October, 2005

NEWS FROM THE ALLIANCE

Pat Berman has retired. She has left a legacy of unmatched and enduring Alliance relationships. Her intellect, capacity for analysis of issues in the field, devotion to our members and friends, and her superb ability to connect with people, will be sorely missed. We miss our Pat. If anyone would like to be in touch, Pat can be reached at pkbarts@aol.com.

In response, the Alliance has re-structured the way we're working, delivering services, and providing technical assistance statewide. We welcome our newest and very able staff member, my assistant Leigh Duffin. We are delighted to announce that we working with two venerable veterans in the field on special projects: Anne Ackerson (Executive of Museum Association of New York) and our own Dr. Sherre Wesley. Of course Martha Strodel remains in her upstate office leading the Rurals charge and Beth Kanter continues as our long term Technology Manager. Our bookkeeper is Ann Love and our database coordinator is Kim Fuentes.

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ALLIANCE 2005 GALA at the COPACABANA

Celebrate the Arts in New York State. Join the Alliance and honorary gala chairman Richard J. Schwartz on November 7, 2005 as we acknowledge and honor the doers and dreamers who will receive awards this year:

HON. LOUISE SLAUGHTER
arts advocate award
THEODORE BERGER
lifetime achievement award
POETS & WRITERS
downstate organization award
ARTS CENTER OF SCHENECTADY-PROCTOR'S THEATRE
upstate organization award
QUANG BAO
M. Jacquie Lodico distinguished service award
MARVIN LEFFLER
Board Leadership Award

Invitations to the Gala were mailed in the third week in September. You may also reserve your place at the Gala by clicking on this link. Save the date on your calendar now to join us November 7, 2005 at the legendary Copacabana 34th Street and 11th Avenue, NYC for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and the awards ceremony, 6-8pm. Please read about the honorees at the Alliance Web site.

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ADAPTING TO CHANGE

The recent events in the Gulf Coast remind us that our world can change in a flash. How many of us are prepared for the paradigm shifts in the environment in which we operate? There is an imperative to consider new opportunities, to think out of the box, to move out of our comfort zone, as we consider what our organizations will look like in the very near future.

This was the impetus for the convening of "Fast Forward", the think tank gathering of arts leaders in Glens Falls on Sept 12 and 13. A brief update on that meeting follows. A full report of the proceedings of the gathering, and the building blocks created by our Online Needs Assessment Survey, and the seven Regional Forums, will be available shortly.

FAST FORWARD: THINK TANK UPDATE

"FAST FORWARD: Framing the Future" took place on September 12th and 13th in Glens Falls, New York. 68 people registered for this think tank gathering of arts leaders from throughout New York State, to review the needs of the field as surveyed and documented by the Alliance through a year-long assessment process, and to examine new and successful models for doing arts business in the 21st century. Fast Forward was hosted by Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC) and was held in the historic Queensbury hotel.

"Fast Forward" began on a high note Monday with a luncheon and keynote speaker Ben Cameron, Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for not-for-profit theatres. His presentation shared his passion for the value of the arts, yet at times was brutally frank as he spoke of the grim picture of arts funding in America today; how tightening funds can affect the creative process and products, and the need for arts organizations to look inward and reinvent ourselves when facing funding and audience losses. "We in the arts community need to see the drops in funding not as causative, but as feedback. The audience is telling us, when things get tough, you don't matter." He advised that we each need to ask: "What value does my organization offer the community? What does my organization do better than anyone else? And how would my community be damaged if I closed my doors and went away tomorrow?" His presentation inspired and resonated with the audience, resulting in a standing ovation and points of discussion throughout the remaining "Fast Forward" sessions.

The afternoon sessions reviewed what we've learned from the needs assessment survey and regional focus groups and looked at present and new models that impact and help our field stay ahead of the curve. Speakers included Philip Morris of Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, who spoke of the need to develop a full and encompassing vision when working in community redevelopment, and Randy Cohen of Americans for the Arts, who demonstrated the model AFTA has developed for tracking the economic impact of the creative industries on a city, town or county basis. In the "Alternative Models in Funding" session, panelists suggested new funding paths and partnerships to explore in support the arts : Roy Akins challenged the audience to align with regional Tourism Promotion Agencies as natural partners in cultural tourism; Paul McPhillips spoke of the development of the Charles R. Wood Theater as a partnership between public and private fundraising, and Glenn Pearsall spoke of how he and his family developed their Pearsall Adirondack Foundation in support of arts and community organizations within the Adirondack Park - an intriguing look and inspiration into why and how family foundations are started. This panel session was followed by "Trends and Opportunities in Fundraising", featuring Richard J. Schwartz, Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts, Paula Joy Reinhold of the Joy Family Foundation and Paul T. Hogan of the John R. Oishei Foundation. In this session, the panelists addressed submitted questions that touched on how established foundation and government resources are responding to the changing needs of the field.

Monday's sessions were followed by a reception at LARAC and site visits to the Charles R. Wood Theater, the Hyde Collection, Chapman Historical Museum and the Empire Shirt Factory, a complex of artists studios and businesses. LARAC arranged trolley transportation to each of the sites, and "Fast Forward" participants thoroughly enjoyed visiting and learning about these Glens Falls cultural gems and experiencing the "hometown" atmosphere of this small upstate city where the arts are playing a major role in downtown redevelopment.

Monday's sessions encouraged listening and review; on Tuesday, "Fast Forward" participants got down to the heavy work of exploring new ways to address the changing trends in our field. Breakout sessions explored 5 issues with a facilitator. The topics were: "The Road to Solvency"; "Advocacy/Marketing"; "Change"'; "Motivations" and "Organizational Health". Facilitators for these sessions were Sarah Lentini, Elaine Giguere, Kay Stamer, Martha Strodel and Diana Cherryholmes. Each of the 5 sessions worked from a set of prepared questions to address the topic, and each session was held twice, involving different groupings of participants randomly assigned. The format worked to tap our wide group knowledge and skills. After these sessions, we met for a working lunch and report outs from each of the facilitators; then began planning for a 2006 conference and our futures in a session led by Milton Bloch, President of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute.

