Public Support and Advocacy for the Arts: An Update on City and State Cultural Affairs
November 5, 2007 - The Arts and Culture Funders Group hosted a discussion entitled Public Support and Advocacy for the Arts: An Update on City and State Cultural Affairs. The discussion was introduced by Michelle Boone, The Joyce Foundation, and Sydney Sidwell, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and featured presentations from Lois Weisberg, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Terry Scrogum, Illinois Arts Council, and Ra Joy, Illinois Arts Alliance Foundation.

While the state legislature passed a budget that included increased funding for the Illinois Arts Council and foreign language education programs, the governor's veto of portions of that budget cut the Council's funding while eliminating the foreign language education program entirely. The Council, along with arts organizations across the state, is now scrambling to adjust to this new situation. With the legislature returning to session, one goal is to receive a supplemental appropriation that could restore budgets to levels of previous years.

Much of the work of securing funding for the arts involves advocacy to legislators and the governor. The Illinois Arts Alliance has generated a large amount of letters and phone calls to politicians about arts funding, and they hope their effort in increasing contacts will eventually result in restored funding levels. Telling stories about arts organizations' work, including both their successes and the difficulties they will face as funding decreases, can help demonstrate why arts funding matters.

Part of this advocacy work involves ensuring politicians receive clear messages about the importance of the arts. It can be helpful if these messages come from unexpected sectors, so that artists are joined by other citizens and business voices clearly explaining the need for arts funding and arts education. It may also be important to help politicians understand the consequences of not adequately funding the arts.

In some respects, arts education is starting to follow the trend of environmentalism; several decades ago, the environment was not on the national political agenda, but now every politician has an environmental position. In the upcoming election, many candidates have an arts education plank as part of their platform as arts education gains more prominence.

On the city level, Chicago has been fortunate to have local leaders, both in the public and private sectors, who care about the arts and who have been willing to take action to provide increased access to cultural events. The spirit of the Columbian Exposition, where civic leaders rallied together to develop an event that continues to impact the city today, has continued in the present. Chicago offers many opportunities for free access to the arts, and civic leaders still display a willingness to help promote artistic and cultural endeavors.

As state and local efforts move forward, there will be new efforts to help people make a connection to the arts rather than simply offering access. Waiting for people to show up at an event is not as effective as reaching out to them and helping them understand the positive role the arts can play in their lives.

Funder-Driven Initiatives: What's Happening Out There?
September 26, 2007 - The Arts and Culture Funders Group hosted a discussion on Funder-Driven Initiatives: What's Happening Out There? The discussion was introduced by Michelle Boone, Joyce Foundation, and Sydney Sidwell, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and featured contributions from Sandra Guthman, Polk Bros Foundation; Lisa Moultrie, Arts for Learning/Chicago; Jennifer Siegenthaler, Terra Foundation for American Art; Paul Botts, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; and Marcia Festen, Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development.

Several funder-driven initiatives related to arts organizations are either ongoing or in the early stages in Chicago. The session focused on four of them:

• The Chicago High Schools for the Performing Arts Project is the result of several organizations discussing what could be done to bring more diversity to the stages of Chicago cultural institutions. Chicago public school students do not have a school with a performing arts focus that can serve as a pipeline to help students enter the arts field. After studying models of performing arts schools in different parts of the country, the Project submitted a proposal to the Board of Education to open a school and expects a decision in October. If approved, the school would open in fall 2009. The costs associated with the school would exceed normal school expenses, so the school would need annual private donations to function.
• The Terra Foundation for American Art is preparing to kick off its American Art American City initiative, which will bring together several organizations in a year-long program to focus on American art and the impact it has had on Chicago. The initiative will include exhibitions, programs, and other events at locations across the city. In planning events for the initiative, organizations have already developed new approaches to understand and utilize their resources in the study of American art.
• The Illinois Cultural Data Project presents an opportunity for arts and culture organizations to streamline their business reports and learn how other organizations work. Pew Charitable Trusts has launched cultural data projects in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and other states will be added soon. As part of the project, cultural organizations input a range of information on their activities, finances, board composition, and other organizational matters. Members of the organization can then access both current and historical information, making reports uniform and easy to produce. Additionally, organizations can run user-friendly reports that compare how they operate to averages for other similar organizations, allowing them to base business decisions on sound data. Additionally, Pew Charitable Trusts provides technical reports that offer detailed assistance to organization staff trying to pull their information together. Bringing this project to Illinois would require both startup costs and continuing payments for maintenance of the system and technical support.
• The Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development provides grants, generally to smaller arts organizations, to help them with different organizational issues they may face. The Fund is the result of collaboration between several foundations. Organizations need to approach the Fund with a plan for building their organization, and the Fund can then assist them in a range of activities, including meeting with consultants and performing organizational assessments. The Fund is also considering other options to provide fast, responsive assistance to organizations that may need it.
  

