Young Board, Old Board, Your Board

I saw a very interesting article on board composition in Arts Presenter’s online version of Inside Arts Magazine. (Have to provide email address to read.)

The piece essentially tackled the idealism vs. practicality issue in relation to age of board members. While everyone strives to have younger people on their board, the reality is that the young folks often aren’t far enough along in their lives to offer a non-profit board the time and money (or social contacts with money) that more..seasoned..members of the community can.

Despite some ancedotes which support the idea that older people more easily meet the board requirements of many non-profits the article stresses the importance of making the effort to attract younger members. Their involvement in the board would have to recognize that they need time to raise families and aren’t able to meet the Give, Get or Get Off criteria at this stage in their lives.

Certainly it is just as important to recruit the right young members as it is older members and not just bring them on board because of their age. The article mentions quite a few benefits younger members can bring as well as pointing out some erroneous assumptions.

Give it a read.

No News Not Necessarily Good News

I recently learned that playing a hands-on role in things and having a small staff doesn’t necessarily mean one is hearing about all the problems that are occurring. I am frequently busy during a performance and can’t be watching everything. A year or so ago I put a folder full of House Manager report forms in the front of house office. I didn’t want my house managers to feel they had to go to the trouble of writing up a report on every show if it was uneventful so I told them they need not bother with them if everyone is showing up on time, there are no problems with equipment, lights aren’t out, etc.

I really didn’t get many reports. While I was occasionally curious as to why I was not, it wasn’t necessarily strange. The house management office is equipt with supplies and tools necessary to change light bulbs, replace paper towels and fix leaky toilets. Other problems may be resolved by talking to the tech crew. Our ushers know what the dress code is and how they are expected to act. Likewise, many of our renters return year after year and are acquainted with the house rules. The reports I did get didn’t really illuminate anything I needed to be concerned about.

Then the technical director pointed out that all the Exit lights in the theatre had burned out. I spoke to my primary housemanager reminded her to look out for those types of things and put them on a report sheet so I could submit a work order to have them replaced.

I soon came to realize that she and the other house managers forgot the report sheets were there. Since giving my reminder I have received report after report that have essentially painted a picture of renters who were not holding up their end of the contract in relation to front of house activities. And, of course, on further investigation I discovered that these problems stretched back for some time prior to this zealous surge of reporting. For some reason the house managers decided to keep their tortured experiences to themselves.

Discussing these problems and potential solutions took the better part of two hours at a staff meeting today. Despite the fact renters sign a contract where they have specifically initialed next to the lines outlining their front of house responsibilities and have had us reiterate these specific responsibilities and their importance in a tech meeting a month prior to their event, people are shirking them.

The solution we hope to implement is a multi-tiered approach which include simple steps like more insistent scowling at the pre-show tech meeting and more involved mandatory requirements at later stages. As I mentioned, I have a small staff so the necessity of enforcing these mandatory requirements adds additional responsibilities to the numerous ones we already bear.

I am hoping six months worth (it is only half the renters who are real problems) of growling, scowling and enforcement of strict requirements will ensure that some of these groups are better organized during future visits making for a more enjoyable experience all around.

Just Say No to Form Letters

A plea to folks who might be tempted since I can’t say I know anyone doing this.

Many times granting organizations ask that recipients write to their Congressional delegates to make them aware of how National Endowment funds are being used. Often the granting organization provides a template in order to make it easy for busy arts administrators to get a letter off.

My plea to people is not to use those form letters. Even if you don’t think your senator or rep is ever going to read it, there are good reasons to send an original composition. My entry today is actually inspired by a form letter I received in response to my “NEA funding at work” letter. It was signed by an aide who said he would speak to his boss about my missive but the generic tone made me think he says that to all the boys. I could see why it might be tempting to send a template based letter if that is all you could expect in return. With that in mind, I thought it important to say Don’t Do It!

