In this podcast, we explore the unique challenges facing arts service organizations, those important institutions working behind the scenes to help artists and arts organizations thrive. For arts services organizations, changes in the funding landscape in the last 15 years have made sustainability an ongoing challenge, not to mention the Catch-22 these organizations face in communicating their value without taking credit for the successes of those they serve. Despite these barriers, our two guests believe that there are ample opportunities for service organizations to reinvent themselves as hubs within their communities and beyond. Host Karina Mangu-Ward talks with Jeffrey Lependorf of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and Monica Valenzuela of Staten Island Arts about how these challenges and opportunities play out in their organizations, and gets an inside look at their ah-ha moments and struggles during recent retreat they participated in as a part of EmcArts’ New Pathways for Arts Development, New York City.  Monica and Jeffrey reflect on why getting out of the daily grind and question old assumptions is so important (and not always easy!). The full transcript of this podcast is below. This podcast profiles the work of participants in EmcArts‘ program New Pathways for Arts Development, New York City. Learn more. Featuring: Jeffrey Lependorf, CLMP’s Executive Director, has over 20 years of experience in development, fundraising, corporate sponsorship, and strategic planning. He serves as a shared executive director for Small Press Distribution. His past work experience includes Development Director for the Creative Capital Foundation, Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, the Poetry Society of America, and In the Life Media. He is also a professional musician and composer, a certified master of the shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute), and serves as Director of Music Omi, an international music residency program in upstate New York. His Masterpieces of Western Music audiocourse is available through Barnes and Noble’s “Portable Professor” series.   Monica Valenzuela is a grantwriter, project manager and freelance photographer who specializes in storytelling, community-based project management, and documentary portraiture. As the Interim Executive Director at Staten Island Arts, she works closely with the diverse cultural ecosystem of Staten Island and values neighborhood-based cultural activities. She enjoys identifying alternative spaces for art and coordinates Staten Island Arts’ LUMEN festival, a cutting-edge video and performance art festival on Staten Island’s waterfront. Audio Transcript:  Karina Mangu-Ward:    Hi. I’m Karina Mangu-Ward of EmcArts. Here on the ArtsFwd Podcast we explore the challenges facing the arts sector right now to do things differently, to do things they’ve never done before. In each episode, we look at stories of experimentation and success from innovative arts organizations across the country. Today, we’re exploring the challenges and opportunities facing Arts Service Organizations. In the studio I’m joined by the leaders of two organizations participating in our New Pathways program for service organizations right here in New York City. I’m pleased to welcome Jeffrey Lependorf the Executive Director of The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses and Monica Valenzuela who’s the Interim Executive Director of Staten Island Arts.

In this podcast, we explore what it means to be a public theater. Guest host John Shibley talks with Raymond Bobgan of the Cleveland Public Theatre, which has recently celebrated a successful dramatic production featuring and created with members of the local Latino community. Now calling themselves Teatro Publico de Cleveland, this assembly of Latino cast members includes Blanca Salva, who also joins our discussion of how projects like this one can attract, and retain, the participation of untapped cultural communities. They explore what it means to engage new communities through artistic collaboration. This podcast is part of a series that profiles the work of participants in EmcArts‘s Engaging the Future program in Cleveland. Learn more. Featuring: Raymond Bobgan, Executive Artistic Director of the Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT), has helmed the productions of 15 world premieres at CPT (9 by local artists), expanding its programs to support new work and achieving unprecedented national coverage. Bobgan specializes in creating new work through an ensemble process. He was the founding Artistic Director of Wishhounds (aka Theatre Labyrinth) and has directed and collaboratively conceived and created more than twenty new theatrical works. In 1994, he initiated the Student Theatre Enrichment Program, a job training program that engages at-risk youth in writing, producing and performing new plays. Bobgan was recently recognized by American Theatre Magazine as 1 of 25 national theatre artists that will shape the next 25 years of American theatre. Bobgan has been affiliated with CPT for over 20 years. Blanca Iris Garcia Rivera Salva lives in the Stockyard neighborhood on Cleveland’s west side. She is the Executive Assistant for Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone of Ward 15, and a board member for Neighborhood Family Practice and Lutheran Hospital Community Board. She is on the advisory committee of the Teatro Publico de Cleveland and recently enjoyed her premiere theatrical appearance in their debut, Cuando Cierras Your Eyes. Married, with two daughters and a granddaughter, Salva was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and moved to Cleveland in 1988.    