In discussion following the presentations, participants noted that one of the keys to involving funders in a new initiative is helping them understand how the initiative will affect the field in which they work. It can also be helpful to have an entity in place that will provide oversight and governance of the initiative and help prospective partners understand the general parameters of the initiative and what will happen if some funders leave the project.

Rebuilding Arts Education in Urban School Districts
February 9, 2007 - The Arts and Culture Funders Group hosted a discussion on Rebuilding Arts Education in Urban School Districts: The Experience of Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. The discussion was introduced by Mark Murray, The Field Foundation, and Sydney Sidwell, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and featured contributions from David Roche, Director of Fine Arts, Chicago Public Schools; Gigi Antoni, Big Thought; Sharon Dunn, New York City Public Schools; and Mark Slavkin, Los Angeles Music Center. A question-and-answer session was facilitated by Jenny Siegenthaler, Terra Foundation for American Art.

Many arts education programs in public schools, especially in districts with high proportions of lower-income students, were cut in the 1970s and 1980s, and current arts education efforts in urban districts are often scattered and not well integrated into core educational curriculum. However, recent efforts in different urban school districts across the country have shown that arts education can-and should-be raised to the same level as traditional coursework areas like reading, writing, and math.

In Chicago, the office of Director of Fine Arts in the Chicago Public Schools has existed for six months, with the goal of solidifying the arts as a core subject matter and better coordinating existing arts education activities. Negotiating the current education system, making sure existing arts activities continue while adding new programs, and spreading these activities to underserved schools are areas of emphasis.

As the Chicago effort proceeds, lessons can be learned from other cities that have embarked on comprehensive efforts to rebuild their arts education programs. The following are lessons learned from Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York:

• Involving the highest levels of leadership-i.e., the mayor and school district superintendent-is critical to making sure arts education programs are implemented across the board. Without the buy-in of these leaders, arts education programs may seem like an afterthought or arts directors may be seen as trying to impose upon or dictate to other branches of the school system.
• Integrating the arts with other educational subjects and issues can be key to a successful program and an important step toward ensuring arts education becomes a part of the overall educational structure. For example, if a school district is facing a high dropout rate, district personnel should include arts-based solutions in their strategies to keep students in school. Arts can also become a regular part of the classroom experience for a variety of subjects.
  Districts may benefit from a comprehensive blueprint, similar to expectations of reading and math skills, that outlines what kinds of arts knowledge students should have as they progress from grade to grade.
• Attempting to show that improved arts education leads to better test scores can be a double-edged sword. On one side, principals and teachers are under pressure to show improvement in test scores, so any tool approaching that goal would be a relatively easy sell. Some studies have shown a positive relationship between arts education and improved test scores, though it is not always possible to say if the arts are the direct cause of the improvement.
  However, the risk of tying arts education to standardized test results is that it does not establish the importance of the arts as a distinct subject matter. Other subjects do not carry a similar burden; students who study chemistry are supposed to learn more about chemistry, not about other unrelated subjects. Students, then, who study the arts should have the goal of learning more about the arts-that should be a desirable end on its own.
• Arts education will most benefit from concerted change that creates a more effective school system for all students. Rather than making minor improvements in the existing system, educators, advocates, and funders are better off attempting long-term change that elevates arts within the core curriculum. In this effort, private foundations can play an important role by using their funds as levers for broad change and requiring specific outcomes.
• Research repeatedly points to schools as the crucial agent of change in an education system. This means that successful arts education programs need school principals to be an active part of the program. Once principals are on board, they can help convince their teachers of the importance of integrating arts resources into everyday education, thereby involving the entire school in the effort.
  

Dr. Danielle Allen, Dean of the Division of Humanities at University of Chicago, began with an overview of developing arts and culture programs in south Chicago. She explained that there is an increasing density of the arts and Chicago and its affiliation with youth. Many after-school community organizations and the University of Chicago have made tremendous efforts to diversify the arts, especially in areas surrounding south Chicago. Liz Babcock, a Division of Humanities graduate student, explained a current research project to track the impact of arts programs in Chicago youth.

Beginning in 2004, the study collected data on social service organizations, quality of life, and culture in south Chicago. The study found that there are over 200 arts facilities in south Chicago alone, however general knowledge of these programs are very low.

Babcock and Dr Allen described The Civic Knowledge Project, a method of transferring knowledge and information to and from the University of Chicago and the surrounding communities. The program helps to enhance and aid those wanting to obtain more knowledge in the field of art, such as developing a financial aid programs for qualified individuals. They also are in the process of developing a better archive of black work in the school, such as virtual forms of communication for researchers.

The remaining guest speakers gave a brief overview of their organization and its contribution to the arts community in south Chicago. Diasproal Rhythms, a program developed by Patric McCoy, promotes African American arts in the community, including yearly exhibits to honor local artists and a catalog to distribute to showcase work around the University of Chicago. Nora Brooks Blakely described Chocolate Chips, a theatre company aimed at celebrating folklore and history of African Americans in Chicago through dance and performance.

