Arts leaders are genuinely concerned about changes taking place in Washington, DC that impact their institutions. Together with various executive orders canceling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at the national level, President Trump has installed himself as the chairman of the J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, one of the nation's most prominent cultural centers, firing all of its board members and president and replacing them with his friends and supporters.
In addition, the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest single source of Federal government support for arts organizations, has changed its guidelines to encourage "projects that celebrate the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity by honoring the semi quincentennial of the United States of America," and it has canceled its longstanding Challenge America program, which supported small arts organizations in underserved and low-income communities.
Faced with what they perceive as mounting challenges, leaders of arts institutions are turning to legal and strategic consultants to help chart a path forward. One of these experts is Alexa Magladry, director of MHM, an international strategy and insight consultancy. Magladry leads the firm's US strategy and client relations work, and she has a special expertise with cultural organizations.
In a recent interview with this writer, Magladry laid out a number of actions that arts leaders should be taking right now. Here are six of those recommendations:
Be as true to your cause as you can be.
Recognizing that arts organizations exist in their communities by virtue of the trust that audiences place in them and the integrity that they display daily, arts leaders need to thread the needle between sticking to their missions (which may result in them losing some funding and audiences) and making necessary changes to reflect changing times and altered environments (which may help secure funding and audiences from different sources).
Revisit your approach to audiences and your community.
Increasingly, arts organizations must adjust their priorities to be consistent with the needs and interests of their audiences and communities. No longer can arts leaders operate with an attitude of "if we build it, they will come." Instead, constant communication with community members and audiences will ensure that arts organizations are being true to their missions while also being true to their audiences. The use of audience data will play an increasingly important role here.
Identify the role that your organization has in society.
Magladry, who advises a number of museums, recounted how many museum directors are reviewing the various role that museums can play in communities (e.g., truthteller, protagonist, convener) and how their institutions can act in these roles. This strategizing might require more collaboration between managers and board members as well as artists and community members.
Break down siloed work environments.
Adapting to new challenges will require more internal collaboration between departments and more partnerships with other organizations in finding ways to serve audiences and communities. Reaching out and being open to new ideas and approaches may result in finding new funding sources and new audiences for your work.
Gather evidence of the economic impact of your work.
While the social and artistic impact of your institutions is necessarily paramount, local economic impact studies such as those conducted by Americans for the Arts, will help shore up local support and ensure that local businesses and community leaders are on your side as you undergo changes.
Speak with one voice.
There's nothing worse than an institution sending mixed messages in its communications. Ensure that your institution is speaking with one voice and that board and staff members are not making public statements that compromise the institution. Your credibility depends on your expertise and integrity so make sure that any internal and external communications are accurate, timely, and consistent.
Many of these recommendations are echoed in Alex Sarian's book, The Audacity of Relevance, which was reviewed by this writer in an earlier posting. In that book, Sarian argues that arts leaders must ask themselves: What are we good for? rather than What are we good at? In order to answer those questions, arts organizations should have a viable value proposition that tells people why they might engage with the organization and choose its goods and services over other institutions in a clear expression of its plans to address their wants and needs.
Karen Brooks Hopkins, formerly president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, suggests that arts organizations need to move away from thinking in terms of only philanthropy to thinking in terms of investment. "When communities that have a density of arts organizations are successful - economically, socially, and of course, artistically - then there is a reason for cities and municipalities of all kinds to make an ongoing financial commitment to them," said Hopkins in a recent interview published in the Brooklyn Rail. "The arts are in a very, very tenuous position right now. ... At the end of the day, Americans are interested in being creative. And we've seen that there are donors of many kinds, of many different political points of view, who have stepped up for the arts."
What arts leaders need to do right now is to embrace change while trying to stay as true to their missions as possible in the current environment. Break down silos, engage audiences and communities, and speak with one voice. If arts leaders build that kind of institution, audiences and patrons will come.