April, 2006

News from the Field

A warm welcome to two new Executive Directors:

Deidre Healy, President, The Arts Center of the Capital Region
Ginny Lupi, The Arts of the Southern Finger Lakes

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NYS Budget Update
7.1 Million Added to NYSCA Budget
The Legislature added $4.5 million over the Governor's $2.6 increase.

Congratulations to all of us! The NYS Senate and Assembly approved an additional $4.5 million for NYSCA. To summarize:

The $44.5 million represents a 19% increase from the current budget. Quite an accomplishment! With your hard work on the local, virtual, and state-wide fronts, we helped achieve the first NYSCA increase in 6 years!

But it is not absolutely over until the Governor signs off on the budget. Although we do not expect him to veto the arts budget, we are waiting for the ink to dry. There may be some language changes in the "revolving loan for exhibitions" portion of the budget.

Please take a moment to thank your Senator and Assemblyperson. Remember to stay in touch year-round, and keep them aware of the impact of the arts in their district and across the state.

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2006 Alliance Regional Meetings

This year, the regional meetings will explore the issue of "Building New Audiences", a topic identified by the field in the 2005 online survey/regional forums/Think Tank, as a pressing issue facing community-based cultural organizations statewide. The regional meetings are open to all arts and cultural organizations and will be a workshop and group discussion of best practices. Content and handouts will be based on two resources that explore ways to build new audiences and relationships within the community: "The Values Study: Rediscovering the Meaning and Value of Arts Participation" published by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and "A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts", a report by RAND that presents the findings of a study on arts organizations across the country who are actively expanding their efforts to increase public participation in their programs.

The meetings will also include relevant and timely updates and public policy issues, and the building of public discourse on the arts with the potential to increase audiences, donations, programs and public participation. The meetings are always an opportunity to network with your peers and discuss issues of regional concern.

Our thanks to the Regional Meeting Hosts for providing this opportunity for the Alliance to interact with cultural organizations throughout the state and discuss timely issues with the field. Please plan to attend and pre-register for the Alliance regional meeting scheduled for your area by phone or email.

Hudson Valley/North Country meetings:

Tuesday, June 13, 3-5 pm: Westchester Arts Council, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY. This meeting will follow up on an evening session entitled "Gifts of the Muse", with a Wallace Foundation representative (funders of "The Values Study" done by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism) and will be a discussion on the intrinsic value of the arts on June 5, 6:30- 8:30 p.m. For more information, contact Joanne Mongelli at 914-428-4220 or jMongelli@westarts.com.

Wednesday, June 14, 2-4 pm: hosted by Greene County Council on the Arts, the meeting will take place at the historic Thomas Cole House in Catskill, followed by a tour of the building and grounds at Cedar Grove. Contact Kay Stamer at: 914-943-3400 or kay@greenearts.org.

Thursday, June 15, 11-2 pm: hosted by Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks and will be held at Blue Seed Studio in Saranac Lake. Caroline Rubino will also present information about the Creative Industries Report and North Country participation in an NEA Arts & Economic Impact Study. A light lunch will be provided. Contact Caroline or Karen at: 518-962-8778 or: artsco@westelcom.com.

Southern Tier/Western New York meetings:

Tuesday, July 18, 3-5 pm: hosted by ARTS of the Southern Finger Lakes, 32 West Market Street, Corning. Contact Ginny Lupi at 607-962-5871 or glupi@stny.rr.com.

Wednesday, July 19,, 10 am - 12 noon at Arts & Cultural Council of Greater Rochester, 277 North Goodman Street, Rochester. Contact Christina Laurel at 585-473-4000 EXT 222 or: claurel@artsrochester.org.

Thursday, July 20, 12 noon-2 pm: hosted by Arts Council in Buffalo and Erie County at location to be announced. Light lunch to be provided. Contact: Celeste Lawson at: 716-856-7520 or celeste.lawson@artscouncilbuffalo.org.

Long Island Meeting:

Tuesday, July 25, 10 am - 12 noon at Huntington Arts Council, 213 Main Street, Huntington. Contact Diana Cherryholmes at 631-271-8423, EXT 13 or huntarts@optonline.net

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Rural Workshops: FROM THE UPSTATE OFFICE

These workshops are designed with a host Rural Partner to address their needs and interests and those of the cultural nonprofits they serve in their regions. They often address issues facing volunteer boards, or explore issues of widespread regional concern. To date, the scheduled workshops are:

"Using Technology to Build Audiences"
Tuesday, June 27, 11 am - 2 pm at Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, 37 Main Street in Narrowsburg. Chris Andreola of ADC Studio will explore using internet and email tools, electronic tracking of data and using data collection to build audiences and
market services and programs.