The group discussed that the problem with these programs is the unawareness level, leading into a roundtable discussion on building capacity of these programs to attract the media and public to south Chicago.

There are dozens of art institutions around Chicago that specialize in a diverse number of areas. These institutions work well to complement one another. However, the problem lies partially because they are very spread out and there is no form of direct transportation between them. Smaller organizations have taken the lead in committing and investing in the arts community; however tend to stand apart from the arts industry in Chicago because they are on the South Side. One helpful component is that some of these organizations may use bigger facilities, which can be more visual and help grow and audience. However, it makes these small organizations harder to locate because they are just renting a part time office in a large building temporarily.

Other small organizations chose to remain local to avoid exhausting the finances and efforts of their small staff on promotion. Another issue is determining who is really interested in attending local arts programs the south Chicago area. In order to bring people all the way down there, there has to be some sort of appeal, such as restaurants and shopping areas to draw in the down town patrons.

While many methods of promotion are worthwhile, the power of "word of mouth" can be one of the most effective ways of getting people to take an interest. The arts and culture group discussed ways of getting people into face-to-face dialog with organizers and artists to create a consistent audience.

Efforts in both Chicago and the entire state of Illinois to improve arts education in public schools face serious challenges. A 2001 survey showed that the average Chicago elementary school student received 40 minutes of arts instruction per week, and there is wide variance behind that average-many students received no arts instruction whatsoever. The statewide picture is similarly problematic. According to a 2005 survey, 20 percent of schools have no arts programs at all, while over a quarter of school district superintendents said that the arts were not part of their core curriculum. While there are some successful ongoing arts education efforts, they are scattered and generally uncoordinated. To have a real impact on elementary school children across the state, these efforts need to be better organized and receive increased emphasis as an important part of the core curriculum.

In Chicago, the recent appointment of David Roche as the director of fine and public arts for the Chicago Public Schools is the continuation of an effort to better coordinate partnerships between arts education organizations and the school system. While there are many organizations offering arts education, their services are often unbalanced and occasionally redundant, giving some schools more comprehensive arts programs than others and overlapping with CPS' own efforts. A central office can help better coordinate and distribute these services while also ensuring that the arts will be elevated to the same level as other subjects.

Illinois is also undergoing an effort to improve arts education programs across the state. The 2005 survey of arts education in Illinois showed that rural districts with a small number of schools were particularly underserved, but there were also schools in more densely populated areas, including Chicago and some suburbs, with below average arts programs. In an effort to remedy that, the Illinois State Board of Education distributed grants to 38 school districts to help them develop plans for strengthening their arts and foreign language education programs. These grants will continue in the next fiscal year with twice as much investment from the State.

The efforts on both the City and State levels are in their early stages, and both face ongoing challenges, including:

• The bureaucracies on the City and State levels are large and often resistant to change. Providing funds to a school system for a specific purpose can be difficult, as these systems have not always been good at tracking the money they receive and using it for the designated purposes. Additionally, public bodies sometimes use private funds as a replacement for, not a complement to, their own funding efforts.
• Initial efforts to improve arts education have successfully engaged many government leaders and media representatives, but taking the campaign to the grassroots level is a more difficult, though necessary, step. Teachers, principals, and district superintendents can be resistant to arts education efforts since the arts are not a part of any of the standardized tests that are crucial to schools. There is also a disconnect between art teachers and parents, which can isolate parents from the issue.
• Arts education organizations can be resistant to efforts at coordination and consolidation because they believe (sometimes correctly) that these results could result in a reduction of their funding. While it may be painful for some organizations, the improved coordination of resources is better in the long run for students and for arts education in general.
• School days in Chicago are short, meaning arts education programs must compete for what little time is available.
• Some arts education programs are offered in before- or after-school settings, and these efforts are not always well coordinated with what is happening during school.
  

In the past, community development efforts have generally included arts in a minor way-perhaps by planning a mural or two. However, recent efforts are showing the benefits that come from putting arts development and community development hand in hand, and communities across Chicago are engaged in planning efforts to better employ the arts and their local artistic resources in building their communities.

The benefits of the arts in a community can be broadly divided into three categories:

1. The arts provide access to resources;
2. They enable residents to engage in problem solving activities; and
3. They build social relationships. For example, in Englewood DanceAfrica Chicago commissioned a poet to write a poem on the subject of HIV/AIDS, and the troupe developed an interpretive dance to go along with the poem. The performance became both an artistic and educational experience, allowing audience members to learn more about a serious issue in their community.

