy and transparent.
This, we believe, is changing the nature and scope of the relationship between the private sector and the arts. The appetite within businesses in the UK to engage with the arts is still strong, as they recognise both the direct and indirect benefits of doing so (cultural attendances increased by 12% in 08/09), although obviously the financial level at which they are able to commit is being challenged by the current economy climate (with a decrease of 6% in business investment to the arts in 08/09).
To maintain this, however, we need to continually explore new ways in which the business and arts sectors can work together.
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A story – sometime in the early 1970’s when I was the managing director of a non-profit theatre, a group of us were sitting around during a LORT or TCG meeting bemoaning the high cost of producing a Shakespeare – too many actor salaries, AEA restrictions on non-members, and so on. We even complained, probably following an adult beverage or two, that even the ghost of Hamlet’s father probably needed and equity contract.
One comment led to another and since science fiction and special effects were beginning to actually become real tools, the idea of the ghost as a hologram was put forth. Yes holograms were static, fuzzy, and still mostly unknown but we did not let that sidetrack us.
Then the brainstorm!! What if holographic technology were really practical. Let your imagine feast on this. 25 different theatres allover the country would collaborate on a major Shakespeare play. Each theatre would hire only one actor (cost saving there, eh!). The production would take place simultaneously in all cities and in each theatre every character save one would be a hologram!! And the audience would not be able to tell the real from the virtual. Now that’s disintermediation! Read the rest of this entry »
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When talking about private sector or corporate funding .… it occurred to me that we toss around the word corporation like there is one person on the other end of that word. And indeed, corporation is derived from the Latin word for body “corpus”, with one definition of corporation as ‘any group of persons united or regarded as united in one body’.
However, for the arts organizations that seek funding in today’s environment, this definition poses a conundrum. Who is the corpus in corporation? In the recent past, arts support might have come through a champion in the company’s executive offices, or through the corporate foundation. It was easier to navigate the decision maker (s) for philanthropic support when funding dollars were coming from one source.
But corporations are not made up of one individual. They are made of many individuals, just as the definition states. These individuals are in positions of authority. They have their own operating budgets, their own P&L statements, and decide, on a day to day basis, the budget dollars spent. Read the rest of this entry »
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Most of the marketing in the last half of the 20th century was focused on associative marketing. A friend of mine refers to this as “be there or be square” marketing. This was usually demonstrated by making something so compelling that we all wanted to have it, be a part of it, use it, or do it. Running alone in the cold rain at 5:30 AM seems like a crazy idea, but Nike made it sound so simple — just do it. And, smoking may not have been very attractive but the Marlboro Man sure as heck was.
The arts were marketed the same way. We told everyone who would listen that the arts were important and that they had a positive impact on our communities, businesses, and individuals. We promoted the arts in relationship to economics, education, cultural tourism, civic pride, regional visibility, etc. We presented the arts as compelling and we explained how bereft we would all be without the arts.
The 21st century question seems to be: Are the arts relevant? Are we relevant to businesses, cities and individuals?
Consumers have more power today than ever before. Their power is due in part to the speed with which we communicate and in the strength of sheer numbers. Thanks to the Internet, with its viral communication and social networking, consumers can now make or break products in the amount of time it used to take to write the first press release.
This situation requires we do much more listening than talking. We need to hear what our businesses, communities, neighborhoods, and individuals are saying about what is relevant to their lives and how they choose to live and do business. And, we need to be open to change.
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The Cultural Alliance of York’s campaign has been active since the beginning of January. Our increases are coming from our Marquis Society, a leadership giving initiative. The corporate contributions remain flat or decreased/declined. Since the alliance began as a corporate United Arts Fund, we are so glad we slowly moved to leadership giving.
We began the Marquis initiative after a few individuals wanted to donate early on when we were strictly a corporate ask and our partner agencies said “take the money.” Over the past few years, as our corporate CEO’s retired, the notion of a place for them to continue giving to our campaign turned into leadership giving.
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The benefits that the arts bring our communities are extensive, but often the value is difficult to appreciate or not readily measurable. It is for this reason, cultural community leaders need to communicate the economic value of the arts and speak in the language of the corporate community by offering research and quantitative facts to compete for funding dollars.
Americans for the Arts is a prolific source of this information which can be used to build a case for arts funding. But, in building that case, one needs a few research tools in their toolbox.
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Here in Portland, business giving to the arts has been in the news quite a bit lately. Our Business Journal reported that giving is down 33% since 2006, and isn’t likely to recover anytime soon. And a recent article in the Sunday Oregonian noted that large corporate gifts are becoming increasingly rare – not only due to the economy but also a lack of said corporations here; Portland has only two Fortune 500 companies, vs. oodles of small independent businesses.
