Conference Proceedings: Break-out Sessions

Mid-sized arts organizations play a pivotal role in the ecology of the cultural sector. They nurture the creation of new work, provide artistic research and development, serve as the training ground for young artistic and administrative talent, and often anchor arts organizations in smaller metropolitan and rural areas. Yet they have few foundation sources for sustained support. National research indicates that this sector has become particularly fragile. What is the rationale and payoff for a foundation's long-term investment in mid-sized organizations?

Audio and radio arts have seen tremendous energy and activity in recent years. For many young media artists, audio is accessible and has a power and intimacy that can be elusive in the film and video world. Although there are hundreds of film and video festivals throughout the world, audio festivals are rare and funding sources for this art form are just as rare. Join Chicago Public Radio's Third Coast International Audio Festival for a “listening room” session presenting some of the finest independent audio documentary work made today.

Artists embody the freedom, independence, and creativity of our nation. They are the lifeblood of our culture and of the artistic institutions we treasure. Although artists have always been an important cultural resource offering a lens through which we recall our past, perceive the present, and envision the future, field-wide support for individual artists has remained underdeveloped.This session presented a new philanthropic initiative, the Partnership for Artists in the 21st Century.

This panel shared the results of a RAND study commissioned by the Wallace Foundation to better understand the benefits of the arts. The study, Gifts of the Muse: Benefits of the Arts and How They Are Created, includes a review of the empirical literature on the subject, a broad range of theoretical literature on cognitive, behavioral, community development, and studies of aesthetics and the creative process.

More and more orchestras are experimenting with new concert formats and enhancements that make classical music relevant to a wider audience. This session focused on program innovations in the orchestra field and the critical role of funders in stimulating and reinforcing innovation. Alan Brown, who directed the Classical Music Consumer Segmentation Study for Knight Foundation, opened the session with a summary of consumer trends affecting demand for classical concerts.

The recent National Performing Arts Convention demonstrated there is a growing appetite for research that will help arts practitioners and policymakers clarify problems, understand issues, and implement solutions more effectively. This session was designed to help foundations become more agile in pursuing research to accomplish a variety of objectives. A panel of experienced funders and researchers discussed a range of research projects that were commissioned for a variety of purposes.

Artists and cultural organizations sometimes serve communities by providing forums to explore the community's concerns, often stimulating discussion about issues and action for change. The 2004 election served as a catalyst for organizing in many communities that are often disenfranchised and alienated from the voting process. These communities include youth, people of color, former prison inmates, immigrants, temporary workers, and individuals with low incomes.

The square dance is an apt metaphor to describe the many complex steps and actions leading to good arts public policy. Panelists discussed the strategies and tactics used to develop arts public policy from statewide (Ohio), municipal (New York City) and regional (Northeast Ohio) perspectives. Participants learned about the do-si-do and do-si-don'ts of public policy.

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   The Public Policy Square Dance (191Kb)

In pursuit of fostering participation in the arts, foundations often encourage and sometimes even require arts organizations to collaborate with other organizations in their communities. Yet, research shows that successful partnerships are a challenge to design and manage.

For years, funders have urged collaboration and mergers among nonprofit organizations. Motivations range from lack of resources, perceived duplication of services, and desire for greater impact, among others. What prevents strategic alliances in the nonprofit community that are so common in other sectors? What conditions indicate that a merger or alliance would work or is something to avoid? Experts in this field talked with community-focused funders about the barriers within the arts, explored ideal conditions, and sought to define best practices for the funders' role.

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