The findings from the Alliance field assessment and our hard work at "Fast Forward" is being documented by Anne Ackerson. Her work will be posted to the Alliance website when completed.

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FROM THE UPSTATE OFFICE: Martha Strodel, Director Rural Arts Program

It was good seeing so many of the Rural Partners at our recent "Fast Forward" think tank in Glens Falls. The event included some excellent presentations, including keynote speaker Ben Cameron's introductory speech. I'm pretty amazed at the confluence of his presentation and his personality; he is so committed to the arts and the creative process in our society, yet his news to us about the health of the field was pretty grim. He did suggest some hard solutions and encouraged us to work through our problems. I found myself reflecting about what he said throughout the two days; finding inspiration and new ways of thinking in the following sessions.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the reception at LARAC and the trolley tours of the wonderful cultural facilities in Glens Falls. Pat Joyce and her staff did a terrific job on this, and made our statewide field feel welcome. And the Queensbury Hotel provided another inspired moment with the "make your own sundae" break on Monday.

"Fast Forward" was a windup to a year long assessment of the needs of the statewide field by the Alliance, which began last fall with the establishment of the Rurals Task Force and included an online survey and regional focus group meetings. Not only have we identified the priority needs of our field; we've begun to work together on solutions toward addressing these needs. The Alliance has the data and input to be your voice as we moved forward, and to realign its services to best assist you. Anne Ackerson has the mighty job of reporting out on all of this, and I'm sure you are looking forward to her documentation of the process; it will be posted to the Alliance website when ready.

From my perspective, "Fast Forward" was a wonderful success! And although we all worked very hard during our time together, I left with the visual memory of a lot of smiles. People were happy to see and re-acquaint with their peers; to spend time together in working to find new directions and tools to help in our work. Like Ben Cameron, our field has passion, plus the interest and ability to work hard toward making our organizations of key relevance and service to our communities.

On a personal note: the success of the gathering was largely due to Pat Berman, who made things run smoothly and productively. She didn't want to announce her retirement until after "Fast Forward", because she wanted all of us to concentrate on our issues at hand. Pat has been a wonderful partner on the Alliance team, and I'm going to miss her competence and commitment to our work and the field.

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THE ARTS COMMUNITY AND HURRICANE KATRINA

If you would like to help the arts organizations or artists in the Gulf states, here is an option: www.AmericansForTheArts.org/EmergencyRelief

Americans for the Arts has established the Americans for the Arts Emergency Relief Fund, a permanent fund developed to provide timely financial assistance to areas impacted by a major disaster for the purpose of helping them rebuild the arts in their communities. Created with an initial contribution of $100,000 from Americans for the Arts' own reserves, the relief fund will distribute support directly to local arts agencies to assist with their own recovery or to provide needed services and funding to local nonprofit arts groups and individual artists in affected areas and to other relief efforts dedicated to helping the arts. One-hundred percent of the contributions to the Emergency Relief Fund will go directly to these efforts. For information on how to make a tax-deductible contribution or to apply for funds, visit the Americans for the Arts website or contact Americans for the Arts toll-free at 866.471.2787 and ask for the Americans for the Arts Emergency Relief Fund.

Americans for the Arts has an online bulletin board on their website to share stories and resources. They also have a listing of local, state, regional, and national relief efforts.

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BEST PRACTICE FOR BOARDS

Many of you are aware of The Board Cafe, a free online monthly newsletter - "The Newsletter Exclusively for Members of Nonprofit Boards of Director." It's produced by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. To get your board regularly considering and using the excellent information in The Board Cafe, assign one board member to subscribe and put 3 minutes of your regular board meeting agenda to reporting to the full board on information gleaned from the publication. Or, if there is an issue your board is working on, that assigned person can also track down past articles by topic at their webisite: boardcafe@compasspoint.org. To subscribe to the Board Cafe, send a blank e-mail message to boardcafe-subscribe@lists.compasspoint.org.

Resource: The Community Arts Network at www.communityarts.net is a national resource of reporting, dialogue, new ideas and resources on urban, surburban and rural community arts centers and community cultural projects. Presently on this site is an article by Tom Borrup titled "What's Revolutionary About Valuing Assets as a Strategy in Cultural Work?" It describes an intriguing approach to community development.

SCALIA: GOVERNMENT CAN CHOOSE THE ARTWORK WHEN GOVERNMENT'S FUNDING IT

If this headline grabs your attention, here is the link to the article that appeared Sept 22 in Newsday:

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: The African American Cultural Arts Collective Strategic Planning Project

The African American Cultural Arts Collective ("The Collective") (including the African-American Cultural Center, Buffalo Inner City Ballet, Langston Hughes Institute, and Ujima Company, Inc.), is seeking a qualified consultant in strategic planning / organizational development to work with them to develop a shared vision and work plan for stability and growth for the organizations over the long term.

As a result of the general long-term decline of the region coupled with the short-term crises in the city and county, the four organizations have elected to explore the benefits and costs involved in becoming strategically aligned. For the purpose of this RFP, "alignment" is broadly defined and may take any of several forms, from simple joint purchasing to potential merger. The process to be undertaken will clarify for the organizations which approach will be of greatest benefit.

For more information on the scope of work, budget and submission requirements, contact Ms. Agnes Bain via email: aacc@wzrd.com RFP RESPONSES MUST BE RECEIVED BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2005.

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The Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations has a 30-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