Design: Jenny Lederer www.jennylederer.com

Throughout 2017, 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.

This week, we will talk about the letters W, X, Y and Z: 

• Web resources for arts administrators

• Word of mouth

• Workshops

• Weekly schedules and work/life balance

• Workplace culture

• eXertion and recuperation

• Year-end reflection

• Zzzzzz

——

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

W is for Web Resources for Arts Administrators

This web search can lead down a rabbit hole, but here is a short list of places to begin:

National Arts Administration and Policy Publications Database (NAAPPD)

National Center for Arts Research at Southern Methodist University

Dance/USA

Americans for the Arts 

Plus, let me mention again two valuable documents online:

Living Transition Plan – Dancers' Group

Moving Arts Leadership Forward: A Changing Landscape – Hewlett Foundation

W is for Word of Mouth

Quick pulse…..how much does your organization rely on word of mouth recommendations of classes, shows, etc? Can you name it as is and continue to ask the community for help with this? The personal touch goes very far.

W is for Workshops

As for workshops, let's just talk about workshops your site offers for the public. Whether a college dance program or a dance center, the possibilities are extensive, including:

• Workshops for high school students 
• Workshops for local teaching artists
• Workshops for college professors
• Workshops for professional level dancers
• Workshops for classroom teachers interested in dance/kinesthetic learning/embodied learning/arts integration

W is for Weekly Schedules and Work/Life Balance

On Life as a Modern Dancer, the blog feature My Dance Week literally asks artists to write out or sketch out their weeks. These schedules candidly share time spent working, emailing, commuting, rehearsing, training, and spending time with family and friends. 

Peter DiMuro, Executive Artistic Director of The Dance Complex (Boston)

Marya Warshaw, Founding/Executive Director of Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX)

Lucia Scheckner, Education Director of Brooklyn Arts Exchange

Banning Bouldin, Artistic Director of New Dialect (Nashville, TN)

Daniel Charon, Artistic Director of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (Salt Lake City)

Sarah Lass, Company Administrator for Tiffany Mills Company (New York City)

David Leventhal, Program Director for Dance for PD® through the Mark Morris Dance Group 

Laura Faure, the recently retired Director of the Bates Dance Festival, shared a few thoughts in her artist profile in 2016. She answered the question, "Can you describe a typical week as Director of Bates?"

September: A typical week for me in the Fall is working simultaneously to close up the past year and to get the new year going, so writing grant reports, reconciling the budget, setting up fundraising prospects for coming year, designing the next year’s programs, confirming the performance series, hiring faculty, and setting up my calendar of travel for the year.

July, on the other hand, is the middle of the Festival, so I am captaining the ship in collaboration with my wonderful staff, keeping things moving on a daily basis, problem solving, guiding the work of the interns, hosting artists, MCing all the public events, and enjoying the amazing community of artists gathered at Bates.

Laura Colby, Founder and Director of Elsie Management, also shared through her artist profile in 2017:

The granting process and booking process are cyclical. (I bring up grants as they are instrumental in the creation and often touring of new work.) So, a typical week at Elsie really depends on which part of the year it falls in – and what our immediate focus is that week. This is often based on where we are in the booking process. We are always managing tour dates – our companies that are out on the road that day – while we are also looking for the next opportunity for a new work to be created.

I travel to see our artists' new works, to be at specific performance engagements, as well as to our industry's convenings. So a lot of my typical week is in an airplane.

A typical week can include chasing marketing materials from our artists, anxiously following a visa petition, waiting on a grant award for a new project, and tracking our artists' payments from venues!

W is for Workplace Culture

As artists, we place great care in casting for projects as well as marketing for performances. Let's bring equal care, specificity, and intention to the idea of workplace culture. Check out some great resources through Greater Good Magazine and the Center for Greater Good at UC Berkeley. Click here. 

X is for eXertion and Recuperation

Taking a cue from Laban language, let's consider "exertion and recuperation." This is an incredibly powerful lens to use for our work. 

For many, the tendency is go, go, go…..endless lists…..40+ hours of work every week. But there needs to be ebbs and flows of activity and effort. 

At your site, can you work together to articulate these busy times, and then the potential to slow a bit down for a few days after an event to recover, reflect, and celebrate? Celebration and gratitude are key! 

Y is for Year-end Reflection

As each calendar year draws to an end, what activities, rituals, or meetings are in place to reflect on the year, acknowledge the group's hard work, and celebrate? Can you place this on the calendar now? Can this be on a board meeting agenda as well? 

Z is for Zzzzzzzz

We might laugh and underestimate this, but self-care is key for arts administrators and leaders…..to bring their best selves to work each day, to be a vibrant and focused leader…..

How would you describe your quantity and quality of sleep these days?