Stories of radical restructuring inside organizations, including new staffing structures, the creation of innovation capital, embracing risk, and redefining the meaning of success in order to support innovation.
Featuring six dynamic leaders in the field, these 12-minute talks explored the outputs and impacts of innovative projects across the country. An in-depth discussion followed and discussion among Virtual Summit participants took place simultaneously via #ArtsFwd on Twitter.
A Math Teacher and an Accountant Walk into an Arts Center: The Curious Case of Two Unlikely Art Heads
Joël Tan, Director of Community Engagement, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
This talk follows the journey of two unlikely art heads who are members of YBCA’s game-changing, all access art program YBCA:You. Hear how Lawrence Li, an accountant, came to identify as a street performer and how Henri Ducharme began using art to help his students make sense of numbers.
COCAbiz
Kelly Pollock, Executive Director, COCA – Center of Creative Arts
Our story is about rethinking, and perhaps, redefining relevance for arts education. We want to ensure that the arts matter in modern communities. By thinking about our work through the lens of “relevance” and “impact,” we hope to build a sustainable future for our organization and arts education in this country.
Silo-Busting: Transforming the Rake into the Flower
Lori Fogarty, Director and CEO, Oakland Museum of California
What if you could re-invent a museum and create an organizational chart from scratch on a blank sheet of paper? The Oakland Museum of California did just that — through a transformative restructuring that involved the entire staff and has resulted in a new model of organizational collaboration for the museum field.
Rebuilding Our Building
Steven Matijcio, Curator, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
What happens when you inhabit “the best new building since the Cold War” and it isn’t working at its highest capacity? Steven Matijcio, Curator at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, brings transparency to how the CAC is rebuilding their building and the challenges and opportunities of repurposing and re-imagining a relatively new, landmark structure.
How I Learned to Leap Without a Destination
Susan Medak, Managing Director, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
In this talk, Susan Medak will discuss the way Berkeley Rep approaches change, with a focus on the great value of grasping opportunity, ignoring criteria, and avoiding expectations for outcomes and deliverables. This presentation will draw on the company’s experience of establishing a new home and creating a brand-spanking new program for the development of new work.
Transformation and Capitalization
David Devan, General Director and President, Opera Philadelphia
A case study from Opera Philadelphia on how to use venture capital modeling to fuel artistic innovation and create financial stability.
Fishbowl Discussion
After the three Talks concluded, on-site Summit participants in Denver — as well as online participants, who contributed questions and comments via the #ArtsFwd tag on Twitter — joined together for an informal, organically flowing fishbowl discussion about the theme of Transforming Organizational Structure and other topics. The online participants’ voices were represented by the Talks moderator, Richard Demato.
All of these talks were livestreamed as part of the free Virtual Summit on Tuesday, October 22.