 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Arts Management in Community Institutions
AMICI is designed to cover a broad range of topics that form the essential core of management issues you will face in your day-to-day operations. Each topic area presents a host of issues in and of itself, and could be the subject of its own in-depth seminar. Instructors will help you explore the basic elements of each topic area, alerting you to major issues and concerns.
1. Professional Development
Understanding the core values that drive each of us as arts administrators provides the key to developing our personal and professional capacity. This topic will address the philosophical, historical and theoretical foundations of community based arts and cultural organizations in this country. Recognizing the essential role that arts administrators play in their organizations, we will build specific practice-based communication and leadership competencies.
Students will:
A. Use the historical/philosophical foundations of the community arts development movement to identify the core values driving themselves and their organization, identifying who they are, what they do, and why they do it;
B. Better understand the scope and depth of the profession called arts administration; and
C. Develop a better understanding of their own interests, talents, skills and aspects needing further development as arts administrators.
Topic Assignment(s):
Development of a Personal Values, Vision and Mission Statement
Development of a Personal & Professional Leadership Inventory
2. Developing a Concept of Community
We are part of a network of educational organizations called the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. We are usually good at talking about the arts and about education, but when we start discussing the concept of community we frequently launch into a never-never-land of abstraction. We will explore the history of community arts development and examine various concepts of community in order better to understand, to be more fully committed to, and to be more firmly rooted in those places we serve.
Students will:
A. Develop a clearer understanding of the meaning and nature of community;
B. Identify the emergence of community arts development in the United States as a distinct historical and philosophical movement within the arts and understand the role of community schools of the arts within that movement, and
C. Explore the various ways in which arts have historically contributed to community making, economic development, community services and community cultural development.
Topic Assignment:
Development of a Description of Your Local Community
3. Developing Community Input for Organizational Development
Some of the greatest challenges facing any arts organization relate to planning, developing and sustaining community input and involvement in the organization’s activities. This topic will present arts based dialogue as a method to increase input and involvement from a diverse local population.
Students will:
A. Explore the theory supporting dialogue and group communications;
B. Better understand the value of developing dialogue within local groups; and
C. Explore several models of dialogue useful for community based arts organizations.
Topic Assignment:
Development of an Organizational Volunteer Involvement Outline
4. Community Cultural Planning
Community input is gathered and assembled as a cultural plan. A good plan is essential for evaluating results and this topic will provide students with an overview of the cultural planning process from surveying community resources and services, to identifying problems and developing solutions within a community context.
Students will:
A. Develop an awareness of common planning assessment tools: “Nominal Group Technique,” “Delphi Technique,” “Focus Groups,” etc.;
B. Learn how values, vision and mission drive an organization; and
C. Sort out planning terminology: mission, goals, objectives, activities, etc.
Topic Assignment(s):
Development of an Example of an Organizational Values, Vision & Mission Statement
5. Creating and Governing Your Arts Organization
This session will cover the reasons for incorporating your organization; fundamental characteristics and choices for nonprofit corporations under state law; articles of incorporation and bylaws and what they should include; governance structure and the roles and responsibilities of members, the board of directors, officers, staff and volunteers; legal liability issues, insurance and indemnification; and fiduciary duties of directors and officers toward the organization. We will provide a broad overview of these topics and references and resources for your use, and discuss issues that commonly arise or that you may have encountered in your organization or experience.
Students will develop a basic understanding of what it means to be a nonprofit organization and will cover issues surrounding nonprofit governance
6. An Overview of Tax Exemption and Tax Issues for Arts Organizations
This session will outline the requirements for tax exemption for arts organizations and their ongoing operating and reporting requirements, including qualifying for federal income tax exemption; public charity status and meeting the public support test; earned income and unrelated business income; unusual grants; state sales tax and real estate tax exemption; and the new excess benefit transaction rules. We will discuss the tax issues and pitfalls most frequently encountered by arts organizations.
Students will develop a basic understanding of what it means to be a tax exempt organization and will cover issues relating to tax exemption
7. Financial Management For Non-Profits
Sound financial planning and management, including reliable cash flow projections and understanding financial statements, help provide a solid foundation for running the business of your school. Topics will include bookkeeping basics, fund accounting, types of financial statements, reporting requirements, budgeting, cash management, internal controls, audits, and payroll systems. Special focus will be placed upon building financial support systems and along the way participants will get “phat” (Pam’s Hot Accounting Tips).
Students will:
A. Develop a working knowledge of finance and accounting supporting successful fiscal management of a nonprofit arts organization;
B. Learn how to develop an organizational budget and cash flow projections; and
C. Understand how to communicate an organization’s financial state to its Board of Directors
Topic Assignment:
Development of an Organizational Budget
8. Fund-Raising & Resource Development
In order to meet the mission of your organization, programs will need to be developed which will require funding and resources in order to be implemented. This panel of experts will cover national, regional and local public and private sources, and will include proposal development and grant writing, contributed and earned income, how to develop a case statement for funding, and how to ask for funds and cultivate individual donors.