This month we explore the sociological and civic impact of what are called “cultural clusters,” where arts centers, business, and community organizations collaborate to spur neighborhood revitalization. Guest host Karina Mangu-Ward talks with Mike Boberg from ArtsWave and Ellen Muse-Lindeman from Kennedy Heights Arts Center, two organizations that are working to achieve this in Cincinnati, Ohio, and they discuss the changes in livability and appearance that take place when and where cultural clusters take root. This podcast is part of a series that profiles the work of participants in EmcArts’s New Pathways program in Cincinnati. Learn more. Featuring: Michael Boberg is the Director of Shared Services for ArtsWave, where he works with representatives from organizations spanning the entire arts and culture sector. Previously, he served as Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati and was Music Director and on-air host for WVXU-FM throughout the 1990s. Boberg served as co-chair of the Civic Pride/Community Engagement working group for the Agenda 360 Regional Planning process and is a graduate of the inaugural class of C-Change. He currently volunteers as a character coach for first graders through the Winners Walk Tall® program and serves on the advisory board for WVQC-LP 95.7 FM, a new lower-power radio station operated by Media Bridges. Boberg is a native Cincinnatian. Ellen Muse-Lindeman became Kennedy Heights Arts Center‘s first Executive Director in January 2008. With more than 20 years experience in nonprofit leadership and management, Muse-Lindeman brings together her love of the arts and her passion for building community. Previously, she served as the Director of Development and Program Director for the Center for Great Neighborhoods in Covington, Kentucky. Her professional experience includes development of community arts programs, community-built public art projects and coordination of a district-wide community-school partnership.  

In this podcast, host Richard Evans explores how to strengthen communities through cultural initiatives. He is joined by Frances Lucerna, Executive Director of El Puente, which is based in the South Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, and Caron Atlas, Co-Director of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts. They discuss how to best support existing communities through grassroots organizing around local cultural commonalities. This podcast is part of an ongoing series that profiles the work of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 2011 Cultural Innovation Fund grantees. Learn more. Featuring: Caron Atlas, Co-Director of NOCD-NY, is also Director of the Arts & Democracy Project, which supports the cross-pollination between arts and culture, participatory democracy, and social justice. She also teaches at Pratt Institute, and is a member of the Steering and District committees for Participatory Budgeting in New York. She is co-editor of two publications: Bridge Conversations and Critical Perspectives, and contributor to Towards a 21st Century City for All and Beyond Zuccotti Park. Atlas worked many years at Appalshop, the Appalachian media center, and was the founding director of the American Festival Project, a national coalition of activist artists. Frances Lucerna, Co-Founder & Executive Director of El Puente, has been a pioneer of community arts and education for the past 30 years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and Dance from Hunter College and Masters of Arts, in Education and Supervision, from Bank Street College. She danced professionally for 10 years and in 1980 returned to her community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn and founded the Williamsburg Arts & Culture Council for Youth, a performing and visual arts program for adolescents. In 1982, Ms. Lucerna became co-founder of El Puente, a nationally recognized community/youth development organization nurturing holistic leadership for peace and social justice.

