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Advancing Pluralism Capacity Building of Aboriginal and

Ethno-Racial Arts Organizations


raft Program
Advancing Pluralism Capacity Building of Aboriginal and Ethno-Racial Arts
Organizations is a three-year program designed to assist CPAMO Roundtable
members and other Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists, collectives and arts companies
involved in creating Canadas cultural identity - to develop sustainable organizational
support structures for their or!, through shared learning, mentoring, s!ills development,
fundraising and a collaborative search for ne and innovative solutions"
Advancing Pluralism is a structured and progressive course of learning and
development, hich ill focus on building and refining organizational s!ills as ell as
sharing of ne models and ideas to support a ide range of artistic e#pression, creation
and production options"
$pecifically, this program aims to enhance the capacities of CPAMO Roundtable
members and other Aboriginal and ethno-racial arts organizations in in the folloing
areas%
&uilding organizational resilience by providing support for financial and
administrative systems development and maintenance and enabling participants
to effectively engage in a rapidly changing arts ecology'
Providing community engagement, promotional(mar!eting and audience
development strategies aimed at connecting ith diverse communities'
)nhancing access to volunteers and other organizational resources, e"g", staff and
board members'
*ncreasing access to financial support by enhancing access to foundations and
corporate sponsors interested in the arts' and
Conducting research on the future of the arts in Canada and challenges to the arts
ecology, including funding and other resource support mechanisms"
+his program is available to CPAMO Roundtable members and other Aboriginal and
ethno-racial arts organizations and artists" An open process of application ill be
conducted and ,uried to select pro,ect participants" +he application process ill include
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intervies ith interested organizations in order to ensure full understanding of the
pro,ect,its goals(ob,ectives, participation re-uirements and e#pected outcomes"
$elected participants must be ready to learn, share, and actively participate in the
development of ne ays of or!ing" +hey ill be re-uired to fully participate in the
program.s learning activities, and to attend the roundtable discussions" +here are three
components of this program" +hese are% /01 &uilding Organizational Resilience /21
3eveloping Collaborative Practices' and /41 Research on the 5uture of Canadian Arts"
3etails for each of these program components are provided belo" Mentorship
opportunities are embedded in several of these program components" At the end of
each year, participating organizations ill be eligible to receive Organizational Resilience
5unds as ell as *nnovation 5unds to assist them in their groth and development"
+here ill be three rounds of Organizational Resilience 5unds available to program
participants to enable them to use the program.s learnings to develop their on
organizational support systems and sustainability" +he *nnovation 5unds ill be
structured to support collaborative activities and initiatives of the pro,ect participants"
h!m! "# Building Organizational R!sili!nc!#
+here are many challenges today in the arts across Canada" $ome of these include%
increasing demand on arts funding hile there are no increases in the arts
funding available'
significant groth of Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists and evidence of
disparities in the levels of funding they receive and income they earn'
increasing interest by presenters in all fields to understand, attract and stage
Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists'
changes in community demographics ith dramatic increases in Aboriginal and
ethno-racial communities' and
challenges regarding community engagement and audience development and
ho the arts are engaged ith diverse communities"
+hese challenges ill continue for the immediate future" As a result, artists and arts
organizations, particularly from Aboriginal and ethno-racial communities, are see!ing to
identify and develop appropriate organizational models to support and sustain their
efforts so that they can not only survive but thrive in these volatile times"
+o assist these artists and their organizations, Building Organizational R!sili!nc! is
structured as both a peer-to-peer learning and one-on-one systemic intervention to
support participants to build organizations that have the capacity to or! in this
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environment and to use their resources toard this end" *n this regard, resiliency is !ey,