Three other communities in Chicago-Albany Park, Humboldt Park, and South Chicago-are currently engaging in a process of determining how to integrate arts into their community development plans. Some of the things that have been learned in these processes include:

• Finding the right size group to make a plan for the arts in the community can be difficult. A group that is too small may not be representative of the entire spectrum of the community, while a group that is too large may be unwieldy, causing difficulty in accomplishing anything.
• Involving individual artists living in the community can be very useful. The earlier they are involved, and the more valued they feel, the better their contributions will be.
• The arts can play a significant role in helping a community remember its history. Even when the history may not be pleasant, it can be useful for residents to remember all the forces that made the community what it is today.
• Getting support and participation from local government representatives can help plans move forward faster.
• The arts can help revitalize public spaces in a community, turning abandoned areas into thriving places or bringing more life to underutilized facilities.
• While professional artists can be very helpful in community development efforts, the informal artists in a community also have ideas and energy to contribute, and they should not be overlooked.
• Gaining and keeping the trust of groups and individuals involved in the planning process is crucial. Many of these people and organizations have seen previous efforts come and go, so they may be skeptical of any new planning process. Earning and maintaining trust takes a long-term effort.
  

Many of the issues that mid-sized arts organizations face are tied to mismatches of supply and demand. For example, the number of classical music presentations often grows faster than audience demand for such productions. The need for skilled administrators to work on organizational development may outstrip the ability of these organizations to pay a salary that might encourage highly skilled individuals to make a long-term commitment to an organization. A theater group may not want the hassles that come with having their own theater, but that may be the only way to build a solid identity and build a stable subscriber base. And an organization that embarks on an ambitious expansion and building program will not necessarily see a corresponding increase in demand for their output.

All this means that the existence of mid-sized arts organizations can be very tenuous. A relatively small shift in audience tastes, the departure of a single key staff member, or a re-alignment of the organization's board can seriously unsettle an organization or even endanger its continued existence. However, the three organizations represented on the panel have existed for a combined 97 years, and they have considerable experience overcoming such hurdles. Some of the keys they mentioned include:

• Have a clear mission and the ability to communicate your mission to your intended audience, and make sure the mission does not become lost in the effort to attract a new audience;
• Recruit and retain supporters committed to the organization who can help it through difficult times;
• Develop a financial model that works with your project goals and avoid entering into debt that must be paid off through future program expansions;
• Increase the overall skill level of staff members by drawing upon the growing pool of college graduates who are interested in making a career in the nonprofit industry;
• Recruit board members who can contribute to the organization, whether those contributions be financial, volunteer work, or access to a board member's personal network;
• Develop existing board members so they play an active role in the organization, while realizing that, as the organization changes, the makeup of the board may need to be adjusted as well; and
• Produce good work to which audiences respond.
  

Arts have struggled to gain a foothold in educational institutions because they are never simply assumed to be an appropriate part of a curriculum; for decades, arts instruction has had to battle to justify its existence. Benefits ranging from improved handwriting to better design skills to enjoyment and self-expression have all been touted to demonstrate the importance of arts education, but time and again arts classes have been sacrificed to either promote other areas of the curriculum or to balance school budgets.

Several demonstration projects for arts education have been initiated over the years, and while the programs have had individual successes, they generally have not succeeded at getting schools or public bodies to take over the programs once the demonstration ends. A continuing effort to convince school authorities of the importance of arts education has become increasingly difficult in recent years, as many people have been questioning the basic mission of public education. When people don't agree on their core goals, building agreement on ways to employ available education resources is extremely challenging.

Arts may be able to gain a stronger foothold in education programs if the artistic experience and the learning experience are seen to be inextricably linked. Art, like learning, takes us outside ourselves to teach us things we did not know and did not expect. In fact, in many ways "art" and "learning" could be considered synonyms. This implies both that arts education programs should be learning experiences for all involved, students and teachers alike, and that arts should touch all parts of a curriculum rather than being isolated. Experience has shown that teaching artists often see improvement in their art, because their teaching experience helps them think in new ways and push their art in directions they would not have considered were it not for the teaching experience.

Arts education is valuable not only because in provides an outlet for the primal instinct toward art, but also because it can reach students who have not responded to other parts of a curriculum. One common reaction teachers have after arts classes is to say they did not realize a particular student could do what they did; the student was engaged by the arts learning experience, and displayed skills that had not been put to use in other classes. Arts education also decreases isolation-artists who may be working alone gain access to a group of people interested in the arts, and the students have a chance to make connections through art that they might not have otherwise made (for example, in a music class students exchanged ideas with other students in Australia).

An important aspect of successful arts education is that the teacher is engaged in helping the students have their own personal artistic experiences, rather than imposing a particular discipline on them. Many public schools have an arts specialist who cannot have this type of experience with students simply because the ratios are too daunting-if a teacher has to work with hundreds of students in an academic year, helping each one develop personal expression through art is difficult. However, if the arts specialist can engage in partnerships with teaching artists, this burden can be shared. The arts specialist can work as a catalyst with teaching artists and classroom teachers, bringing partners together and making sure the ensuing relationships allow for true artistic learning.

Despite the advantages offered by being a teaching artist, the field is in some degree of disarray, partly because it is new, and partly because of the generally low level of respect offered to teachers in general and teaching artists in particular. However, more arts institutions are recognizing the value of combining teaching with art, and they are working on producing not just artists but teacher/artists, or even teacher/artists/scholars.