In this podcast, host Richard Evans explores two stories of artist residencies that are highly rewarding for the artist, the presenter, and the public. Jean Davidson of New York Live Arts discusses their new artist residency focused on mid-career artists. Marlène Ramírez-Cancio of Hemispheric Institute speaks about their residency for artists making political performance art that seeks to be a vehicle for social change. This podcast is part of an ongoing series that profiles the work of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 2011 Cultural Innovation Fund grantees. Learn more. Featuring: Jean Davidson (Chief Executive Officer, New York Live Arts) was appointed Chief Executive Officer of New York Live Arts in 2011 after serving as the Executive Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for six years. She was instrumental in leading the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company through its merger with Dance Theater Workshop to create New York Live Arts, a new model of artist-led, producing and presenting arts organization unique in the United States. Marlène Ramírez-Cancio (Associate Director of Arts & Media, Hemispheric Institute) is an interdisciplinary artist from Puerto Rico who co-founded and co-directs Fulana, a Latina video collective based in New York City. The Hemispheric Institute is a multilingual, collaborative network of institutions, artists, scholars, activists and cultural creators from throughout the Americas who work at the intersection of art, scholarship and social change.

This month, we explore how to engage younger and more culturally diverse audiences in arts and culture organizations. Richard Evans is joined by Pamela Young, Executive Director of DANCECleveland, which now has an experimental initiative fueled by EmcArts‘s Engaging the Future program. Richard and Pam discuss how DANCECleveland has developed a team of social ambassadors who call themselves the DanceAdvance Team. Duration: 9:24 min Pamela Young (Executive Director, DANCECleveland) joined the organization in 2003. With a strong background in project management, development and non-profit organizational and transition management, she has brought focused leadership and experience to Cleveland’s premier and oldest dance presenting organization. Prior to joining DANCECleveland, Pam had over 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit arts arena with a number of arts organizations in the Greater Cleveland community, including: MOCA-Cleveland, Cleveland Public Art, Dancing Wheels/Professional Flair and Cleveland Ballet and has served in a variety of functions from Acting Executive Director, Development Director, and Earned Income Specialist. Prior to moving into the non-profit sector, Pam enjoyed a career in architecture and design. She received her Bachelor of Science in Design from the University of Cincinnati and Certificate of Non-Profit Management from CASE-Mandel Center for Non-Profit Management. She has been a life-long resident of Cleveland Heights and claims it is the best place in the world to live.

This month Richard Evans invited an executive team from the Cleveland Orchestra to explore the team roles performed by individuals.  The group had employed a tool called Belbin Team Roles Analysis, which helps team members understand the roles they prefer to play.  To discuss the results of the analysis and what clues and surprises they provided to the organization, we have Chief Marketing Officer Ross Binnie, Director of Sales Julie Stapf, and Patron Systems Manager Adriane Smith. Duration: 16 min 48 sec Guests: Ross Binnie (Chief Marketing Officer, The Cleveland Orchestra) was also named the Director of the Center for Future Audiences in October 2010.  Mr. Binnie served as vice president for sales and services for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for eleven years before coming to The Cleveland Orchestra.  In Detroit, he was responsible for all new business development and customer service, including the supervision of single-ticket and subscription sales and services, public relations, advertising, and promotions, as well as overseeing two retail stores.   Mr. Binnie has also held positions at performing arts venues in London, England, including the Hackney Empire, Open Air, and Her Majesty’s theaters.  He lectured in music business at Wayne State University.  Raised in the United Kingdom, Ross Binnie received his master of business administration degree from the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1997 and a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Texas in Austin.  Mr. Binnie is married to his wife Liz and has four children. Julie Stapf (Director of Sales, The Cleveland Orchestra) joined the staff in November of 2011, where as overseeing all functions related to subscription and single ticket sales and box office operations.  Prior to joining the staff at The Cleveland Orchestra, she was Director of Marketing and Communications at Hartford Stage, a Tony Award-winning repertoire theatre, and Director of Marketing and Sales at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  Julie holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Performance (French horn) from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and pursued a master’s degree in performing arts management/marketing at The American University in Washington, DC.  When not attending performances by The Cleveland Orchestra, Julie is an avid equestrienne and studies dressage. Adriane Smith (Patron Systems Manager, The Cleveland Orchestra) is directly responsible for the institution’s database and data analysis, as well as optimizing its marketing programs through strategic initiatives.  Adriane has a strong history of leading data-rich marketing efforts and has specialized expertise in customer intelligence and data mining/segmentation.  Prior to joining the nonprofit sector Adriane held various positions in pricing, operations research and database management at both a Fortune 500 Company and an internet start-up.  She graduated with degrees in Mathematics and Statistics from Penn State University.