These articles recommend that arts organizations scale their visions accordingly, recognizing that major visionary cultural projects may never be able to come to fruition. Some say that that’s not necessarily a bad idea, conforming toward our city’s strengths, anyway: progressive, smaller scale, more indie, and a bit quirky. When an arts reporter from New York comes to town, she’s not interested in our Sondheim or Tchaikovsky but rather the creative collaboration between cellos and local rock bands, or the way our ballet dancers are attracting hipsters to their performances at night clubs. These are the more unique aspects of Portland’s vibrant arts community, and programs like these are developing quite a grassroots following. Read the rest of this entry »
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This debate is very timely.
Here in the UK we are rapidly approaching a General Election in which the overarching theme is likely to be how and where the next government makes the cuts necessary in public expenditure to balance the budget. For the arts, the impending cuts have led to a growing debate about how the private sector can play an even more significant role and, in doing so, fill the resulting funding gap. Only a few days ago, the leading opposition party called for the arts in the UK to look across to the US and adopt their approach of endowment funding. But while we look to you, one imagines many US arts organisations are looking back to us in envy at the perceived level of public funding of the arts here.
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Recently I was interviewed for a piece on the Keep Arts in Schools website and thought it might be useful to adapt that conversation for this blog conversation. The focus was on the establishment (ore re-establishment) of my office and the specific case-making needed to support the value of arts education from a public policy perspective. I am going to focus here just on my comments about case-making, but encourage people to check out the full interview.
The cultural sector benefits from strong support among elected officials. Mayor Michael Nutter – my boss – was elected in 2007 on a campaign platform that included a strong commitment to arts and culture. This support is also shared by City Council, which ultimately must vote on the cultural budget as part of the overall City budget. The Philadelphia business community is strongly supportive of the arts, but like many other cities has lost most of our corporate headquarters as a result of mergers and consolidation. We have strong support from most of the companies that are headquartered here, as well as from regional headquarters of companies based elsewhere.
Business understands that a thriving cultural sector and creative economy helps them attract and retain workers. It makes this a city where their employees want to live and work, and also fosters the creativity that is increasingly important in business. This does not mean there isn’t always more work to be done educating political and business leaders – it is a continual task. Read the rest of this entry »
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I picked the topic title above from the list provided by Americans for the Arts because I don’t believe what it suggests is necessarily true.
We have seen some clear changes in program direction and focus from a handful of large and visible private foundations. The Ford Foundation is probably the poster-child for this topic. The bulk of these program changes have been the result of long-term planning efforts and/or changes in leadership, and not responses to the economy. The fact that some of these announcements coincided with the recession has muddied the waters a bit.
At the same time, we are also seeing both new foundations with a strong commitment to the arts come online, and program shifts in private foundations that strengthen the position of the arts and artists in their priorities.
It is also problematic to define “trends” from observations of activity among foundations. By and large, they communicate very little with each other (despite the efforts of GIA and others) and decisions are made independently and privately. While we look at the field of arts funders as a group, each is guided in their funding priorities by their individual missions, and those missions were often established a generation or more ago. In many important ways, foundations that fund the arts are more diverse and eclectic in their approaches than they are similar. Read the rest of this entry »
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We’ve noticed a lot of chatter about finding a new way to talk about what we’re passionate about. We all want a value proposition that works to create support for the arts.
We followed the long exchange on the artsjournal pages and noticed that Michael Kaiser put it on his wish list for the holidays. And of course, this conversation is designed to answer the question: how do we make the case for supporting the arts in 2010? What is the message that works with private sector supporters?
We understand this interest—and we share it. My blogs this week will offer a research-based answer.
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Everyone is feeling the pinch of the recession. In our small community in Northeastern North Carolina, as well as the rest of the nation, we are faced daily with headlines of higher unemployment and other general discouraging news. We’ve lost hundreds of jobs in the paper and automotive industries, banking and tourism industries have been severely impacted, and we hear of increasing numbers of our people needing assistance from food banks in our region. That said, in North Carolina, a gradual shift is taking place as we once again reinvent ourselves to face the new global economy–an economy where creativity and innovation will provide the competitive edge to our future global competitiveness. Read the rest of this entry »
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The pARTnership Movement
The pARTnership Movement is a new initiative from Americans for the Arts that provides businesses and arts organizations with the resources they need to make meaningful collaborations; partnerships that not only support a healthy, creative and artistic community, but that also give businesses a competitive advantage.
For more information please visit www.partnershipmovement.org.
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