As the teaching artist field becomes more organized, Chicago has a chance to play a central role in its development. The Teaching Artist Journal is now based in Chicago, and Columbia College has a demonstrated a commitment to utilizing teaching artists. Just as environmental education grew as a movement in the 1980s, arts education could be poised for rapid growth, with Chicago leading the way.

Kassie Davis provided background and an update on a collaborative fund established by The Chicago Community Trust and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation for the purpose of supporting organizational development, technical assistance and infrastructure needs of arts organizations with annual operating revenue under $1 million. When The Trust conducted its recent survey of arts organizations, the small and very small groups operating under $1 million identified general operating support as their greatest need. The next most often responses related to other developmental needs such as audience development, staff development and fundraising. Respondents did not identify 'making new art,' 'paying artists more' or 'taking artistic risks' as more important than these organizational development concerns.

The new fund has a goal of $750,000 to be reached by the end of January 2006. The fund will be piloted for three years. One funder is interested in fully supporting the operating costs of the fund so all other dollars raised for this collaborative fund will support grants. A steering committee will be comprised of organizations donating $25,000 or more. Those donating under $25,000 will be supporting donors. So far, $575,000 has been raised; additional proposals are pending.

There will be four deadlines per year. Grants will be made in amounts up to $10,000. The Trust will also work with other management support organizations such as Donors Forum of Chicago, IT Resource Center, and Nonprofit Financial Center to connect grantees to services. A handout with further information is available.

Jon Pounds commented on the value of organizational development grants related to building strategic fundraising approaches and broadening the base of support for Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG). CPAG is a 35-year-old organization that serves artists and neighborhoods, supporting the maturation of mural artists' work and creating opportunities for public art. Artists Bill Walker painted the first community-based mural, "The Wall of Respect," and founded CPAG with another artist, John Pittman Weber. Pounds noted how the public mural movement has created opportunities for the rich expression of racial and national pride, providing a public way to express one's own history.

CPAG's approach is not only offering the artistic process in the creation of a public art work, but also supporting a community investigation of what residents want to express in terms of their past, their current tensions, and their vision of the future. The creation of the public art work is part of a process that allows people to come together to talk in ways and with others they have not talked to before. The organization has worked with schools, Chicago Park District and Department of Transportation. Pounds noted that city agencies now see opportunities where public art can be done, creating new possibilities of collaboration.

On the field trip, the group visited public art in Uptown. Jon Pounds and Brother Mark Elder provided commentary on the sites and focused on the connections between community and art. The tour included a wide variety of work, including murals, sculpture, graffiti and mosaics at locations ranging from alleys and exterior grocery store walls to elementary schools and public parks. At lunch, the group was introduced to the work of Ernie Constantino, an aide in Alderman Mary Ann Smith's office, who is cataloging public art in the 48th ward. Ernie commented on the value of such collaborations to community members and businesses.

There is a wide range of arts service organizations in Chicago and surrounding areas, and they display a level of collaboration not often seen in other cities. These organizations can generally be grouped into three areas: organizations specific to certain disciplines, organizations specific to certain races or ethnic groups, and organizations offering specific or general services to a range of groups. Besides the organizations that focus on providing services to arts groups, there are other organizations (such as the Executive Service Corps or CPAs for the Public Interest) that include arts groups as part of their broad service base.

One of the primary concerns facing artists and arts groups in practically all disciplines is finding affordable space and then holding on to and maintaining space once they have it. Service organizations can help these groups ask the right questions when looking for space so they know what they are getting into and are prepared to find a space that works for them.

Another area where arts organizations often need assistance is growing and moving to the next level, whether the organization is trying to increase a $75,000 annual budget or a $3 million annual budget. Capacity building, leadership training, and exploring new ways to connect a group to the right audience can help organizations meet their growth needs.

Just as representatives from arts service organization came to this meeting of funders, funders might consider coming to monthly meetings of arts service organizations and talking about their perspectives on arts funding.

Some of the challenges arts service organizations face include:

• Meeting the needs of a broad range of organizations, from large groups to small groups to individuals who may be thinking of starting an organization.
• Helping organizations gain visibility and media coverage while remaining true to their artistic mission.
• Determining how to work across disciplines or how to take over the work of an organization serving a different discipline after it shuts down.
• Obtaining funding for themselves and their clients. Some funders have been reluctant to fund art support, while support organizations generally cannot fund themselves with payments from their clients. Additionally, service organizations may be reluctant to ask for funding if they feel any money they receive will be taking dollars away from other arts organizations.
• Filling in some of the existing gaps in service provision. Currently, there are few groups offering services focused on the literary arts and film/video artists; the state of arts service organizations for dance is in flux; and services for individual artists seem to be lagging behind services for arts organizations.
  

