My Twitter feed delivered me two great resources for arts professionals on the same day this week.
The first came courtesy of Sydney Arts Management Advisory Group. I guess I should have known that when they talked about a guide developed for “WA Artists” they meant Western Australia and not Washington State. In my defense, they link to a lot of prominent U.S. arts sources (like me!).
The guide they shared, Amplifier: The Arts Business Guide for Creative People, from Propel Youth Arts, is really one of the best guides for creatives just starting out that I have come across. If you cut out the resource guide at the end of the booklet, 98% of it is applicable to a creative anywhere.
The guide is really accessible with fun illustrations and interviews that will probably make you want to move to Western Australia. It also walks you through all sorts of planning processes with questions and checklists: project management, business plans, identifying markets, goal setting, evaluation, finances & funding, legal, product, pricing, place and promotion.
It doesn’t just deal with performance, but also tackles film, visual art and publishing, delves into copyright law (which appears almost identical to U.S. law) and licenses.
The guide also spends a few pages on risk assessment and insurance for events which is something I have never really seen in similar guides even though it is very important.
The second resource comes from the Wallace Foundation. This one is more geared toward arts groups rather than individuals starting out and is focused on administrative issues like finances, board oversight and administration.
You may have seen some tweets about it but not followed the link. It is really worth stopping by to take a look.
Some of the guides and case studies are what you might expect “Building Stronger Nonprofits Through Better Financial Management” and How to Talk About Finances So Non-Financial Folks Will Listen.
But there are some with more intriguing titles like: “Efficiency” and “Not-for-Profit” Can Go Hand in Hand, and The Looking-Glass World of Nonprofit Money: Managing in For-Profits’ Shadow Universe.
The latter is described as” Especially useful overview for board members with little exposure to the unique nature of finance in a nonprofit context.” I never really thought of NP orgs as operating in a shadow universe. Sounds so cool! Does that mean Rocco Landesman was the dark emperor or something while he headed the National Endowment for the Arts?
There are also proposals like “The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle” which advocate for changes in the way foundations support non-profits.
The part of this resource I have seldom seen in other places was a whole section of five articles, including a podcast, on figuring out the True Cost of programs. They specifically have a calculator for figuring out the cost of after school programs, but following the steps outlined in some of the other articles can help reveal truths like social media isn’t actually free.
I haven’t read through everything in the guide, but I am definitely going to bookmark it for future reference.
