Regional and National Capacity Building Intensives

About the Program

The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, in partnership with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, is pleased to announce Capacity Building: Grand Rapids, a two-year technical assistance and strategic planning intensive for up to 15 non-profit arts and cultural organizations throughout greater Grand Rapids and surrounding towns.

The program will begin in January 2025, and is fully underwritten by the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.

The arts and culture sector is changing rapidly, but certain fundamentals remain: all organizations require highly distinctive programming, vigorous marketing campaigns, strong boards, and a robust family of donors, members, and funders.

Though these elements may seem straightforward, they can be challenging to develop and sustain.

This is the key role of this program: to assist participating organizations in their efforts to develop consensus on mission, vision, and values and to put in place simple, effective, and right-sized strategies to execute in each of these essential areas of practice.

The DeVos Family Foundation, in partnership with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland, is pleased to announce Capacity Building: Central Florida, a two-year technical assistance and strategic planning intensive for up to 20 arts and cultural organizations throughout Orange, Lake, Osceola, and Seminole counties.

The program will begin in March 2024, and is fully underwritten by the DeVos Family Foundation.

The arts and culture sector is changing rapidly, but certain fundamentals remain: all organizations require highly distinctive programming, vigorous marketing campaigns, strong boards, and a robust family of donors, members, and funders.

These essentials, however obvious, can be difficult to assemble and maintain.

This is the key role of this program: to assist participating organizations in their efforts to develop consensus on mission, vision, and values and to put in place simple, effective, and right-sized strategies to execute in each of these essential areas of practice.

The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, in partnership with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland, is pleased to announce Capacity Building: Michigan Lakeshore, a two-year technical assistance and planning intensive for up to 15 arts and cultural organizations throughout Holland, MI and the Michigan Lakeshore.

The program will begin in Fall 2022, and is fully underwritten by the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.

The arts and culture sector is changing rapidly, but certain fundamentals remain: all organizations require highly distinctive programming, vigorous marketing campaigns, strong boards, and a robust family of donors, members, and funders.

These essentials, however obvious, can be difficult to assemble and maintain.

This is the key role of this program: to assist participating organizations in their efforts to develop consensus on mission, vision, and values and to put in place simple, effective, and right-sized strategies to execute in each of these essential areas of practice.

A partnership with the University of Maryland and the U.S. State Department, Cairo, the program was a 15-month, phased training initiative for arts managers and cultural organizations operating in Egypt. Through a series of online, in-person, and one-on-one training activities, the program provided support to arts and cultural managers in their ongoing efforts to maintain organizational health within their institutions; identify talented participants to serve as teachers within the cultural sector; and position these managers to leverage the program’s training to further expand the country’s arts and cultural management field. 

To achieve its goals, the program had four phases of activity: 

1. Phase I: More than 70 participants, identified by the Embassy and the Institute, were invited to complete The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations – the Institute’s free, self-paced, online arts and cultural management course designed to assist arts and cultural managers in their effort to respond to an increasingly complex environment.  

1. Phase II: 49 applicants were selected for a 7-month series of virtual speaker sessions, in-person training seminars, and one-on-one consultation tailored to support participant activity. 

1. Phase III: 8 participants were selected for a 12-day exchange to the USA to build relationships with successful arts and cultural leaders in relevant fields. Participants engaged with speakers and organizations in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, PA, and New York City, NY. 

1. Phase IV: 17 participants underwent a 3-month teacher training process to position themselves to expand the arts management field in Egypt.  

In June 2022, the Institute closed the AIM Extension program, the largest ever of its capacity building portfolio. The 143 participating organizations spanned 6 cities across the US in an 18-month strategic planning and implementation process that took place from September 2020 – August 2022. Envisioned as a practical “next step” towards long-term organizational health, participants comprised graduates of the Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) II program that took place across Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Washington, DC from 2018 – 2020. 

While each planning process was guided by the unique needs of the organization, the program targeted several areas of common interest: 

• Planning: Balancing short term and long-term planning needs 

• Family and Staffing: Maintaining visibility, loyalty, and morale; Staff recovery and transition plans; Declining audience interest in digital programming; Audience reluctance to return to live events

1. Racial Equity: Balancing DEI priorities with perennial organizational needs 

1. Programming: Planning for a strong return to in-person programming; Phasing of re-entry

1. Fundraising: Converting digital attendees into Donors; Considering stewardship, cultivation, and special events while socially distanced 

1. Financial: Managing cash flow; Assessing models of contributed vs. earned revenues; Securing bridge funding while preparing for the sunsetting of relief monies; Projecting and managing expenses 

All participants completed the process with the assistance of either Michael M. Kaiser (Institute Chairman), Brett Egan (Institute President), or Nicole Kidston (Institute Senior Consultant), with the support of program staff. 

Participant feedback included: “This year is one where it is very easy to get lost in the uncertainty of pandemic conditions. Working on Institutional Marketing in such a disciplined way has led to a reorganized marketing department, a growth (and not recovery) based Strategic Plan, and a much more secure frame focusing on efforts on the Institutional experience as a driver of ticket sales. It’s a structure to dream of a better future, thriving and not surviving. It’s been a gift for the collective mental health of our organization, and a gift for which I am most grateful.” – Synchronicity Theatre (Atlanta, Georgia)

Launched in October 2020 in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Flamboyan Foundation, the AIM: Puerto Rico program was a two-year teaching and mentoring program created in response to the challenges faced by the arts sector in Puerto Rico. The program looked to stabilize and strengthen participating organizations, while producing a cadre of thriving, sustainable organizations to serve as models of good governance and financial sustainability for their communities. Core arts management training, with a focus on strategic planning and implementation support, was provided to ten local cultural organizations, consisting of three interconnected components: group seminars, tailored one-on-one consulting, and the development and implementation of a long-range strategic plan. 

In addition to arts management training, the program addressed resilience planning on a broader scale in recognition of the natural and environmental challenges faced by the area. 

Participant feedback included (translated):

“We thank you for the opportunity to have made us part of this project. For us it has meant an immense contribution. We hope that these types of initiatives can continue to be generated.” – Asociación ACirc

Launched in October 2020 in partnership with the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis and the Centene Charitable Foundation, this two-year teaching and mentoring program provided arts management training and implementation support to 31 local arts and cultural organizations. In particular, the program addressed strategies for maintaining visibility, relevance, and service during times of uncertainty, emphasizing the need for long-term thinking as a tool for success as organizations prepared to reenter the market. In response to an expressed need among the smaller organizations within the cohort, the Institute led a separate session for organizations with budgets under $300,000 to assist in scaling the strategies learnt in seminars to their unique situations. 

Participant feedback included:

“The reading recommendations, ability to ask questions, and critically evaluate our organizations practices were invaluable. Working with the mentor allowed her to connect the dot from the seminars and make them translate to our company. Working in a smaller team as well allowed for very specific work and deliverables to be created.” – Ignite Theatre Company

“We are deeply appreciative to have been a part of this cohort. It was incredibly helpful for our organization in this time of transition.” – Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

November 2021 marked the close of the Capacity Building: Louisville program. In partnership with Fund for the Arts, this two-year initiative provided one-on-one, in-depth consultation and intensive group training in fundraising, marketing, artistic planning, strategic planning, and board development to 24 arts and cultural organizations throughout Louisville, KY.  

Following the first year of the program, organizations faced unprecedented challenges with COVID-19. Consultations shifted focus to short-term strategies addressing the immediate effects of the pandemic, as well as longer-term planning to prepare for the reemergence of in-person cultural programming.