There are three basic phases to the strategic planning process.

• First, you have to determine your identity and clarify your creative offering, as discussed in a previous post, “Professional Identity: Who Are You? And What Do You Do?”
• Next, it’s wise to assess your environment: What is the state of your industry? What are the characteristics of your market? What are your peers doing? What opportunities and challenges exist? What are complementing factors (e.g. restaurants and performance venues)? Where do you exist in all of this?
  
• Finally, you make a plan.

In general, people tend to skip the middle step, especially when pressed for time and resources. However, doing an environmental analysis will give you the big picture map of your “world.” You can see where you are on the map and make informed decisions about where you want to go. The “big picture” can show you profitable under-served or un-served niche areas in your industry. If you aren’t afraid of direct competition, you can learn how to attractively differentiate your offering from those already occupying that space. Hopefully, you can even discover the coveted “Blue Ocean.”

What is a blue ocean?

In any industry you have competition, even in non-profit arts. We compete for “butts in seats,” for grant money, for corporate sponsorships, for ad space, for the critics’ attention, for performance/gallery space, for views on the Internet, etc. Mature industries (e.g. theatre) are called “Red Oceans,” meaning the marketplace is so saturated with competition that it gets a little bloody.

As you have probably experienced, trying to grow an arts organization or develop an arts career in a red ocean is tough. There is a fair amount of audience demand for arts and entertainment, but a surplus of artists and arts organizations ready to fill that demand. In Harvard Business Review’s October 2004 issue, Prof. W. Chan Kim and Prof. Renée Mauborgne proposed using a blue ocean strategy: “developing uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant.” In a blue ocean you create new demand, rather than fight over it, which allows you to rapidly and profitably grow.

How do you create a blue ocean? Kim and Mauborgne outline two ways you can create a blue ocean:

• launch a new industry (e.g. eBay’s online auctions)
• or expand the boundaries of your current industry (e.g. Cirque du Soleil in the circus industry).

Having an innovative idea strong enough to launch a new industry is rare, but expanding industry boundaries is more common.

Kim and Mauborgne write about Guy Liliberte, a onetime accordion-player/stilt-walker/fire-eater who started a circus when the industry was in major decline. Not only were children’s interests redirected to the rapidly increasing availability of hi-tech gadgets (e.g. Playstation), but animal rights groups where discouraging circus attendance. Despite this unattractive environment, Laliberte grew Cirque Du Soleil into the most successful circus in history with 40+ million audience members, multiple productions, over 90 global cities on its tour schedule, and unmatched revenue.

How did he do it?

“The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition.”

Traditional firms were fighting to capture the attention of children. Cirque created demand in a demographic never targeted by circus organization in the past: “adults and corporate clients prepared to pay a price that is several times as expensive as traditional circuses.” Additionally, traditional firms exclusively focused on entertaining elements such as pageantry, showmanship, tricks, slapstick, and wow factors. Although Cirque embraced all these elements, they added an overall high art aesthetics that engaged their target market.

Also, Cirque eliminated costs as Gabor George Burt discusses on his blog:

• Traditional firms paid premium compensation to “stars” that did not really have the star power to draw audiences. Cirque had no stars and saved on salary costs.
• Traditional firms had animal shows. Not only was this very costly, but it was increasingly politically incorrect. Cirque created an all human show.
• Traditional firms had aisle concession sales, which were costly and didn’t add much value to the audience’s experience. Cirque eliminated this practice.
• Traditional firms had multiple show arenas, which were costly and somewhat distracting for audience members. Cirque cut this as well.

Hopefully, this example has illustrated the importance of understanding your industry dynamics, finding creative ways to navigate around threats, and taking advantage of opportunities.

Of course, we are all aware of the threats surfacing from the current economic crisis. However, I encourage you to continue to find/create opportunity, because not everyone is experiencing bad times. In fact, Rachel Abramowitz recently reported in the LA Times that bad economic times are good times for the entertainment industry.

So find your blue ocean or niche or differentiation strategy and fulfill your goals!!!!!

For more detailed information on how to do an environmental analysis, feel free to contact me or stay tuned for the launch of our new strategic planning courses at Fractured U.

A Philadelphia-area visual artist and member of Fractured Atlas since December 2003, Ellen Priest has taken jazz as the subject of her paintings since 1990.  She creates a series of mixed-media paintings based on a single jazz composition. Her recent work has used jazz pianist/composer Edward Simon’s “Venezuelan Suite” as its inspiration.

Ellen, tell us more about your technique.

