Winners’ Circle One-on-One with 2008 Rozsa Award Winners on Arts Management

<strong>THIS MONTH
The Rozsa awards recognize, celebrate and promote individual excellence in arts management. In this month’s Winners’ Circle One-on-Ones the 2008 Rozsa Award winners share their thoughts on excellence and the issues surrounding arts management.

Interview by Rachel Singh

THE PARTICIPANTS
Les Siemieniuk, general manager of the Calgary Folk Music Festival
Recipient of the 2008 Rozsa Award for Excellence in Arts Management

Bob Davis, executive director of the Rosebud Theatre in Drumheller
Recipient of the 2008 Rozsa Innovation Award

Murray Kilgour, principal of the School of Alberta Ballet
Recipient of the 2008 Rozsa Education Award

What does “excellence” mean to you?

BD: Exceeding yourself. It is when we consistently go beyond our own expectations in terms of artistic merit, ticket sales, patron satisfaction, surpassing budgeted revenue and maintaining expense control that we sparingly consider what we do as excellent.

MK: Excellence is a combination of talent and work ethic. These values are much the same as those needed in business today and should end in the same results, success in what you do.

LS: The use of available resources to their fullest potential. For example, a $200 film can be excellent while a $20 million movie can be terrible. Or if a poem is excellent with 20 perfect words, then don’t use 21 or 19 and screw it up. Does a fancier, expensive costume make the dancer or the piece any better?

Arts and cultural management is an important and growing field in Canada. Do you see arts management starting to stake out its own territory in management theory?

BD: Not yet. Management theory is overwhelmingly business-orientated. There are many useful not-for-profit management resources too. But specific arts management theory is still sparse. We need to take the best from business, the best from the non-profit sector, and consider other sectors too – education, religion, sports, to name a few – and find out what works for our own organizations. I think you’ll find there are some common denominators across all disciplines.

MK: I believe arts management is staking out its own territory. It has been necessary for the arts to take on new business practices as seen in the private sector but align these with the needs of the arts. The arts are at their best when they can affect the emotions of the individual, not necessarily the mass. This means there will always be a more personal approach than in big business and this will affect the balance of business practices with the growth of the artistic product and the development of the arts as a business. The approaches to management are always changing but the basic common sense of sound business practices with interest in the individual must always be sustained.

LS: Yes, but it’s not necessarily a good thing to be your own discipline. You tend to gaze inwards and become isolated and make up your own rules and values. Business schools and business theories practiced in isolation cranked out the boys and girls who got us to our present predicament. As ethics and prudence disappeared, the system is now verging on total collapse.

What qualities/skills are key to successful arts management/cultural administration?

BD: Communication. There are so many stakeholders in the development of an artistic product: from the artist to the sponsor, from the patron to the supplier, from donors to government. The administrator is at the centre of it all and needs to be an effective listener, speaker, writer, and above all, decision-maker because at the end of the day, someone has to make choices, sometimes tough ones, to keep the operation moving forward. Patience. Administrators have to know how to manage from a distance. By this I mean that much of the “end product” lies in the hands of others – artists, audiences, funders, and that can be frustrating when things don’t go well. But when things do go well, it is very satisfying for an administrator to know that they had a hand in getting all the “ingredients in the recipe” to create something wonderful.

MK: As well as the management skills mentioned earlier and the understanding of the importance of that investment in both the organization’s business processes and his or her own continued development, the leader must recognize he or she is the focal point of the organization and its staff. All who work in the arts are there because of an abiding interest in what they do. It is also the job of the leader to keep this interest and help others reach their potential and continue to give them direction for ongoing personal development. The purpose of arts organizations is not only to produce good art but also to get people interested in that art. There is nothing like energy and enthusiasm to draw people’s interest followed by secure sound work practices to keep people interested.

LS: The ability to determine why you are doing what you are doing at the particular stage of development your arts organization is presently at. Second, the wisdom to know where you should be in the future. For example, maybe the ideal situation for a group is to grow from two presentations a year to four rather than strive for 10, which will always be unsustainable without massive and misplaced support. Finally, the ability to see the right balance of, and find a way to communicate to others, the intangibles and the tangibles of your particular arts “business.”

What special issues and challenges do arts management professionals face?

BD:One is our location. We are rural, somewhat remote with a population of less than 100 people. This creates an extra barrier when it comes to recruiting staff, seeking corporate sponsors and convincing patrons that our product is worth the trip. A related impact of being rural is overcoming the perception that we are somehow “not as good” as similar urban art products. We feel the merit that is ascribed to urban arts organizations can also be applied to rural organizations – but it is a constant battle to get that message across to media, government, corporations and sometimes the public at large. An on-going challenge – whether urban or rural – is balancing a financially prudent path with the desire to create amazing art. It can be done, but it is a constant struggle.

MK: It can be difficult to convince big business and government at all levels how important the arts are to the community. Education in the arts is often seen as a luxury and not a need, so recognition by the Rozsa Foundation is a very big step forward for education. To be recognized at the level of other arts organizations such as the opera, symphony or museums gives stature to all arts training organizations as well as presenting another recognized voice on behalf of the arts.

LS:One, the external situation around them. Great arts groups have always found a way to flourish even in the [leanest] of times and without adequate government support. Bad ones have failed in the most conducive of times. External problems and conditions are a challenge and a resource, not an excuse for failure. Second, each arts group’s internal situation and their inability to use what they have to their best advantage. Always for a myriad of reasons, including self-delusion. Third is the fact that it will always be hard to explain the value of the bean flower’s fragrance to bean counters.

Without strong leaders, ongoing professional development and financial investment in business processes, arts organizations face an enormous sustainability challenge.

BD: Agree. Investment in human resources is the key. Sustainability in the arts is achievable. There are great, long-term, viable arts groups around us. I think if you look at what makes a strong arts organization, you will find a commitment to sound business practices and human resource development.

MK:Arts organizations are more dependent upon successful management practices than ever before. There are more arts organizations with less funding for many, and added to that there is real competition for talent in the administrative side of the arts. Arts organizations are often quite big organizations with a very small staff. This staff needs a leader who not only understands sound business practices but knows how to direct staff to manage with these practices. In the arts there is no fat and there must be an unusual commitment from every individual. This takes a leader who can guide and inspire his or her staff. I believe most arts organizations recognize the need for this balance between enthusiasm and organizational skills, with the need to promote financial investment in the business side of the organization as well as the artistic in order to have artistic success.

LS:Agree
–
The Winners’ Circle One-on-Ones are monthly web-exclusive Q&As that bring readers more on the stories behind some of the achievements published in the Winners’ Circle section of Alberta Venture magazine. Each month Alberta Venture salutes those individuals and companies which have been singled out for recognition of their accomplishments.

Current Issue