This month Richard Evans is joined by the leaders of two different arts organizations which are both implementing projects in Hunts Point, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of the Bronx:  Aviva Davidson, Executive and Artistic Director of Dancing in the Streets, and Amy Sananman, Founder and Executive Director of Groundswell.  They offer a lively discussion which explores how to build community engagement in cultural initiatives — a question that each organization is approaching in some different — and surprising — ways. Guests: Aviva Davidson (Executive and Artistic Director of Dancing in the Streets) has over 25 years experience as an arts administrator, producer, presenter, and theatre director. She has an MFA in Arts Administration from Columbia University. From 1993-98, Davidson was the Curator of Performing Arts at the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Wisconsin.  Previously, from 1985-93, she was a Producer and Marketing Director at Symphony Space. With Dancing in the Streets since 1998, Davidson has commissioned and produced over 35 site-specific works and created three signature series of innovative public performances that celebrate and explore salient aspects of New York City public life—Breaking Ground, Hip Hop Generation Next, and—in collaboration with Casita Maria—The South Bronx Culture Trail. In the context of Trail, Davidson commissioned choreographer Joanna Haigood and musician Bobby Sanabria to create PASEO, a community-based, traveling site-specific work that featured over 80 performers in a celebration of the Latin music history of the South Bronx. She spearheaded Dancing in the Streets’ move to the South Bronx on January 31, 2011, where it became a Company in Residence at Castia Maria Center for Arts and Education in Hunts Point. Amy Sananman (Founder and Executive Director of Groundswell) was motivated by her long-standing fascination with murals to conceive of Groundswell in 1996 — its mission to bring together professional artists, grassroots organizations, and communities to create high-quality murals in under-represented neighborhoods, and to inspire youth to take active ownership of their future by equipping them with the tools necessary for social change. Over the past sixteen years Groundswell has worked with thousands of community members to complete more than 400 collaboratively-designed and painted murals across New York City. From the Bronx to Brooklyn, Groundswell’s murals have visually transformed neighborhoods through celebrating cultural diversity and unity, telling stories of community empowerment and challenges overcome, and giving youth a voice to speak to their immediate communities and the general public. Sananman holds a masters degree in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. Her accolades include NYU/Wagner School’s Rudin Award for Community Service through the Arts and the prestigious 2006 Union Square Award for her leadership in developing Groundswell as a grassroots asset. In 2009 she was named one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century by Womens Enews. She has served on numerous panels speaking on arts as a tool for social change panels hosted by the Bronx Museum of Art, the New School for Social Research, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, Teachers College, CUNY’s Hunter School of Social Work and the Partnership for After School Education. She currently lectures at Pratt Institute on Arts and Community Development. *Featured image of Jose Garcia in Hunts Point, the Bronx by Chris Arnade