My paintings are constructed from superimposed layers of paper — the back layer opaque watercolor paper, the front layers translucent vellum — each with drawing, color and more recently, collage.  The result is that one sees a painting through a painting.

Who or what are your strongest influences?

I would point to three very diverse sources:  First, my steadiest visual art influences have been Cezanne’s later watercolors; Matisse’s color and compositional structure; and Abstract Expressionism, especially the work of Willem De Kooning and, later, Joan Mitchell.

Jazz and related African and Latin American music have changed my work.  Specifically, the rhythms and harmonic structures have both affected color and composition.  My website offers more thoughts about the interface between jazz and my paintings.

And, finally, I’ve been fairly athletic all my life.  My favorite sports are the “balance sports,” where motion depends on weight and balance thrown off-center, often in response to terrain: skiing, swimming, cycling, rollerblading, water-skiing and skating.   

It’s not often that a visual artist claims athleticism as an influence… Tell us how your enjoyment of sports has influenced your paintings.

I love being a physical person in a physical world, and movement is critical to understanding my artworks. It’s particularly apparent in my brush studies.  I strive to get an anthropomorphic feeling into the marks I make, even though they are abstract.  Art gives form to feeling.  Movement is the carrier of meaning. A career-changing book I read over 30 years ago, philosopher Susanne Langer’s Feeling and Form, developed both those concepts. You could say that I work with visual movement.

How do you define “success”?

To me, there are two kinds of success: public and private.  The public or “career” success includes the critical recognition, the sales of my paintings, the grants and exhibitions.  This success keeps me fed and in the studio, and will preserve my work when I’m gone.

The second is my personal assessment of my artwork — the images themselves, the clarity and creativity of my thinking, the intensity and rigor of my long-term process.  Have I created artwork that satisfies my largest goals?  This is the success that allows me to look myself in the eye after nearly 30 years in the studio and feel happy.  This is also the one that keeps shifting, and moving farther out ahead of me as the work continues to grow.

These two kinds of success clearly merge at times — for example, when I see people experiencing the joy and energy I hope they will in the presence of my work.

What has been your greatest success to date?

In 2007, my first museum show was held at the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.  While the exhibition was up, I received my second Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant.  Both were deeply gratifying.

How did you hear about Fractured Atlas and what motivated you to join?

I was researching health insurance on the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) website, which led me to Fractured Atlas.  I was intrigued by Fractured Atlas’s mission and joined [in 2003], figuring that as it grew, even more services would be available to me…which has been true.

Finish this sentence: “Art is important because ______.”

…it gives symbolic form to experience, both for the artist and for the viewers.

How can we see and learn more about your work?

Please visit www.ellenpriest.com.  Lots more paintings, and lots more about the interface between jazz and my images.  There’s also a short animation designed to help viewers understand the surface and physical depth of the paintings.

Images:
Top and middle: Jazz: Edward Simon’s ‘Venezuelan Suite’ #10 and #3, © 2006. Oil and flashe on collaged paper, each 42″ x 42″.
Bottom: Jazz: Gonzaguinha’s Africa/Brazil #9, © 2004. Oil and flashe on collaged paper. 42″ x 42″.

A few weeks ago I was in Pittsburgh for the Technology in the Arts Conference.  Presumably because I was both a presenter and a member of the conference steering committee, they decided to interview me for the official podcast.  If you’ve got an interest in the subject matter, it might be worth a listen.  I’m the third person interviewed, but the first two have some great stuff to talk about so you should check them out as well.

On a selfish/self-conscious note…  Do I always sound like such a nasally dweeb?  (Please don’t answer that unless the answer is “no”.)

Andrew Taylor writes about the impact of economic downturns on philanthropic giving.

The general assumption about all forms of philanthropy in economic hard times — individual, foundation, corporate — is that as money tightens, contributions decline…. But if history is any indication, at least these charts suggest our general assumption may be wrong. Prepared by Alexander Haas Martin & Partners, and presented (or so I’m told) during the recent Grantmakers in the Arts conference, they show obvious increases in philanthropy during stock market rallies, but also increases during market lags.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked recently how I expect the recession (which is shaping up to be a pretty nasty one) to impact the arts community, and Fractured Atlas in particular.  My standard answer has been, “I don’t know, but whatever impact there is probably won’t be all that noticeable in the aggregate.”

