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Strategic Thinking and Planning for Arts Organisation
Strategising in the arts organisation is creating your artistic vision, identifying the values that motivate you, recognising those whom you affect and those who affect you, and then thinking through how you will make your vision a reality within, say, three to five years. A vision starts with "creative dreaming": using your knowledge, experience, skill, intuition and courage. Do you want to be a dance company that fuses classical jazz and contemporary rock to speak to a younger audience, or a gallery that provides an outlet to Hong Kong's new photographers? What will be your voice(s) - confrontational, supportive, analytical, questioning, comic, visceral? Is your goal to bring laughter? Tears? Anger? Who will be your artistic leaders? Your artists? Why is this your vision? What values are you satisfying? The word "you" is used as a collective pronoun because strategizing requires full participation of members of your arts organisation, a bottom-up process that encourages participation, ideas, and commitment. Even if the major voice is that of a strong artist leader, a joint process involving members of the company tends to yield more creative ideas and exciting new approaches. Strategic Thinking and Planning Strategic Thinking Think: artistic, vision, synthesis, intuition, values, distinctive competences, being unique and special, accountable. Strategic Planning A comprehensive and co-ordinated process that identifies goals the arts organisation wants to attain and the objectives and actions needed to reach those goals. Perils of Planning Getting too practical too soon encourages rigidity. The strategy formation process must continually test itself against the fast-paced, ever-changing environments in which the arts operate. Mission Statement An organisation's self-concept/self-definition that includes perceptions and ideas of your artistic and organisational vision, your motivating values, your distinctive competences and characteristics, your relationship with your internal and external environment. Mission Statement Define your organisation clearly to your internal and external stakeholders. Communicating with Internal Stakeholders Create clear goals and policies Maximise strengths and minimise weaknesses Communicating with External Stakeholders To communicate more clearly, consistently and effectively with your target market(s) To create your "POSITION STATEMENT" A context for marketing - Your Industry - Your Business - Your Product Elements of a Mission Statement Include - reasoning to support choices, art form(s), art form focus, legal structure, markets served, values, artistic vision and distinctive competence, constituencies/stakeholders, and vision for the future. Environmental Scan Analyse the environment in which you live and work to identify the factors to consider if your vision is to be realised: Next three to five years Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) Environments Internal Analysis of your Arts Organisation Leisure Time Industry Analysis Macro-Analysis: political, cultural, social, economical, technological Internal Analysis - Strengths and Weaknesses People Artistic and Administrative Staff: talent, knowledge, experience, artistic and organisational vision, innovative and creative, leadership, marketing, fundraising etc. Board of Directors: Commitment and Profile Distinctive Competencies what makes you special what are you very good at now what you want to be good at in the future Financial adequate resources accounts in order appropriate staff income = ? = expenditures Equipment and Supplies adequate and appropriate Physical Plant appropriate venue available for classes, rehearsals, performance cost in money, time, and energy to use and maintain a "home" for the company; is one needed? Reputation what do others think of you? what do you want others to think of you? Critical Success Factors what must happen artistically and administratively to be successful? Leisure Time Industry Analysis - Opportunities and Threats/Challenges: Geographic market Size of market Similar arts organisations in your geographic market Other leisure time activities competing for discretionary money, time and attention Availability of product Availability of affordable artists and craftspersons Availability of affordable equipment and supplies Co-operation of media Unearned income sources - philanthropic and sponsorship Partnering opportunities among arts organisations - administrative, marketing, productions, personnel Other co-operative efforts among arts groups - advocacy, word-of-mouth, publicity, arts festivals, sharing and caring Macro-Analysis - Opportunities and Threats/Challenges: Political - the Mainland, Hong Kong, perceived openness, arts advocacy, government regulations Social - giving to the arts, respect for the arts, boards of directors Cultural - interest in the arts, audience building, strategic alliances, availability and use of leisure time Economic - current rate and longer term trend of economic conditions in SAR: relative economic health of SAR inflation growth of personal income, disposable and discretionary productivity consumer spending habits and confidence regional economic health, including trade and relative value of currencies growth of market for the arts in SAR spending on arts relative to other leisure spending cost structure of arts price elasticity of arts identification of actual and potential arts attendees Technological - internet, computerisation Long-Term and Short-Term Objectives Once we understand ourselves and our operating environments we can devise our objectives. For example, if our vision is to build a professional jazz dance company of 12 dancers, we need to plan factors such as choreographic style, recruitment and personnel schemes, fundraising approaches and marketing plans. The attributes each of your objectives require in order to be effective are: Qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the intermediate and final results your organisation will seek to achieve Specific = what do you want to achieve, when, where, how many, by whom, at what cost, and how well Acceptable = in keeping with organisation's mission, capabilities and culture Suitable = real step(s) toward reaching goal Motivating = understandable, measurable, flexible, achievable and provide reward structure Periodic indicators of movement by each function e.g. yearly, quarterly and monthly Strategic Decision-Making Process Examine and evaluate current mission, objectives, strategies, policies, performance Create/identify/decide changes/improvements Scan environment = SWOT analysis Identify strategic factors that will substantially affect achieving your vision Identify how your Strengths can take advantage of your Opportunities and deal with the Threats/Challenges, and how your Weaknesses can be improved or overcome Generate goals and objectives Generate and evaluate best alternatives (see below) Decide Implement Control, Evaluate and Revise Strategic Alternatives - Decision-Making Identify alternate directions/strategies Change in company's values? Suitable personnel skill available? Change in organisational structure? Other needed resources available - financial, physical, functional etc.? Identify information needed to decide on best alternative Identify risks and rewards of each alternative How much and what kind of risk can company live with? Make the decision Professor Martin Schulman is Director of the MBA in Arts Administration Programme, School of Management at the State University of New York at Binghamton, the United States. In 1992 he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in Hong Kong teaching arts administration at SPACE, University of Hong Kong and business courses at Baptist University. This article is an abridged version.