i"e", the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and to build functional
supports and netor!s that are conducive to this"
As such, ithin this element of the pro,ect there are 6 areas to address% +hese are%
01 Articulating 7ision, Mission, Mandate'
21 Clarifying Organizational 8eadership and $tructure'
41 &uilding $ustainable )ntrepreneurial Approaches' and
61 3iversifying &oard and 7olunteer )ngagement
"$ Articulating %ision& 'ission& 'andat!#
+his component of the program ill provide to or!shops each year folloed by to
facilitated peer-learning circles" +his is a total of si# or!shops over the life of this
pro,ect and si# peer-learning circles" +he or!shops ill focus on the importance of
clarity in the arts organizations vision, mission and mandate and ho this can form a
solid basis for an organizations program planning, communications, recruitment of staff,
volunteers, board members and audience support" *t ill also focus on the importance
of clarity in attracting corporate and foundation funding as ell as financial support from
individual donors"
*n the peer learning circles, participants ill bring their 7ision and Mission statements for
discussion and feedbac! that ill be folloed ith facilitated processes to enable
participants to revise their statements folding in ideas and insights from this process"
+hese ill be brought bac! for further discussion at a second circle"
+he peer learning circles ill feature a discussion of insights, common themes,
interesting variations, and use of the statements in developing committed teams,
partnerships and supporters
($ Clarifying Organizational and )!ad!rship *tructur!s& +ncluding Rol!s&
R!sponsibiliti!s and ,!cision ma-ing ./ov!rnanc!$
Most arts organizations or! ithin some formal structure" 9hether as a collective, non-
incorporated or incorporated entity, such organizations re-uire leadership as ell as
formal and(or informal structures to develop and guide their or!" +o enhance
participants focus in this area, there ill be to or!shopseach year on organizational
and leadership structure options" +his is a total of si# or!shops that ill address%
ho to adapt the traditional nonprofit or charitable structure to meet your needs'
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boardand volunteer recruitment and management'
defining responsibilities and clarifying the decision ma!ing processes ithin your
structure"
A !ey part of this program component ill be a peer-to-peer discussion onembracing
leadership and mentoring opportunities that ill be facilitated by CPAMO resources, ith
involved arts services organizations and presenters" +his component ill also feature
learning collaborations ith &usiness for the Arts and Maytreeregarding board, volunteer
recruitment(retention and governance"
0$ Building *ustainabl! Entr!pr!n!urial Approach!s1E2panding ,onat!d-Earn!d
R!v!nu!s
:iven the increasing demand and competition for grants and the limited groth of arts
council funding, many arts organizations are involved in finding alternative sources of
funding to support their pro,ects" As such, this pro,ect component ill provide three
or!shops each year on the folloing%
i" *ndividual, foundation and corporate fundraising
ii" Community engagement, programming and audience development, mar!eting
and earned revenues' and
iii" ;sing the data in your data base
A !ey feature of this component ill be facilitated and peer-to-peer discussion of
traditional and entrepreneurial(social enterprise models"Mentoring opportunities ill be
developed featuring one-on-one ith CPAMO resources as ell as ithCC* presenters
and &usiness for the Arts"
8earning collaborations ill also be offered through &usiness for the Arts on
sponsorships, fundraising and mar!eting and data base management ill be offered by
<oung Associates"
*n addition to the above, to support hands-on learning, pro,ect participants ill be
matched ith presenters to assist in developingfundraising activities and to enhance
capacities in data systems development(maintenance for the folloing% sponsors(donors,
audience, volunteers, fundraising, reports, grant and other applications
3$ +ncr!as! ,iv!rsity of Board and %olunt!!rs#
CPAMO Roundtable members and other Aboriginal and ethno-racial arts organizations
have e#pressed an interest in engaging ith board and volunteer members ho have
resources and capacities to enhance their organizations" $uch s!ills as human resource
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management, fundraising, netor!ing and community connections, understanding of
ne technologies for data management, capacities in social media, etc, are important to
all arts organizations and CPAMO members in particular"
+o assist in the process of board and volunteer recruitment, this program component ill