Update on The Trust's New Focus Areas
June 2, 2005 - After giving an overview of the Chicago Community Trust, Senior Program Officer Kassie Davis presented changes to the Trust's Arts and Culture Program based on an in-depth research and survey process with the local arts community.

From now on, grant amounts will be based on the budget of the applicant organization, ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 for small nonprofits and up to $100,000 for large institutions. Seven new focus areas have been identified to better respond to the current needs of arts nonprofits. They are:

Audience Development
This goal ranked highest among organizations that were surveyed. Grants are for one year, but may be renewed for a second year. A grant in this area will help broaden the range of audience members, deepen the engagement of current participants, and diversify the demographic range of the audience.

Artistic and Cultural Excellence
Grants in this focus are for large and midsized organizations to support core mission areas. They are for one year only and intended to help organizations raise the level of quality programming.

Smart Growth
Operational support ranked very high among smaller organizations that were surveyed. Grants in this focus area can be renewed for up to three years. Nonprofits that are approved will work with the Arts and Business Council of Chicago to complete their SmartScope assessment, a measurement survey to analyze the organization's lifecycle. Information in an organization's SmartScope report is never shared with the Trust but is intended to help the organization develop short and long-term strategic plans that will take it to the next level. Organizations that receive a Smart Growth grant will be asked to participate in a peer-learning network, coordinated by the Trust.

Organizational Development for the Arts
This focus area replaces the Trust's MOD grants and is designed to provide various operational support grants to small and very small arts agencies. Guidelines will be announced in 2006. The Trust is also seeking outside funders to help provide support to more organizations.

Arts Education
Aligned with the Trust's Arts Education Initiative, this focus area promotes systemic change in arts education in Chicago Public Schools. Grants are given to organizations of any size working in CPS classrooms.

Capital and Endowment Campaign Support
Budget-permitting, the Trust will approve a handful of challenge grants at the end of its fiscal year to large and midsize organizations.

Capacity Building for the Sector
The Trust will seek out organizations that will benefit the arts community via multi-disciplinary collaborations and collective efforts.

The Trust will post its new Arts and Culture Program guidelines to its website (www.cct.org) on June 15, 2005. Also at that time, the grant application process will be facilitated entirely online. Applicants will be able to track the status of their proposal through the website. Organizations can be approved for only one focus area per year, with the exception of grants approved for the Arts Education focus area. Results from the survey of Chicago arts organizations are also available on the Trust's website.

Sandra Guthman, President and CEO of Polk Bros. Foundation and Chair Emerita of the Harris Theater, gave a detailed history of how the Theater came into existence. In explaining the city's need for a theater specifically designed for midsize arts groups, Ms. Guthman gave an overview of the Chicago theater scene in the 1990s and made special reference to a report on the arts community in 1991 by the MacArthur Foundation.

A group of grantmakers realized that they could make a significant impact in the arts community by coming together to create a performance location that could house several midsize organizations that did not have their own theater spaces. This collaboration among funders may have been the first of its kind in the country.

Next, Gail Kalver, Executive Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, described how her organization was asked by the team of grantmakers for input and feedback on the design of the Harris Theater. Eventually, HSDC became one of the first tenants of the Theater last year. Ms. Kalver reported that partnering with the Harris Theater has helped HSDC become more cost-effective and increase its marketing efforts.

Karen Fishman, Executive Director of Music of the Baroque, described her organization's relationship with Harris Theater. Prior to becoming a tenant, MB performed in churches in neighborhoods throughout Chicago - but for years they had wanted a downtown performance location. Harris Theater is a perfect fit and has helped MB advance its mission by expanding its audience.

Michael Tiknis, Managing Director of the Harris Theater, ended the panel discussion with an explanation of the financial relationship between the Theater and its tenants, how the Theater balances performance schedules, and the Theater's future goals and strategies. Mr. Tiknis emphasized that the Theater is "more than just a place, it's an idea." Its mission is to help provide all levels of artistic expression to the residents of Chicago - great art, not simply big productions. He also described the Theater's $15 million endowment campaign, which will help subsidize tenant fees and implement a sliding scale to allow smaller organizations access to the Theater.

The program concluded with a tour of the Harris Theater.

• Start-Up: Many resources required to make launch successful
• Pre-Peak: Momentum is building, big success is on horizon
• Peak: The result of good preparation and hard work, short-term by nature
• Post-Peak: Success wanes, resource needs have grown to sustain peak-period productivity
• Re-Thinking: Mission review
  • Resurgence: Improvements made, mission evolves
  • Decline: No changes made, finding support becomes harder

Ms. Taylor emphasized that it is not bad for the Peak to end; in fact, it is impossible for an organization to maintain that phase. What is more important is for an organization's leadership to realize that it has entered Post-Peak because that will determine future success or failure.

Panelists Joan Gray of Muntu Dance Theatre, Laura Fisher of Famous Door Theatre Company, and Darcy Walker of Sherwood Conservatory of Music each took turns describing their agency and its perceived location on the lifecycle continuum. Ms. Taylor and the attendees analyzed each scenario, engaged in discussion, and provided constructive feedback to the panelists.