In this podcast, Richard Evans sits down with leaders from three organizations who participated in EmcArts’s New Pathways Program in New York City to explore the question: How do you incubate innovation in a local community? New Pathways brought together a cohort of 30 NYC organizations to identify the persistent adaptive challenges that they face as individual organizations and as a local community.  In the podcast, Richard and his guests discuss their experience in the program, the trends that emerged among seemingly disparate organizations, and how their new thinking has been incorporated into daily practice. Guests: Linda Shelton (Executive Director of the Joyce Theater) has served as The Joyce’s executive director since 1993.  Prior to her current position, she served as general manager of The Joffrey Ballet.  Before The Joffrey, she managed tours for the Bolshoi Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow Virtuosi, 1000 Airplanes on the Roof and Sankai Juku.  From 1982 to 1988, she held management positions at The Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation.  A Dance/USA board member for over ten years, Linda served as their chair from 2000 to 2002 and was also chair of their 1996 National Roundtable. Linda currently teaches in the graduate program of arts administration at New York University. LaRue Allen (Executive Director of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance) came to the Martha Graham Center as head of its development department in April 2005 from the North Carolina Dance Theatre where she was Executive Director since 2003.  Previously, she served for nine years as Executive Director of the Trisha Brown Company.  Ms. Allen has been the Senior Program Specialist for Dance Companies and Dance Presenters at the National Endowment for the Arts.  Ms. Allen founded and directed the Pennsylvania Dance Theatre and taught dance technique, composition, and history at Penn State University. Mary Ceruti (Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Sculpture Center in Long Island City) oversees all aspects of program, planning, and organizational development. She has organized numerous solo and group exhibitions of contemporary art and curated specialprojects and commissions by over 50 emerging and established artists. Before joining Sculpture Center in 1999, Mary worked as an independent curator andwriter and was the Director of Programs at Capp Street Project, an acclaimed international residency program, commissioning installation projects in SanFrancisco from 1992-98.   Duration: 24 mins

What Makes a Project a Good Fit for the Lab? The Innovation Lab is a non-traditional program with a non-traditional application, so we thought it would be useful to talk through some of the underlying ideas of the program and give a few examples to help guide your thinking. Last week, I sat down with Richard Evans, President of EmcArts, and prompted him with a few questions. The podcast of that conversation is available in a couple other forms: a video presentation or the full transcript below. As always, as you prepare your application, don’t hesitate to ask for help. You can write me at [email protected] with questions and to schedule a consultation. LD: Hi, I’m Liz Dreyer, the Manager of National Programs here at EmcArts and I’m talking with Richard Evans this afternoon about our Innovation Labs.  It’s a non-traditional program with a non-traditional application.  We thought it would be useful to talk through some of the underlying ideas of the program and give a few examples to help guide your thinking as you move through the application process. So, Richard — can we start with the EmcArts definition and approach to innovation? RE: When we started the Innovation Labs, there was no useful definition of organizational innovation so we created one and the program is really based on that.  We did a lot of research.  We came up with three parts to this.  We see organizational innovations as examples of organizational change that are based upon some shift in the underlying assumptions that organizations hold which have been in the past reliable predictors of success. We find that innovation really is built upon a shift in those assumptions.  Finding a assumption that you’re questioning where there’s evidence that contradicts the assumption and then finding a new hypothesis or proposition that you can test that might be more predictive of success in the future. So innovation derives from this shift in underlying assumptions.  It’s therefore discontinuous from previous practice. In other words, it’s not just an extension of what you’ve done before, it’s a new direction that you’re taking with your organization. And finally, we believe that those new pathways must be ones which show a pretty good sign that they will create public impact and value. We firmly believe that innovation is, in fact, an organizational discipline; something every organization can learn and in the Innovation Lab we aim to try to build the adaptive muscles, if you like, of organizations that are participants. LD: We talk a lot a lot about the difference between technical and adaptive challenges.  I was hoping that you might spend a little time about why we differentiate, what we mean, and why focus on adaptive challenges. RE:  Yes, we find this a really useful distinction.  Technical challenges are those kinds of problems or challenges we can solve by incremental change. We don’t need a breakthrough here; we just need to improve the way we do things. so, we see technical challenges as extensions of business-as usual.  And we’re all used to those.  We do them every day in our work. The changes that are going on in our environment, however, mean that the other kind of challenge — adaptive challenges — are becoming more and more important. An adaptive challenge, then, is one where there is no established solution. There’s no consultant you could bring in to direct you towards contemporary best practices and help you select one. It has to be the group of people who are the organization who come to grips with new ways of working, new ways of doing business. And it’s our experience that the muscles we use to respond to adaptive challenges are less developed in our organizations and the Lab is a way to try to strengthen those.