First, you shouldn’t do it because the granting organization put some effort into securing those funds to pass along to you so you owe them a little effort to help get the money next year. (Even if you just spent hair pulling hours filling out interminable final report forms.) It doesn’t take too many people in one district sending in letters before even a lowly intern recognizes that there is a template involved. The effort appears insincere and weakens the case for funding in the future.

Secondly, even if people aren’t reading your letters, investing the time writing something real helps you hone your advocating skills on behalf of your organization. This practice is doubly important for people who feel they don’t write well. It is good practice communicating in a serious situation and if you can’t express what is important about your organization to your senator, you probably aren’t doing a good job telling your story in press releases.

The truth is, even if you are getting form letters from your congressman, you never know who is reading them. If you tell a compelling story about why a performance was important to members of the community, you are often telling your delegate why the funding is important to them. A year ago I did an entry on advocacy after seeing Jonathan Katz from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies speak.

One of the ideas he communicated that I paraphrased was:

“…telling decision makers how helping you will help them. It will come as no surprise that public figures welcome any opportunity to maintain their position by helping their constituencies and increasing their visibility. Everyone essentially wants to be seen as doing good. If their help will help you to empower kids, then show them how it can be done.

People want to be loved so if they care about you or if you affect someone who they care about, then chances are they want to do something to sustain that affection.”

I know writing a good letter can divert one from the thousand other details demanding one’s time. The value in making you a sharper communicator in your advocacy and showing your delegates concrete benefits of the funding may ultimately be more worth your while than spending the same time pouring over balance sheets.

Bonding Over Brisket

One thing I have observed during my career in the performing arts is that while working in performing arts is that while the pay isn’t always too good, there are always some good bonding moments you don’t usually get in for-profit companies. (Unless you work for a cool internet start up that provides all sorts of fringe activities in the office.)

I was just wondering if anyone had some good stories. Sharing this sort of information can help other organizations with some good morale boosting activities. I am looking for things outside of the annual Christmas party.

What got me thinking about this subject is that somehow tomorrow became chocolate chip pancake day. It is strange that I don’t know how that came about given that I am the one making the pancakes. If it turns out well, perhaps it will be a fairly regular thing. We just had a long string of performances so it is a kind of celebration/thank you for all the hard work.

Food seems be a common theme in some of the events with which I have been associated. One summer theatre I worked at had barbeque Wednesdays. The theatre provided the grills, you provided the meat and veggies. Since we were a bunch of poor theatre people, the cuts of meat tended to be a little on the cheap side. But I have to say that people were pretty creative about what they used for marinades. Some pretty good taste combinations that year.

There have also been some afternoon teas for staff during tense times. Strike dinners at midnight where a volunteer corps provided the food–was good for getting the volunteers and staff to bond.

I think there is some unspoken rule bumping around the collective unconscious of many performing arts theatres about the tech director buying pizza for the crew at significant stages in the building process. It is never at the same stage on every show–sometimes it was tech week, sometimes it was earlier in the process. I have always instinctively known what night it was going to happen without being told. I have also done it at what seemed to be the proper confluence of events.

My current job is the third one I have held where I have secretly hidden candy filled eggs around the building for staff and students to find (and when the plastic eggs are returned, I refill them.) It never loses its appeal for me since the people who figure out I am the Easter bunny don’t tell the new people. Actually, last year one staff member didn’t even make an attempt to puzzle out my identity. He said nice things happen around the theatre so infrequently, he wasn’t going to question it lest the benefactor decide to stop.

A couple places I worked at held all night scavenger hunts. One place did it at the end of the season to close things out. The other did it at the beginning of the season to rally energy (though in the short term, they all ended up sleeping through the next day.)

The element that contributes most to the success of any bonding/morale building event seems to be either that it originates from the workers instead of the management or the workers have really bought into the idea. It seems that if management decides everyone needs to do a teambuilding activity like a Ropes challenge course, the effort either meets a lot of resentment and falls flat or is only marginally effective.

Events like the ones I have mentioned tend not to cost as much as team building exercises either. So if anyone has some good ideas that have formed the basis of solid staff relationships, type up a comment or email me!