The panel started by describing the current state of children's theater in Chicago and some existing challenges. One of the challenges is simple definition-the terms "children's theater," "theater for young audiences," and "family theater" (among others) may all be used to describe similar things, yet each can have a different meaning or may appeal to a different audience.

Chicago played a large role in boosting children's theater in the first half of the twentieth century, and some panelists said another large surge could be right around the corner. While Chicago doesn't have a central children's theater similar to Minneapolis' Tony Award-winning Children's Theatre Company, it does have a diverse range of companies approaching children's theater from many different perspectives, giving the scene vitality.

Some of the current challenges include:

• Attracting top-quality talent (including actors, musicians, designers, etc.) to work on shows that may be lower-paying than other productions or may hold performances during daytime hours when performers or other theater artists are working.
• Increasing the visibility of children's theater by receiving reviews from the city's major newspapers and attention from theater awards programs. Critics from the Tribune and Sun-Times have said they do not review children's theater, while the Jeff Awards specify that children's theater productions are not eligible for any awards.
• Sharing spaces with other theaters and having to work around the sets of nighttime shows.
• Developing quality scripts that measure up to the best of adult theater.
  Generating sufficient income for companies that, instead of charging $40 or more per seat like larger theaters, often charge $10 or less.

The panel and participants offered several ideas for boosting the visibility of children's theater in Chicago. For example, a group of companies could band together to buy a full-page ad in one of the newspapers; not only would the ad itself increase visibility, but spending with the newspapers can help leverage reviews. Another proposed idea was to use a small grant from an arts funder to produce a quarterly newsletter detailing what shows are coming up in the near future and providing contact information for children's theater companies. Other ideas discussed included giving discounts or other incentives (possibly through public libraries), and establishing a subscription series that would involve multiple companies and provide subscribers with a broad sampling of what is available.

It was also suggested that groups take advantage of membership in associations like the League of Chicago Theaters that provide opportunities to place group ads in media, plan programming together, and strengthen the network of children's theaters by building relationships among them.

Several participants stated that a central building that could provide space for several companies would address problems of space, cost, and visibility. Such a building could make attendance at a children's theater feel more like an "event," which often helps generate return visits. Milwaukee's new Youth Arts Center, which will serve as a home to the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra and the First Stage Children's Theater, was mentioned as an example of the kind of space that can be built.

The panel went on to discuss the future of children's theater in Chicago and what they think is needed to foster its growth. Along with the previously listed concepts to promote visibility, some of the ideas discussed here included:

• Developing a training center similar to the Old Town School of Folk Music.
• Putting together a web site or brochure providing contact information for several companies.
• Linking with the Chicago Park District's summer day camp program, which has 20,000-30,000 children registered.
• Holding a children's theater festival in 2006.
• Creating an awards category specifically for children's theater.
• Partnering with adult theaters to help them understand that investment in children's theater builds the next generation of theatergoers for their productions.

• A mid-sized budget might represent different totals for different types of arts organizations, theater, dance, arts. In some cases, under $100,000 is considered small; in other cases, under $1 million is considered small.
• Funders also take into account an organization's stage of development along a continuum, and noted that budget size is not necessarily an indicator of quality.
• Some theater organizations choose to remain small, so lack of budget growth is not an indicator of program or artistic stagnation.
• Outreach can be labor intensive, with greater costs involved in more effective efforts.
• When rapid growth in theater organizations is observed, key questions can help in examining capacity: Does the organization have the board it needs to support growth? Does it have the infrastructure it needs?
• It is more important to recognize the goals of the organization and whether they are achieved than to measure the organization against budget size alone.
• Earned income is unique to theaters, so audience development can be an indicator of success. Does the product resonate with audiences? How much of the theater's unearned growth is the responsibility of funders?
• Once an organization gets past its initial start up, funders expect to see growth, continuity and institutionalization, but this is not articulated.

Key points about other challenges in organizations undergoing change:

• How do theaters manage the loss of the artistic director? Does the board feel obliged to fill the vacancy to fulfill the founding artistic director's vision? Should we expect the theater to go out of business or transform? Funders cannot rescue such organizations without the art's being worthy of funding, and taking into account the organization's track record and whether an infrastructure was developed to support the organization. Is the organization collaborative and deeply embedded, or owned only by the artistic director?
  
• After a leadership loss, it is essential to see the organization's plan that identifies where its board is in the transition, available resources, and options as a means of assessing risks for foundation support.

The Trust felt that this was an appropriate time to assess changes in the arts community. The information collected would help inform funding priorities for FY 2006-2008. Some of the survey objectives included: understand the numbers and types of arts and cultural organizations in the Chicago area; uncover trends in arts organizations' earned and contributed revenues; and determine current or planned capital and endowment campaigns. Overall, a 52% response rate was received through an on-line Zoomerang survey. Individual responses were anonymous and only the aggregated responses were analyzed.