"Building New Audiences"
Wednesday, June 21, 11 am - 2 pm at Saratoga County Arts Council: The Arts Center, 320 Broadway in Saratoga Springs.
Co-presenters Anne Ackerson and Martha Strodel will focus on examining tools used by local cultural organizations to survey and build audiences and provide examples of best practice techniques and how these can be incorporated by area cultural organizations.

"Board Roles, Recruitment and Training"
Wednesday, May 17th, 5 - 7 pm at Genesee Valley Arts Council, Building #4, Livingston County Campus in Mount Morris. Anne Ackerson is the presenter.

A rural workshop is also in planning with Broome County Arts Council. If you would like to also like to host a Rural Workshop for May, June or July, please contact Martha Strodel at 518-623-2508 or mstrodel@nycap.rr.com. And watch for an upcoming Alliance notice on the full 2006 Rural Workshop schedule with details.

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Succession Report: Daring to Lead 2006
A New Study Looks at Executive Succession and Transition Planning

The Alliance is aware through our own research that one of the major challenges to our field of community-based arts organizations in New York State is the loss of experienced executive leadership. Our Fast Forward Report from the Think Tank meeting convened in Glens Falls in September 2005, spotlighted a significant statewide and national concern with transition in the arts industry. A number of veteran directors are retiring, or planning retirement. We know we need to attract a new generation of leaders; we know we should be planning succession transitions with our boards, and we need to figure out ways to make all this happen.

A joint study of Compasspoint Nonprofit Services and The Meyers Foundation recently produced Daring to Lead 2006: A National Study of Nonprofit Executive Leadership. This study offers sobering news for anyone who believes that committed and talented executive directors are critical to the success of nonprofit organizations. It looks at these issues and presents its findings through the perspective of the executive director; it also makes recommendations to executives, boards, funders and capacity builders (like the Alliance) to help the field address these issues.

The study included city-based groups and their constituent organizations representative of key regions of the country. It included surveys of nearly 2,000 executive directors, plus six focus group meetings with executive directors and one with board members. It involved community-based organizations; human, health and mental service, education and environment among other areas of concentration, but did not involve hospitals, universities or large national organizations. 13% of participants were arts organizations. Many were large organizations, but 8% had annual budgets of 0 - $100,000 and 30% had budgets of $100,001 - 500,000. 26% had 0 - 4 paid staff with 22% at 5-10 paid staff. These figures reflect a majority of New York arts and cultural organizations.

"Daring to Lead" Findings:
1. Executives plan to leave their jobs - but not the nonprofit sector - within five years.
* 3 out of 4 executives expect to leave their current jobs within five years.
* 1 in 3 is eventually fired or forced out of the job - an unexpectedly high percentage.
* Just 29% of executives have discussed a succession plan with their boards.
* Even when executives do leave their jobs, most will stay in the nonprofit sector: 70% say that another nonprofit, a grantmaking organization, or consulting is their ideal next job. The competition for executive level talent between nonprofits and foundations - which often pay better than community based organizations - may be significant in the coming years.

2. Boards of directors and funders contribute to executive burnout. The levels of frustration many executives reported about their boards and their institutional funders were striking, especially since theoretically boards and funders are there in part to support and strengthen executives. Although a majority of executives feel personally supported by their boards, most don't appear to be experiencing a strong strategic partnership. 45% feel that their boards do not understand their jobs well and 27% think their boards do not value their contribution to the organization's success. There's a strong sense that staff and board members are struggling with fundamental questions about governance. What are board roles? How much ownership do they have, and who's really in charge? Focus group comments also suggest unmet expectations about the board's role in fundraising; an overwhelming number of executives directors (73%) identified fundraising as the most desired area of board improvement. Focus group participants who report an effective strategic partnership with their boards see board members less as fundraisers than as senior colleagues for them - skilled people with a deep investment in the organization who can help solve problems and generate new ideas.

Many expressed deep dissatisfaction with institutional funders and discussed ways in which grantmakers could make their jobs less stressful - increased general operating support and multi-year support were cited as the two funder actions that would help executive directors most. They also felt that few funders have a good understanding of executives' nonprofit jobs and should re-examine their funding guidelines and simplify processes.

