For the next few months, we will be using the alphabet as a novel way to unpack the many concepts of arts administration. Please join in. Thank you to the following arts administrators for adding ideas to the project:

• Ashley Thorndike-Youssef, Now Next Dance
• Fernando Maneca, BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange
• Hillary Kooistra, Abraham.In.Motion
• Kathryn Humphreys, Hubbard Street Chicago
• Katie Kruger, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center
• Liz Hitchcock Lisle, Shotgun Players
• Phyllis Haskell Tims, University of Utah (retired)
• Rebecca A. Ferrell, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Sarah Crowell, Destiny Arts Center
• Tammy Cheney, Lines Ballet

Arts administration relates to work at dance centers, arts councils, arts education programs, companies, and college programs. Please read on to explore the many and varied topics within arts administration. While not every topic applies to every setting, we hope that you will still find one or two ideas in the post that are useful and applicable to your particular setting. Please feel free to add ideas and links in the comments section below.

The letter E:

• Expenses
• Endowment
• Engagement 
• Evaluations
• Educational programming/education department
• Education Directors
• Employment law
• Email plan
  

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Let's unpack, consider, and reflect upon each one of these words. Even before reading further, you might want to take the list of 8 ideas here and simply journal for your organization. What do these words and phrases mean to you at your organization?

Expenses

There are expenses, bills, and salaries that are at the forefront and frequently considered: staff paychecks, mortgage or monthly rent, office supplies, and teaching supplies. The hidden expenses include liability insurance, workers comp, payroll taxes, payroll services, paper goods for the building, etc. 

I am a big supporter of as much transparency as appropriate with staff about budgets, income, and expenses. A clear sense of size, scale, and goals really benefits each employee in their understanding of the organization as well as their role and responsibilities within it. 

Endowment

An endowment is a large amount of money set aside for an organization, to work for the organization. Endowments usually are several million dollars and are more commonly seen at private K-12 schools and colleges. This base of money is not touched; the interest earned from it is what is used by an institution each year. This interest might be $100,000 or so. A major gift can establish an endowment for an organization, and then future donations can be added to it.

Engagement

The word "engagement" refers to so many people within an organization, school, and dance department: students engaging in the community, alumni engagement, audience engagement, community engagement, and board engagement. 

Which kinds of engagement are important to you and your site? What are your strengths and weaknesses with engagement? 

Ultimately, whether talking about audience members or alumni, we are talking about interactions, commitment, relationships, and support. 

Engagement so directly relates to your mission, income, donations, class participation, performance viewing, and overall growth.

Maybe consider a yearly "engagement goal" for your organization.

Evaluations

Based on my years in the nonprofit arts field, I believe that the topic of "evaluations" is on the top ten list of weaknesses within organizations. It is unfortunately common that people can go years without a formal evaluation. The pace of work, the frequency of seasonal work, and understaffing are common factors that lead to a lack of time for evaluations. 

But evaluations are so important and valuable for employees and employers/boards! Evaluations are about reflection, accountability, and growth. 

This week, can you schedule a time to evaluate each staff member sometime this calendar year? 

Here is an article I wrote in 2016 for Dance Studio Life about evaluations and pay raises within dance studios and dance centers:

http://dancestudiolife.com/august-2016-tell-it-like-it-is/

Educational programming/education department

Some nonprofits are entirely about educational programming – the essence of their mission and vision. But let's consider for a moment dance companies and theaters. 

No matter what the scale of your educational programming might be, it all can be really good and important work. Maybe you have one, longterm partnership with the public elementary school down the street from your space. Maybe you run two children's matinees a year and offer master classes at 5 sites in town. Maybe you offer a teacher workshop one weekend every fall – with ideas and exercises related to the coming season. 

If you run a dance company, read more in this post from April 2016:

http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2016/04/building-a-dance-company-on-the-topic-of-educational-programming-1.html

Education Directors

Over the years on Life as a Modern Dancer, Education Directors have been highlighted. Read more about their roles and work here:

Leah Cox, the first director of education for the Bill T. Jones Company: http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2014/11/artist-profile-79-leah-cox-new-york-ny.html

Lucia Scheckner, Education Director at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange: http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2017/02/my-arts-admin-week-lucia-scheckner-education-director-at-bax-brooklyn-arts-exchange.html

Gigi Arrington, Education Director for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company: http://dancingwords.typepad.com/life_as_a_modern_dancer/2013/10/artist-profile-45-gigi-arrington-salt-lake-city-ut.html

Kathryn Humphreys, the Director of Education, Youth and Community Programs at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago: http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2016/01/leadership-in-dance-2016-kathryn-humphreys.html

Employment law

Employment law relates to many, many topics, including: minimum wage, overtime, breaks during the work day, family and medical leave, and severance pay.

Here are three links to resources:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/hr-employment-law

http://blog.nolo.com/blog/category/employment-law-2/

http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/employment-law/

Email plan

Emails and emails! How often? How many different lists? Do you use an email template like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact?

A little care and attention to your frequency of emails is essential when considering your relationship with your staff, students, donors, alumni, and potential audience members. Creating a thoughtful plan is important, especially since we are experiencing "bounceback" now that people get so many emails every single day. What will make them open your email and read the content?

Second, how is this content similar or different from information on your website, Facebook page, donation letter, newsletter, and such?

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