Orchestras Canada

We recently happened on a rather special reading list, specifically designed for arts and culture leaders by National Arts Strategies and the Getty Leadership Institute. It contains 21 articles pertinent to busy arts and cultural professionals, and (as the description says), “it includes a mix of provocative articles and leadership classics on mission, organizational strategy, leadership skills and organizational culture.”

You can experience this treasure trove (and directly link to some of its recommendations), here.

The Cultural Careers Council of Ontario and Canadian Women in Communications have launched the Digital Convergence Executive Series, with three action-packed days of presentation and discussion on the opportunities and challenges of pursuing (and monetizing) digital strategies. The events run September 29, October 12 and November 16, and take place at Blakes LLP in downtown Toronto. For more information, and to register, please click here: cwc-afc.com.

The US-based National Arts Strategies has just announced a new program, developed in partnership with Spain’s IESE Business School. Entitled “Arts and Cultural Management: From Service Design to Success”, the program focuses on how arts and culture organizations can better design of patron experiences, integrating customer service initiatives with the overall patron experience. Recruitment is international, and the program will be delivered in New York in April 2012. Program participants will be able to answer the following questions by the end of the seminar:
How does our approach to service and the complete experience we create for our audience fuel or foil our mission, our artistic objectives and our financial opportunities? How do we integrate experience design into the core strategic vision of a cultural organization? Visit artstrategies.org.

The HR Council for the Voluntary Sector, PwC, Blumberg Segal LLP and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants are hosting a free 1.5-hour webinar on October 26 on the role of the Not-For-Profit Board Treasurer. The discussion will feature the results from recent round table discussions with Board Treasurers from across the sector, a review of leading tools and resources available for your reference, interactive polls, subject matter expertise and leading practitioners who can answer your burning questions. For more information, and to register, please visit: connect.hrcouncil.ca.

Ketchum Canada has released the latest in its quarterly Philanthropic Trends e-newsletter, with the most recent issue dedicated to new technology use by
Canadian charities. You can find it here.

Charitable organizations in BC and Ontario wrestling with the implications of the new Harmonized Sales Tax now have access to new resources developed by the Canada Revenue Agency. They include:
A webinar on the application of the GST/HST to charities
A GST/HST checklist for charities

Finally, an absolutely vital (and provocative!) speech from the opening session of the League of American Orchestras‘ 2010 conference, by Russell Willis Taylor. Here’s how National Arts Strategies describes the speech: “There are no crises in the arts – there are crises in arts organizations as they are currently constructed. Audiences are not shrinking, they are growing, but they are not necessarily interested in consuming all the art our member organizations produce. Between 1970 and 2010, the number of arts organizations grew from 2,700 to 27,000 but the number of people funding them, and attending their events, did not grow at all. In this keynote address delivered at the joint annual conferences of  Chorus America and The League of American Orchestras, Russell Willis Taylor, President and CEO of National Arts Strategies, explores the extraordinary opportunities that arts organizations have today.” You can find it here.

In recent weeks, we’ve been increasingly intrigued by the work of National Arts Strategies, a US-based organization that works in partnership with American schools of business to develop executive education programs for arts leaders. In addition to its curatorial work, NAS also disseminates readings of interest to people involved with arts organizations – and this week’s recommendation is one of them.

The Performing Arts in Lean Times: Opportunities for Re-invention is a report from a Salzburg Global Seminar that took place in February 2010 – and it provides an overview of the discussions among fifty performing arts leaders from around the world as they considered robust responses to “economic shifts, global and individual reach in technologies, the pursuit of strong and delineated national identities and the appetite for a voice from younger people”.

You can learn more about National Arts Strategies here.

You can download a copy of the report here.