Communities

Ecology Studies

The Institute’s Ecology studies seek to address the questions pertaining to a specific community’s arts, culture, and humanities non-profit ecosystems.

THE PROCESS

The Institute’s Ecology studies seek to address the questions pertaining to a specific community’s arts, culture, and humanities non-profit ecosystems:

  • How does this city’s arts ecology compare to other American cities?
  • What factors influence success for locally based arts, culture and humanities organizations?
  • Is now the right time to think about the formation of an Arts Council? If so, what might be the role of such an entity? Is it needed?
  • What challenges do locally-based non-profit organizations face in recruiting and retaining talent (both executive and artistic), and what supports can be provided to enhance their ability to do so?
  • Do the citizens of this community have fair access to the visual and performing arts?
  • Are children in area schools – private, public, and home schools – receiving a strong arts education?
  • How does public funding for non-profit arts, culture, and humanities organizations in the area compare with other areas of the state and other states in the nation?
  • Are local arts institutions managed well?
  • Are the arts institutions governed well by their trustees?
  • What size and how many arts institutions are needed to serve the city?
  • What size and how many arts institutions can the city support?
  • Do the arts play a vital role in attracting tourists?

These projects are intended to address these questions by both auditing the arts ecology of the local area and suggesting models for the future that would maximize sustainable arts access, arts education and impact.

AUDIT and Models

The audit would include evaluation of:

  • The arts education provided in area schools, and resources available to home-schooled children
  • The strength and quality of convening and organizing entities 
  • The quality and financial capabilities of arts, culture and humanities institutions
  • The strength of governing boards
  • The quality of artistic and administrative management
  • The audience profiles of arts institutions
  • The scope of arts institutions in the city
  • The sources of funding available to institutions in the city
  • The pool of available arts managers
  • The pool of available board members
  • The role of the area’s universities in the arts, culture and humanities sectors
  • Accessibility to the arts for all segments of the community
  • Access to technology

Models would be presented for:

  • An ‘optimal’ mix of arts institutions
  • Prospects for shared resources, mergers and/or joint ventures between non-profit institutions
  • Approaches for building larger, more diverse and younger audiences
  • Approaches for building contributed income
  • Approaches for attracting artists and administrators to live in the area
  • Approaches for maximizing arts-related tourism
  • Approaches for building stronger boards and providing board training
  • Approaches for creating a brand or “signature” for the area’s arts ecology
  • Approaches for reducing costs through collaboration

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please email [email protected].

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