Students will:
A. Learn how to write successful funding proposals;
B. Identify public and private funding source possibilities; and
C. Learn how grants and proposals really get funded
Topic Assignment(s):
Development of a Funding Proposal and Grant Application
Development of an Organizational Earned Income Outline
Development of a Funding Leads List
Development of an Organizational Case-Statement for Funding
9. Programming at Community Schools of the Arts
How does an organization develop its programming? What kinds of programs does a community school offer? Where does it start? How does it assess the need? What is a “comprehensive, sequential” curriculum? How does an organization partner with other organizations such as public schools and social service organizations? How does it find supporting resources? What about people who cannot afford to participate? How does it evaluate program effectiveness? This panel of experienced directors who are working in community schools will share their knowledge and experience.
Students will:
A. Have the opportunity to share the knowledge and experience of school directors who are working in the field;
B. Understand basic concepts relating to developing and evaluating programming in community schools of the arts; and
C. Develop a basic understanding of student scholarship programs: how they are supported and how they are administered
Topic Assignment:
Development of an Organizational Program Services Summary/Outline
Development of a Scholarship Support Concept
10. Facilities Management
Our panel of school directors will carry us through a discussion ranging from finding suitable space to scheduling faculty and students, to safety and liability concerns.
Students will:
A. Develop an understanding of the various kinds of facilities in which community schools of the arts operate;
B. Learn how faculty and students are scheduled; and
C. Learn how facilities are funded, including an introduction to capital campaigns
Topic Assignment:
Development of an Organizational Facility Needs Outline
11. Personnel & Human Resources Management
A journey through the intricacies of board and staff responsibilites and relationships, developing job descriptions, recruiting, interviewing and reference checking the right person for the job, wages and compensation, performance evaluation, and how all of this can be outlined in personnel policies and the faculty handbook.
Students will:
A. Discover how an organization’s values, vision and mission are implemented through job descriptions;
B. Learn the intricacies of personnel recruitment, supervision, and evaluation; and
C. Receive a basic outline of written personnel policies and a faculty handbook
Topic Assignment:
Development of Job Descriptions for the Executive Director and Teaching Faculty
12. Marketing, Public Relations & Student Recruitment
These sessions, led by a field expert, will explore “spreading the word” about our organizations and will include long-range and strategic planning for marketing and public relations, as well as key message development, setting marketing goals, student recruitment, and evaluating marketing effectiveness. Media relations will also be included in the discussions.
Students will:
A. Learn the primary skills and tools for developing a long-range (2- to 3- year) marketing and communications plan, and companion annual schedule of activity, and marketing messages. (In this approach, the long-range plan encompasses goals and strategies for both student recruitment and public relations, as subsets of marketing.);
B. Identify the basic elements of a public relations plan
C. Identify the basic elements of a student recruitment plan
Topic Assignment(s):
Development of an Organizational Marketing and Student Recruitment Plan
Outline
13. Arts Partnerships & Advocacy
It is incumbent upon all who are involved in leadership positions in the arts and education to exercise their responsibility to work within their organizations to raise the arts as a priority within their local communities and ultimately within all of our society. This session will provide participants with some thoughtful considerations in developing a personal arts advocacy perspective.
Students will:
A. Develop an understanding of what arts advocacy means;
B. Identify specific national, regional, statewide and local arts advocacy resources; and
C. Identify ways to become a stronger arts advocate
14. Arts & Technology
Over the past ten years there has literally been an explosion in the uses of electronic media and computer technology in the arts, in education, and in administration. This session will provide students with a theoretical basis as well as hands on experience in using technology in community schools of the arts.
Students will:
A. Develop an understanding of how technology can enhance the learning process; and
B. Develop an understanding of how technology can be used as a marketing tool (website development, etc.)
15. Committee Projects
The AMICI Institute will include opportunities for participants to put into practice the various kinds of activities school directors become involved in daily, including participation in group and committee activities which will further the mission of the organization. Participants will develop a special project for funding in committee which may be implemented in any local community.
Students will experience the joy of working together in a small group to develop several aspects of a community school of the arts, including a values, vision and mission statement and a practical fund-raising project to be shared with the rest of the Institute.
Topic Assignment:
Presentation of a Special Project for Funding Completed in Committee
16. Public Speaking
Another activity required of school directors daily involves speaking to local governmental and civic groups about our organizations. Each participant will deliver a five minute talk in support of his/her organization.
Students will experience the further delight of implementing the case statement for financial support by delivering it in a brief speech to the rest of the Institute participants
Topic Assignment:
Delivery of a brief Speech for Support
17. Site Visits
The AMICI Institute will include site visits to successfully operating community schools of the arts to see practical application of how communities, organizations and leadership come together in a school of the arts. These schools vary in so many ways, and yet all serve their local communities and provide a perspective of the wide range of community school possibilities.
Students will have the opportunity to see how four different kinds of schools operating in four different communities function as community schools of the arts
18. Evening Seminars
Each evening the AMICI Institute will offer an optional seminar or opportunity to continue discussion of the day's topic or of an issue of related concern. Topics will be identified and selected by AMICI participants on a daily basis.
19. Individual Mentoring
During the AMICI Institute each participant will have opportunities to meet individually and in small groups with the Institute Director and with presenters to ask questions applicable to the participant’s specific situation and to tailor the presenter’s information to each participant’s individual needs and concerns. This individual mentoring represents the first involvement with the network that is the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.
Students will meet individually and in small groups throughout the AMICI Institute to discuss the material presented and to apply it to his/her specific situation.
Topic Assignment:
Completion of an individual AMICI Institute implementation plan