provide to sessions each year in partnership ith Maytree, =eighbourhood Arts
=etor!, *nstitute of Canadian Citizenship, >armony Movement and &usiness for the
Arts" +he elements of these sessions ill include focus on the ?ho tos of recruitment,
retention, support to and development of potential board members and volunteers" $uch
ill address matters related to%
having clear ,ob descriptions for board members and volunteers'
recruiting strategies, including soliciting specific s!ills from potential board
members and volunteers'
managing board members and volunteers and clarifying reporting relationships"
)ach year ill feature a board and volunteer recruitment session that ill invite potential
board members and volunteers to meet ith program participants"
h!m! (# ,!v!loping Collaborativ! Practic!s#
+here are several e#amples of collaborations in the arts that have had a number of arts
organizations or! together for a common cause in hich their on visions and creative
outputs benefit, e"g", they receive higher attendance at their events and share outreach
and communications ith other artists and arts organizations, hile at the same time they
support the or! of other artists and arts organizations"
+o address this, there are to aspects to this pro,ect component" +hese ill involve
selected arts organization and CPAMO Roundtable members%
a1 or!ing together to share successful strategies and to discover collaborative
approaches to developing and promoting their or!' and
b1 sharing ith presenters to enhance mutual understanding, community engagement,
curatorial competence and resource sharing"
*n terms of /a1, the limited resources available from arts funders re-uires ne ays of
developing and promoting artistic creation and performance" :iven the disparities
impacting on Aboriginal and racialized artists and arts organizations, it is imperative that
these individuals and organizations engage in considering a process of collaborative
approaches to supporting their individual and collective efforts" +his might include
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sharing of audience data bases, developing and producing shared mar!eting and
promotional materials, resource sharing to promote the value and importance of the
collective interest in advancing pluralism in the arts as a public benefit" +o support
discussion here, this pro,ect component ill engage pro,ect participants in peet-to-peer
information sharing and brainstorming on approaches to collaborative activities"
Regarding enhancing relationships ith presenters, Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists are
not often commissioned to create a ne or! and, hen this happens, they begin to
consider ho to use this opportunity to leverage support for their organization" +o
address this, this program component ill feature to sessions each year to assist
Roundtable members to create an effective sponsorship pac!age and to enhance the
organizations ?pitch" At these sessions, pro,ect participants and CPAMO Roundtable
members ill develop pitches to stage shos in venues operated by presenters and
presenters ill revie and discuss these pitches to assist in enhancing them"
&oth of these sessions ill include the folloing%
/i1 Pro4!ct Participants and CPA'O Roundtabl! m!mb!rs" Over the past
years, CPAMO Roundtable members such as R))8Asian 5ilm 5estival,
Manifesto, @ashe3ance, 5u:en Asian +heatre, $ampradaya 3ance
Creations, *MA:*=A+*7) 5ilm 5estival, Red $!y Performance, $outh Asian
7isual Arts Collective, 9hy =ot +heatre and others have made successful
?ptiches to 8uminato, Richmond >ill +heatre, ;niversity of +oronto
$carborough, >art >ouse, the Art :allery of Ontario, Rose +heatre
/&rampton1 and other venues" $uch a session ould pair the aforementioned
CPAMO members ith the ?ma,or organization/s1 they have or!ed ith"
/ii1 Engaging Pr!s!nt!rs5 CPAMO has or!ed successfully ith several
presenters ho are interested in supporting the CPAMO Roundtable
members" $ome of these presenters include% Oa!ville +heatre, Mar!ham
+heatre, Ontario Contact, Prologue to the Performing Arts, Can3ance
=etor!" +his session ill be delivered by presenters ho ould provide
insight into their decision-ma!ing processes and curatorial perspectives"
An additional aspect of this program component ill be assessing ays to provide space
toCPAMO Roundtable members ho need such for rehearsals and or!shops5
h!m! 0# R!s!arch on th! 6utur! of Canadian Arts# +nclusion& R!pr!s!ntation&
6unding Options and Organizational *tructur!s
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:iven the current challenges in the arts ecology across Canada resulting from
increasing artistic creation, especially from Aboriginal and ethno-racial artists, it ould be