3. Executives believe they make significant financial sacrifices to lead nonprofits. About a third of respondents were dissatisfied with their compensation. Despite this, only 26% have ever asked for a raise. Women, who are twice as likely as men to lead a nonprofit, lead less than half the nonprofits with budgets greater than $10 million and make less than their male counterparts in nonprofits of every size.

4. Concerned with organizational sustainablilty, executives seek new skills and strategies. Executives cited fundraising and finance as their least favorite aspects of their jobs and the areas in which they most needed to build their skills. Ninety percent are accessing professional development of some kind. Nearly one in five have enrolled in a nonprofit management degree or certificate program.

5. Bench strength, diversity, and competitive compensation are critical factors in finding future leaders. Nonprofits don't generally grow their own executives; they grow executives for other organizations in the sector. The vast majority of current nonprofit executives are either founders or external hires. Many small and mid-sized nonprofits lack the staffing depth (bench strength) to develop leaders inside the organizations; only half of executive directors say they're actively developing a future executive director. Racial and ethnic minorities represent a rapidly growing segment of the population, but executiives directors are overwhelmingly (82%) white. Younger executives were just as likely to be white as their older colleagues, and newly hired executives were only slightly more likely to be people of color than the overall sample. Finally, current executives believe that their successors will require significantly higher salaries, which may pose a challenge to small and mid-sized nonprofits.

"Daring to Lead" also makes recommendations to address these issues. For Executives and Boards, these include: engage in succession planning and insist on adequate salary and benefits for executives. Funders are encouraged to support executive transition planning and re-examine granting guidelines and processes. As a stakeholder in the field of nonprofit community arts organizations, the Alliance is particularly interested in the study's recommendations for Capacity Builders. Recommendations include: promote executive succession planning, create a pool of coaches and mentors, offer structured peer networking opportunities and provide training in fundraising and financial management. We are already implementing some of these suggestions and have others in review or in planning.

Download a copy of the "Daring to Lead" study as a pdf file at: www.compasspoint.org. You will discover that of the 2,000 arts leaders who completed a survey for this study, three quarters do not plan to be in their current job five years from now and 9% are already in the process of leaving. Frustration with boards, institutional funders, lack of management and administrative support and below market compensation all lead to circumstances that become so extreme as to force departures……either by choice or circumstance. As baby boomers retire and the labor market tightens, the next generation of arts leaders is not visible.

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NEA Offers Funding for Underserved Populations
www.arts.gov/grants/apply/GAP07/ChallengeAmerica.html

Deadline: June 1. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Challenge America: Reaching Every Community Fast-Track Review Grants category offers support primarily to small and midsized organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations-those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. Age alone (e.g., youth, seniors) does not qualify a group as underserved; at least one of the underserved characteristics noted here also must be present. This category, as an essential component of the NEA's goal of providing wide access to artistic excellence, supports local projects that can have significant effects within communities. Grants are available for professional arts programming and for projects that emphasize the potential of the arts in community development. Partnerships can be valuable to the success of these projects. While not required, applicants are encouraged to consider partnerships among organizations, both in and outside of the arts, as appropriate to their project.

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Internship Opportunities at NYSCA

The Individual Artist (IND) Program is looking for Film & Media interns to work closely with Program Director Don Palmer. This internship is available immediately. For more information about NYSCA you may visit our website at www.nysca.org . Send your resume and brief cover note via Email to Arian Blanco at ablanco@nysca.org or FAX your information at 212-620-5676.

The Music (MSC) Program is looking for interns to work closely with the two-person Program staff. This internship is available immediately. For more information about NYSCA you may visit our website at www.nysca.org. Please send your resume and brief cover note via Email to Rita Putnam, Music Program Associate at rputnam@nysca.org or FAX your information to 212-620-5676.

The Dance (DNC) Program is looking for interns to work closely with the two-person Program staff. This internship is available immediately. For more information about NYSCA you may visit our website at www.nysca.org. For further information, contact BEVERLY D'ANNE, Director Dance Program at New York State Council on the Arts, 175 Varick Street, 3rd Floor New York, NY 10014 (212) 741-3232

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The Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations has a 31-year history as New York’s service association for arts and cultural organizations. The Alliance provides leadership and vision, and delivers services, resources and tools that strengthen cultural organizations. The Alliance informs the field on statewide and national issues affecting the arts and assists local arts agencies in building community support.

P.O. Box 96
Mattituck, NY 11952-0096
Phone (631) 298-1234 / Fax (631) 298-1101