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 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?

When is a shoestring budget really too short?

Small, tiny and in some cases non-existent budgets are all too common working in the arts. Over the years I have worked on lots of projects where there has been such a small budget that I have had to beg and borrow as much as I can to actually get things off the ground. And, as any artist knows, having constraints means you have to be creative, and that’s what makes great art!

Influences on Programming in a Performing Arts Centre

Performing arts programming is something I have a real fascination with. When I studied for my Masters degree at Northumbria University I wrote my dissertation on influences and issues in theatre programming in the UK. Since then I've spent five years working in the Programming unit of a large performing arts centre, and during that time I did a lot of work on programming strategy.

We were constantly juggling multiple and often conflicting priorities, and one of the constant challenges was balancing the financial and attendance targets with artistic aspirations. In fact it's a constant reality for most arts organisations!

In order to make well-informed programming decisions you need to have a good understanding of these kinds of issues (in no particular order):