Valerie Beaman

Private Sector Survey Says... (from the pARTnership Movement)

Posted by Valerie Beaman, Aug 16, 2012


Valerie Beaman

Valerie Beaman Valerie Beaman

Are you interested in learning what our business-focused affiliates have been paying attention to this year?

Respondents of the annual Private Sector Survey were asked to answer questions regarding their programs and initiatives fostering collaboration between arts and business. The survey requested detailed information regarding specific programs that support arts and business relationships.

Programs like board training are often components of local arts agencies, but many programs designed to engage the business world may be new to the wider field. We invite you to explore the survey and learn more about how your organization can expand its partnerships with the business world.

The 2011 Report surveyed eight Arts & Business Council (ABC) affiliates, 11 Business Committees for the Arts (BCA), 13 Business Volunteers for the Arts (BVA) affiliates, and 56 United Arts Funds (UAF), making up a universe of 83 organizations that focus on collaboration between arts and business. Of these 83 organizations, 52 completed survey responses. (To learn more about all of our private sector affiliates, visit our Private Sector Network page.)

Here are some of the most relevant statistics collected in this year's survey:

  • Nearly three-quarters of the responding organizations (71 percent) served multiple county regions or combined city and county regions. The average population size of the geographic area served by all responding organizations was more than 7.1 million.
  • Responding organizations provided a total of $70.2 million in the form of grants or contracts to support arts organizations and/or individual artists during fiscal year 2011. A total of 3,028 arts organizations and individual artists were supported by this funding.
  • Responding United Arts Funds raised a total of $80.9 Million in 2011.
  • Total arts organizations served through responding UAF, ABC, BVA, and BCA arts and business partnership programs: 3,920.
  • Total businesses served through responding UAF, ABC, BVA, and BCA arts and business partnership programs: 3,791.
  • The most common programs that served arts organizations were seminar and/or workshops, advocacy resources, technical assistance, arts management training, and publicity & promotion services.
  • The most common programs that served businesses were networking opportunities, board training and/or placement, ticket discounts, and seminars, forums, and workshops.
  • 67 percent of the Private Sector Network affiliates hold recognition events that honor business support for the arts.
  • 35 percent of responding organizations operated some type of board development programs during their fiscal year 2011. These programs made a total of 216 board placements, served approximately 702 people, and were predominantly funded by a combination of grants, fees, and sponsorships.
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Ms. Laura Bruney

8 Tips for Courting Influencers the Art Basel Way (from the pARTnership Movement)

Posted by Ms. Laura Bruney, Dec 20, 2012


Ms. Laura Bruney

Laura Bruney

The 2012 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, which ended on December 9, featured the perfect marriage of arts and business. Hundreds of high-end companies hosted private parties; pop up exhibitions and roving ads on cars, carts, and even people. Millions of dollars in art sales, restaurant meals, hotel rooms, and luxury car rentals exchanged hands.

This year’s massive six-day extravaganza featured thousands of the world’s top galleries showcasing art work worth more than $2.5 billion. The growing economy and booming arts market translated into sales for the week that exceeded $500 million.

The Basel spinoffs included 22 satellite fairs that converted Miami into a rambling art lovers paradise. From South Beach to Wynwood, from North Miami to Coral Gables, from Pinecrest to South Dade—there were museums, galleries, and unique spaces featuring thousands of works of art, special events, and cultural happenings.

Corporate marketing executives took notice. The way brands connect with consumers takes many forms. Partnering with an event like Art Basel and the related activities provides the opportunity for direct contact with new customers.

Hundreds of companies were looking to capture the attention of the 500,000+ arts aficionados that descended on Miami and Miami Beach for the week. Brand managers rented museums, galleries, warehouses, gardens, and clubs to showcase their products in an artsy atmosphere.

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Ms. Susan Mendenhall

A Triple Win for Arts Orgs, College Students, & the Economy (from The pARTnership Movement)

Posted by Ms. Susan Mendenhall, Apr 11, 2013


Ms. Susan Mendenhall

Susan Mendenhall Susan Mendenhall

The terms “triple-win” and “triple bottom line” are tossed around in nonprofit publications fairly regularly, especially when it comes to espousing the benefits of corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility.

At times, it can seem like forging triple-win partnerships are like cranking the philanthropic slot machine hoping for a three liner of cherries. A win for the nonprofit? Ding! A win for the corporate donor? Ding! A win for the community? Ding!

But authentic corporate-nonprofit partnerships that have real community impact are no simple gamble. They’re built on a foundation of mutual trust and respect, and a shared commitment to serving real people.