useful to engage scholarship on such artistic developments, the impact they are having
and ho this can be documented, assessed(analyzed and sustained to support artistic
development and production that represents an inclusive, e-uitable and pluralistic vision"
CPAMO ill or! ith an academic department /;" of +" $carborough, <or! ;", OCA3
;" and(or Ryerson ;"1 to see! $$>RC funding to study this pro,ect initiative and to
research visionary models" +his ould be an interdisciplinary approach involving
programs in the creative arts, arts and business management, historical and cultural
studies, urban studies and have lin!s ith other university $$>RC studies, e"g",
;niversity of :uelph and :uelph Aazz 5estival, $imon 5raser ;niversity and Arts and
$ocial Change, as ell as ith developments in &anff Centre for the Arts and OCA3 ;"
As part of this program component%
a series of research pieces ill be commissioned to address the current
challenges in the arts ecology and the positioning of Aboriginal and ethno-racial
artists in this conte#t' /21 seminars and forums ill be convened to release these
papers for discussion purposes"
the published or! ill be disseminated to funders, artists and the general public
ith the e#press purpose of proposing sustainable support systems for the arts'
and
the research ill influence arts education in areas of artistic practice and arts
management"
Organizational R!sili!nc! 6unds# At the end of each year, participants in this pro,ect
ill receive Organizational Resilience 5unds /up to BC,DDD"DD in the first year and
B0C,DDD"DD in the second and third years1 provided through a process of discussion and
application" *n this regard, participants ill be invited to submit their plans on ho they
ill implement changes arising from the program.s learnings" +hey ill also be re-uired
to report on the implementation of their plans" +he program coordinator role ill or!
ith such organizations to assist them in this endeavor"
Collaborativ! +nnovation 6unds#
*n addition to the aforementioned Organizational Resilience 5unds, this pro,ect
endeavours to raise funds to provide pro,ect participants ith innovation funds to enable
them to e#plore collaborative activities and to have access to either or!ing and(or ris!
capital" +hese funds ill assist these organizations in developing innovative practices
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aimed at supporting collaborative activities developed by these artists" *n order to do
this, there ill be a revie of each participating organizations financial systems,
including cashflo, revenues(deficits and ho these are managed" *t ill build on the
ideas shared in +heme 2 and, based on this, the pro,ect ill see! to provide funds for
those organizations interested in engaging in collaborative activities"
$uch aards ill be done on a case-by-case basis and ill be provided in to
installments, i"e", in the second year of the pro,ect and at its end" *n this conte#t, each
organization ill be assessed ithin the pro,ects first year so that there is a clear target
in terms of allocation of funds for participating organizations"
Pro4!ct Outcom!s#
As outcomes, this pro,ect aims to deliver cost-effective opportunities for CPAMO
Roundtable members to%
*" develop their administrative functions in such areas as database management
and financial controls'
**" stage their performances in diverse venues'
***" enhance their capacities for submission of proposals for performances'
*7" develop their understanding of fundraising strategies for capital and(or program
purposes'
7" provide access to space for rehearsals"
As part of this pro,ects intent to build sustainable collaborations beteen CPAMO
Roundtable members and presenters, this pro,ect ill support involved presenters to%
*" enhance their understanding of diverse communities and ho they access
information aboutcultural activities and hat cultural activities interest them'
**" enhance their entry points into diverse communities for purposes of mar!eting and
audience development'
***" develop collaborative promotional mechanisms and programming ith CPAMO
Roundtable members'
*7" attract volunteers and other resources from diverse communities""
*n addition to these, there ill also be the results of research commissioned through the
partnership ith the university connections"
At the end of each year, CPAMO ill convene a session ith all participants to share
results of their activities, to share hat they have learned and to discuss ho best to
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continue ith this initiative over the long-term" Achieving these outcomes ill build
strategic netor!s and relationships that ill enhance participants capacities to sustain
the support provided"
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