Granted, I haven’t been around long enough (in this role, I mean) to witness a full boom-and-bust cycle, which typically happens over 10-20 years.  But there have been modest ups and downs throughout the past 6 years, during which I’ve watched for any impact on the fundraising success of our fiscal sponsees.  If forced to generalize based on this limited data set, I’d say that:

1. Individual giving seems to increase when the stock market is booming.  Most of this takes the form of actual gifts of stock, which help donors avoid capital gains taxes.
2. Private foundations complain a lot about shrinking endowments when the market is down, but many in that community perceive it as their responsibility to ensure stability in the field during periods of economic hardship.  This is why you’ll often see major new grant initiatives being introduced when the economy is hurting.
3. Government funding, especially from member items, declines - sometimes dramatically - as tax revenues fall during an economic downturn.

There’s nothing remotely scientific about these conclusions, and I reserve the right to be horribly wrong.  But since it seems to generally gel with the fancy charts produced by those consultants there’s probably some basis in reality.

New York-based Small Pond Entertainment is an emerging theatre arts organization that was started five years ago by artistic director Michael Roderick when he found that it was virtually impossible for an artist to be at their best when they also had to produce.  In this interview with Fractured Atlas, Michael elaborates on his organization’s mission, tells us what’s ahead, and explains what goes into making a “Hot Cripple”…

Michael, tell us more about Small Pond Entertainment’s mission and work.

Small Pond Entertainment seeks to help artists who are developing work by providing producing services, enabling the artist to focus on their art.  We assist the artist by general managing the production, helping to find donors, and helping them budget.  We do this while teaching the artist all about producing so that they can go on and do it themselves someday.

What has been your greatest success to date?

I would have to say this summer’s sold-out productions: “Sleeper” at Manhattan Theatre Source, “The Director’s Reality” at the Midtown International Theatre Festival, and “Hot Cripple”.

Tell us more about “Hot Cripple”:  How did it come about?

“Hot Cripple” came from a chance meeting with the writer/actress Hogan Gorman at an after party for another show we produced, “Liberty and Joe DiMaggio”.  Hogan told me that she had a story and she’d eventually be looking for a producer.  She emailed me when it got accepted into FringeNYC, but her invite ended up getting buried under a mountain of other emails.  Luckily, a mutual friend forwarded me her need for a producer the day before the paperwork was due and she came running down to the school where I work and signed me on.

It seems that with “Hot Cripple” you really accomplished your mission of providing production assistance so that artists can better focus on their art: at the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival, the one-woman show garnered actor/playwright Hogan Gorman the festival’s Overall Excellence Award for “Outstanding Actor”.

What did you expect (or want) your audience to experience during the performance and to take away after they leave?

My hope for the piece was that the story would get the audience talking about the current U.S. healthcare system and open up a dialogue about how poorly people are treated when they don’t have health insurance.  I like finding really good stories that get people to talk.

You’ve been a member of Fractured Atlas since 2004. How did you find out about our organization?  What motivated you to become a member?

A friend of mine was running a theatre company called Prophecy Productions, which was a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas.  He explained to me how fiscal sponsorship worked and I went on the website to check it out.  When I saw how informative the site was and how much support the organization provided, I decided to sign up then and there.

Finish this sentence: “The artist’s role in society is to…”

“…to lead people to ask questions. To challenge the norm and refute the dominant ideology. The artist is there to turn on the lights when it’s hard to see the art.”

Who or what are your biggest influences?

Our biggest influences come from the theatre community, the public, Playwrights Horizons, Ken Davenport, as well as many other companies and producers.

What’s next on Small Pond Entertainment’s horizon?

We are currently running a monthly comedy series that splits all proceeds with indie theatre companies; I am currently writing a blog for people interested in producing on the ground level; and we have a show coming up in January 2009 called “Dead Pan”, which is also quite thought-provoking.  And we continue to help as many artists as we can with networking events and development opportunities.

How can we read/experience/learn more about you and your organization’s work?

You can always check out my blog, http://oneproducerinthecity.typepad.com/, or take a look at the Small Pond website: www.smallpondentertainment.com.

Images:
Top: Michael Roderick, Artistic Director, Small Pond Entertainment. Photo by Erica Singleton.
Middle: Promo image for “Hot Cripple”. Hogan Gorman, Playwright, Actor.
Bottom: Images from “Proof by Disproof” (July 2006). Pictured: Craig Anthony Grant, Christopher Beier (top) and Nell Casey.

Continuing a week of large funding announcements, Fractured Atlas would like to congratulate the four theatrical organizations that were awarded significant Mellon Foundation grants.  Two of the four companies, New Dramatists and The Playwrights’ Center, are Open Arts Network partners.  Here is some more information about the grants….

