Releasing the real potential of arts organisations

"Most people want to work with people they like and respect, in organisations with a purpose they care about, and within a culture that enables and acknowledges their personal contribution." – The Congruence Framework.

Tony Chamberlain, Principal Consultant at PQ Associates and experienced arts industry executive, recently published a book on the concept of congruence, which outlines a new framework to help organisations develop their own capacity and also enrich the society they work in.

Is Your Arts Organisation Healthy?

Recently I was engaged by a local government authority to undertake a review of the business model for one of their arts venues. It was a great opportunity to do a bit of a health check and see how things were tracking.

All too often, we don’t have time to stop and critically assess how things are going, even when we feel that things might be drifting off course a little. There’s often barely enough time to keep on top of day to day operations, so it can be hard to schedule in that time for longer term planning and evaluation.

Is Social Media Publicity?

I attended an arts industry event late last year and was amazed to meet a publicist who didn't see social media as part of their job. So, I wondered, should it be?

Disengagement on the Front Line

I spend a lot of time thinking about how arts organisations can improve big picture planning and processes. But what if the front line visitor experience still isn't up to scratch?

I recently took my children to a school holiday show at a well-respected and professional Melbourne arts venue. Yet, from the moment we got to the front door my experience as a visitor was lukewarm at best. 

Giving Audiences What They Need

There has been resurgence over the last couple of months in discussions online around the Need vs Want issue in programming for the arts. Should we give audiences what they want, or what they need, and how do we know which is which?

Collaboration in the Arts - The Top Five Reasons

This weeks guest blog post comes courtesy of Paul Kooperman, accomplished writer and CEO of Tasmania's Festival of Voices. 

Arts activity is on the rise: more artists, more practitioners, more festivals, more organisations, venues and infrastructures and, as a result, more funding and resources are required to sustain the enormous amount of activity around the country. Everything from music festivals to multicultural festivals to ARI’s (Artist Run Initiatives) or CRI’s (Community Regional Initiatives) to Pop Up shops, performances and spaces in places where you least expect it (and may not want it).

Tips on Theatre Touring

Today I spent the day in a room with 130 other people interested in theatre touring, at the 2013 Victorian Theatre Touring Workshop. Present were venue managers, artists, producers, writers, theatre companies, support agencies and managers. What a fascinating conversation!

Got something to say about Arts Management?

The Managing Arts Blog is now seeking submissions from guest bloggers interested in writing about issues of interest to arts managers.

A chance to talk about touring

I was very pleased a couple of weeks ago to receive notification of the 2013 Victorian Touring Workshop, being organised by Regional Arts Victoria, Theatre Network Victoria and the Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres. As the topics of programming, marketing and touring are three of my key interests, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk about all these things with other people in the industry.

Should audience data inform programming decisions?

A couple of weeks ago the UK's Stage Newspaper asked a question - Should theatres make more use of audience ticketing data when deciding what shows to stage? Here’s my take on it.

Is the Programming Strategy to blame?

There was a lot of media coverage last week following the announcement of mass redundancies at Arts Centre Melbourne, caused by a rumoured $8m operating loss for the last financial year. So what went wrong?

What is the future for the Presenter Driven model of Programming?

When I first started working in Arts Administration in Australia I was intrigued by the complex theatre touring landscape and the reliance on what is referred to as the Presenter driven model of programming. I was amazed to discover that large numbers of venue managers got together two or three times a year to collectively choose work to put on their stages.

An exercise in Arts Programming for the small screen

For those who may have missed all the blatant promotion, I’ve recently been working with Renegade Films on their new television show Studio at the Memo with Tim Rogers. They engaged me to work with them on developing a program of appropriate artists to appear on the show, which I describe as a sophisticated (but a little bit edgy) variety show, sitting somewhere between Later with Jools Holland and a night at the Famous Spiegeltent.

Is Arts Centre Programming Really Failing?

For a couple of months I've been thinking about how I might put down on paper my own thoughts on the role of arts programming in audience development. It's taken some time as I've been sidetracked with programming of a different kind for the past couple of months. But this blog post by Ricky Bryan has got me back on track.

A little bit more on selling tickets

It's been a busy couple of weeks at Managing Arts. Last week ArtsHub published my article on Predicting your Ticket Sales, which is an expansion on my blog post a little while back called Can I really sell that many tickets? The ArtsHub article provides tools and techniques for forecasting sales which will be useful for anyone looking for some tips on ticket sales.

I've also just started working on a new TV project with the great bunch at Renegade Films who make the fantastic music TV show RocKwiz. I had the pleasure of working with them on RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl in 2009, so very excited to be working with them again on this new venture.

In the meantime, I am still in the midst of thinking about what Audience Development means in terms of programming, and hoping to get something written in the next couple of weeks!