Archive for Strategic Plan
Finding Inspiration at Childsplay’s Campus for Imagination and Wonder
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday, your Alliance for Audience/ShowUp.com staff team held a day-long retreat to coordinate plans for the coming year.
We spent the day at Childsplay’s Campus for Imagination and Wonder – in one of their classroom spaces where we could SPREAD OUT, TAKE TIME & THINK DEEPLY about how we do everything we do. (By the way, their spaces are available for rental!)
2 quick observations:
1) Childsplay’s offices & classrooms are housed in a former elementary school in Tempe. They call it a “Campus for Imagination and Wonder.” How wonderful to have a place whose very name speaks to the highest aspiration of the organization – as well as of the people who work and visit there. (Just curious: does any other Arizona organization have such an inspiring subtitle for their space?)
2) Something that has always impressed me about Childsplay is the sense of deeply shared commitment among its staff. The word “teamwork” just doesn’t do justice to the feeling. I’ve always thought of them as being more like ”invested.” Looking at Childsplay’s website this week, I happened upon the secret of that success:
“One of the underlying core values of Childsplay is the notion of ensemble. There is a resident group of theatre artists (our Associate Artists) who, in collaboration with the Artistic Director, are responsible for planning and creating the artistic products that illustrate Childsplay’s mission. But these artists do not create in isolation. Everyone who works at Childsplay — other artists, technicians, educators, administrators and trustees — is a part of this resident ensemble. This mindset guides the way our work is created, the way it is marketed and the way it is delivered.” - 2012 Strategic Plan
If you’ve interacted with anybody from Childsplay, you may have sensed this all along. I just never before realized it was so, well, purposeful. That’s truly inspiring! You’ll find it here: http://www.childsplayaz.org/company-staff.php
“Good Art; Marketed Well”
Posted by: | CommentsSome quick notes paraphrased from Michael Kaiser’s informative ”Arts in Crisis” talk today at Phoenix Theatre:
1. It’s a better marketing strategy to continually make new people feel welcome than it is to try to hold on tight to those you have.
2. The best marketing starts with an artistic program that is vital, important, exciting and surprising.
3. Marketing needs to work at two levels (and we all too often neglect the latter):
- “programmatic” – which is about selling tickets; and
- “institutional” – which is about creating a significant presence for your organization.
4. More resources from Michael Kaiser (including his FREE downloadable book about strategic planning) are available here: http://artsmanagerfba.artsmanager.org/common/Pages/Welcome.aspx
Your Input Invited (and Needed) for Strategic Planning
Posted by: | CommentsLater this month, the Board of Directors of Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com will engage in a facilitated “strategic planning” discussion which will address a variety of topics including the organization’s mission, its core business activities, and the needs/expectations of our member organizations.
This is an opportunity for BIG thinking – for the Board to consider and offer policy-level guidance about how best to advance the cause of audience development in Arizona – focusing on mission and vision and overall strategy.
And this discussion couldn’t come at a better time! So many things are in flux… technology, the economy, management practices, consumer attitudes, competition for leisure time, philanthropy, business models, demographic shifts and more.
As a service organization to Arizona’s arts and cultural community, it’s especially important to know that our thinking is firmly grounded in YOUR insights, expectations and priorities.
So, please, may I invite you to either write to me directly at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org or post a reply to this message at http://notes.allianceforaudience.org/ and share your thoughts on any (or all) of these questions:
· What is it about the work of Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com that is MOST IMPORTANT to you and your organization?
· What are we doing now that we should be doing MORE (or LESS) of going forward? (Or STOP completely?)
· If we could START doing something new that would be really valuable – what would it be?
· What are we doing now that you would consider SACRED – that is, it’s working really well for you and your organization so that we’d better be extremely careful before making any changes to it.
Please share your comments by Tuesday, April 20. I promise to use this space in coming weeks to keep you apprised of what new visions and strategies arise, to discuss them, and to continually welcome and invite your comments and guidance.