• 73% of respondents stated that during the past three years, their percentage of earned income to total income has remained the same or increased.
• 47% of respondents stated that general operating support as a percentage of total contributed income decreased.
• Over 50% of the respondents with a budget of $5 million and above stated that they are currently conducting or planning to launch an endowment campaign, with 30% of all respondents currently conducting or planning to launch an endowment campaign.
• The top three most critical funding gaps today that respondents identified included: general operating support; multi-year support; and salary support.
• The top three most critical challenges to fundraising over the next three years included: general operating; finding new sources of funding; and strengthening support from individuals.

Other information was collected from arts and culture funders to understand the priorities of other Chicago area funders, learn how arts funders evaluate their grants, and learn the funding community's perceptions of The Trust's arts and culture strategies, knowledge and service. Responses revealed:

• Multi-year support is a priority of their arts and culture funding program.
• Arts and culture funding priorities are reviewed every three or four years.
• New areas of arts support being researched included capacity building in jazz and museum and civic participation.
• Funders stated that the top three funding gaps included: general operating support; multi-year support; and support for core mission.
• Funders see audience development, competition for funding and leadership succession as the three most important issues facing the arts community over the next three years.

Next steps included: Working with the Donors Forum to develop a quantitative analysis of arts and culture grants of the top 25 arts funders; develop The Trust's funding priorities for FY 2006-2008; and announce new funding priorities to the arts and culture community in Spring 2005. Additional details regarding survey results can be found at www.cct.org .

Suzannah Cowell, DFC Assistant Director of Research, discussed arts and culture funding information available in the Foundation Source (FS) database. The FS database is available on the Donors Forum of Chicago web site www.donorsforum.org and can be accessed with a password. Funders questioned FS categories, noting some categories appear too broad. Funders suggested new categories to capture advocacy, architecture and design, and the funding of individual artists. Ms. Cowell will follow-up with a document that defines each category before the summer retreat. The co-chairs hoped that this further classification of grants will help create an informational tool for funders to reflect on current grants as well as identify future collaborations and funding gaps.

The group reviewed their recent grants list and foundation guidelines. Participants discussed their foundation's grantmaking philosophy. Program officers from The Joyce Foundation, Chicago Community Trust and Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation stated that the arts and culture funding guidelines for their foundations will change for FY2006.

The panel, comprised of grantee and non-profit representatives, was asked to answer a series of questions:

• How would you suggest nonprofits and funders work to build and maintain long-term relationships?
• How honest can or should a grantee be with a funder in reporting and self-evaluation?
• How honest can or should applicants and grantees be with a funder in reporting and self-evaluating?
• When does a request from a foundation change from a "hands-on" productive approach into a counter-productive or excessive or intrusive approach?
• How do you suggest funders who want to be "hand-on" work with applicants and grantees?

Personal experiences articulated the lessons learned in building positive long-term relationships. Panelists stressed the importance of honesty and transparency. Funders should articulate the action steps and decision points involved in the application process. A focus on sustaining a program is a better way to maintain a long-term relationship between funders and grantees than focusing on the personal relationship between non-profit staff and foundation staff. A back-up plan for program funding will make it easier for a non-profit to be more open with their program officer.

The session highlighted the challenges a funder can experience in balancing the desire to be non-intrusive with the need to understand an organization's capacity to do their work. Non-profits identified foundations' counter-productive requests. It was noted that shaping programs around foundations' missions may divert nonprofits from their own mission. Another trouble spot is when a disproportionate amount of non-profit time and energy are spent for a small grant.

Funders and non-profits alike discussed the awkwardness in the discussion around declined proposals. Some non-profits want to hear the reasons a proposal was declined, but not immediately after they have been told they will not receive funding. Funders who offer an opportunity for the non-profit to follow-up on the rationale for the decline find it yields a productive conversation for both the funder and applicant.

Audience development is a long-term project that can hold social and economic importance for an organization. One organization worked to systematically diversify programming on stage, in casting and in arts leadership over a ten-year time frame. Other organizations cautioned not to shift programming focus when incorporating diversity into programs. Organizations acknowledged that their audience appreciates the work on a production even if the program does not follow traditional programming of that institution.

Panelists discussed audience ticket buying patterns. Subscription growth can imply support for the institution. Research on Latino and African American ticket purchases revealed a last minute buying pattern. One organization felt that to increase their ticket sales, they needed to target resources to diversifying their current audience. Collaboration among arts organizations is one way to create a more diverse audience and increase audience size. The discussion highlighted a lack of data on arts participation by the African American and Latino populations. This creates a challenge in targeting those populations for audience development.

The discussion highlighted that overall general arts participation places audiences in theaters. The free programming offered by the city encourages arts participation. The programming is at an affordable price and is in an accessible location. Continued exposure to arts programming could lead to other art