“The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has named the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, and The Playwrights’ Center as organizations that will receive grants ranging from $500,000 to $1,000,000 over the course of the next three to five years in support of new work. The Mellon Foundation issued the following statement regarding the 2008 grant recipients: ‘These centers have a distinguished history of providing support for artists and of collaborating successfully with regional theaters across the U.S. in producing new works that have been developed at their labs. While different in terms of programming, all share a goal of bringing new voices to the American theatre repertoire.’”

Randomville is a webzine that covers music, film, graphic arts, and all kinds of pop culture goodness. They’ve been around for 4+ years and each year they choose a charitable organization to receive donations raised through a unique fundraising effort called The Torturethon. This year they chose Fractured Atlas!

The Torturethon is basically an opportunity to “torture” yourself with a particular song that you loathe by agreeing to listen to it over and over repeatedly for as long as you can. Participants are (thankfully!) sponsored for their suffering, and the proceeds go to a worthy cause. Randomville has also generously agreed to match 50% of the funds raised!

Fractured Atlas is honored to have been chosen and I encourage you to check out Randomville’s reviews and message boards. If interested you can sign up for the Torturethon here.

The only question left is which song will you choose? If it were me, I’d go for anything by Meatloaf, but don’t let me influence your decision ;)

This one goes out to our members in NYC…

As part of Fractured Atlas’s Place + Displaced project we sponsored a series of performances of Danny Hoch’s new show Taking Over in some NYC neighborhoods that are experiencing gentrification-related struggles.  Taking Over is now headed to The Public Theater, and there are discounts for members of the FA community. Use the code “DHTOUR” to get access to $25 tickets.

Fractured Atlas Board member Ken Weinberg had an article published in the NY Times earlier this week.  Ken is an E.R. doc in Teaneck, NJ and also works with Physicians for a National Health Program and Columbia University’s Program in Narrative Medicine.  The piece in the Times no doubt draws upon his experience with the latter, as it discusses Ken’s experience watching his father die.  It’s a good read.

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Nonprofit Finance Fund announced the first 10 grantees of their new program, “Leading for the Future: Innovative Support for Artistic Excellence.”  These are not your typical, run-of-the-mill grants, though.  Each recipient is getting $1,000,000+ over five years, combined with extensive technical assistance.  This massive injection of support is intended to make a long-term impact on the organizations’ stability and sustainability, mainly through the development of new business ideas.

Here are the happy 10:

• Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation (New York, NY), to explore a new model of online patron engagement for its celebration of African-American heritage through modern dance.Center Theatre Group (Los Angeles, CA), to explore new subscription and producing models resonant with young audiences.
• Cunningham Dance Foundation (New York, NY), to transition to a post-founder legacy period as it furthers the work of legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham.
• Jacob’s Pillow Dance (Becket, MA), to extend its impact as the longest-running dance festival in the United States by using technology to become a national resource and model.
• Misnomer Dance Theater (New York, NY), to develop new relationships between technology and dance that build on its work as a pioneer in online expression and marketing. [NOTE: I'm on their Board!]
• National Black Arts Festival (Atlanta, GA), a year-round cultural celebration of the contributions of artists of African descent, to expand the audience online for the art and performance work of education pertaining to Africa and the African Diaspora.
• Ping Chong & Company (New York, NY), to explore a new financial model by franchising a community-organizing experimental theatre project.
• SITI Company (New York, NY), to establish this ensemble-based theatre company as a resident New York City organization with relevant partnerships and support.
• Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL), to explore new modes of producing and engaging young audiences, including partnerships with other arts groups and universities.
• The Wooster Group (New York, NY), to explore a new producing model, pursue partnerships, and take on a new educational role in contemporary theatre.

When I first heard about this program, I figured it must be a Ben Cameron initiative.  Ben is the new-ish Program Director for the Arts at Doris Duke, but he was previously the Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group.  In that capacity, he often spoke about the need for new funding models based on broad, risk-comfortable, multi-year support (i.e. as opposed to short-term, limited support for a specific project).

This quote from the Playbill article seems to confirm this theory:

“‘Business as usual’ is no longer an option for many nonprofit arts organizations, and standard funding practices give them little room to invest in bold and experimental solutions to economic challenges,” stated Ben Cameron, director for the arts for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. “We in the funding community must be willing to take risks to test new ideas — especially when the road gets rough — in order to secure a vibrant, sustainable future for the organizations we support.”