A great example of a successful triple-win partnership is the Nonprofit Arts Internship Initiative. With support from the Lincoln Financial Foundation, Arts United has placed more than 70 paid interns at northeast Indiana’s largest nonprofit arts organizations since 2007. Arts organizations gain assistance and expertise from local college students while providing interns with beneficial career experience in arts administration and nonprofit management.

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Wayne Andrews

When Working Together is as Important as the Work (from The pARTnership Movement)

Posted by Wayne Andrews, Feb 16, 2012


Wayne Andrews

Wayne Andrews

Where we live is important to each of us. It is a key part of our identity. It's a source of pride, even if our hometown is the punch line to a joke.

Is it really the good schools, parks, and access to shopping centers that make us live where we live? Many people find a fulfilling sense of community in smaller towns and rural regions that do not have all the advantages of larger communities.

Maybe it is not the measurable elements that give a place a sense of community but rather those intangible qualities that create the feeling. Could it be that working with your neighbors to build a park is more important to the sense of community than the actual park? The arts have always been one of the focal points around that help to build a sense of community.

Town festivals, cultural events, and celebrations are often the most visible signs of a community working together. Each pumpkin festival, summer concert series on the town square, or art sale pulls together diverse elements of the community.

An example of this can be seen in Oxford, MS, which has worked to define itself as an arts community. Numerous programs have been launched in partnership between various segments of the community.

Last year working with local business owners, artists, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, a monthly art crawl was launched to highlight the visual artists in the region.

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Laura Adlers

Sparking Business Support of Arts & Culture One Community at a Time (from The pARTnership Movement)

Posted by Laura Adlers, May 24, 2012


Laura Adlers

Laura Adlers

It is no surprise to anyone working in the arts and culture sector that arts organizations all around the world are consistently challenged with the task of securing new and diverse sources of funding in order to keep their lights on while fulfilling their artistic mandates. Businesses receive hundreds of requests every week from the arts sector.

Although many decision-makers in the corporate world recognize the value of the arts in the community, they are inundated with cookie-cutter, standard template proposals which are primarily focused on the needs of the arts organization, and not on how they can partner in a creative way with the businesses they are approaching.

My own conversations with executives from the corporate sector across Canada reveal that businesses which are considering supporting the arts expect to receive innovative sponsorship proposals. They are looking for creative synergies which stand apart from the pile of requests they receive every day. They expect a well-researched, professional business approach demonstrating a solid return on investment for their company, whether this means engaging their clients and employees at an event, reaching new audiences, or raising the profile of their company by being aligned with an innovative arts organization or project.

Logo recognition and tickets to events are a given, but in terms of sponsorship benefits, they are standard practice and old news. Businesses are looking for the imaginative, clever new idea which will bring them recognition as a supporter of the arts.

In Canada, our answer to these challenges is artsVest™, a unique program of Business for the Arts which combines in-depth training in sponsorship development with a matching incentive grant and a toolkit for securing and sustaining successful new partnerships, and brings local arts and businesses together at special events.

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Marisa Muller

If Miles Davis Taught Your Office to Improvise (from The pARTnership Movement)

Posted by Marisa Muller, Aug 23, 2012


Marisa Muller

Marisa Muller

The old saying goes, “The only thing constant in life is change.” And with the current pace of change in the workplace, there is a demand for businesses to be ready for anything and everything. In order for business leaders to thrive in today’s market, they must be receptive, responsive, and adaptive. But how can business leaders prepare themselves for the unexpected?

Frank J. Barrett, professor of management and global public policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, suggests that business leaders take a cue from jazz musicians and practice improvisation.

In his article featured in Fast Company, Barrett explains how the skills jazz musicians develop while improvising can also be helpful working in the office. Through improvisation, one nurtures spontaneity, cultivates creativity, encourages experimentation, and facilitates dynamic synchronization—all traits that are becoming increasingly necessary to succeed in business. By harnessing these qualities, businesses will be better equipped to tackle challenges that come their way.

Barrett proposes the following practices to help business leaders replicate the environment of a jazz band jam session:

Treat each task as an experiment

Every time a jazz musician improvises with a band, he/she tries different combinations of notes and rhythms over the chord changes of a song. As the musician performs, he or she is aware of his or her actions, listens to what works musically, and is receptive to others’ responses. Each spontaneous composition, therefore, becomes a learning process.

By adopting this experimental approach for the office, Barrett believes you will obtain a mindset focused on discovery. Because you are constantly proposing new ideas and testing new hypotheses, you are more receptive to different ways of thinking and encourage breaking the routine. By consistently approaching projects through this process of trial and error, you become more aware of yourself and your own experiences, and you consequently learn more.

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