NPAC ADVOCACY TASK FORCE DELIVERABLE

as of 8.19.09

Task Force Members: Jesse Rosen, Chair. Heather Noonan, co-chair. Laurie Baskin, Aaron Flagg, Leah Frelinghuysen, Jonathan Katz, Andrew Massey, Susie Medak, Cookie Ruiz, KJ Sanchez, Dalouge Smith. Vicky Abrash, NPAC Task Force Director

I. ADVOCACY VISION STATEMENT

What the future will look like if we achieve our goals

The performing arts' contribution to the public good is deeply understood
and widely acknowledged among the general public, policy makers and others
who shape civic priorities.

  • Arts advocates engage in civic dialogues to establish the public value of the performing arts in the context of changing community needs.
  • Authentic and compelling messages and facts will make the case for the performing arts as a public good.
  • Effective infrastructure is in place for timely communication with
    policymakers at all levels
  • All constituents of arts organizations - artists, audiences,
    administrators, and volunteers
  • are informed about issues
  • activate the channels for advocacy,
  • participating frequently in advocacy work
  • are able to effectively communicate the value of the arts experience
  • Advocates collaborate efficiently and mobilize the widest range of potential allies to maximize their advocacy impact
  • Every performance is seen as an advocacy opportunity.
  • The arts are prominently integrated into the civic dialogue at the national
    regional and local level

II. ADVOCACY STRATEGY STATEMENT

Draft as of August 20,2009

1). Activating our entire networks

Strategies:

1. The national service organizations for the performing arts should take a role in activating the leaders of member organizations to view advocacy and civic presence as a core part of their portfolio. Articulating the public value of the performing arts should be a board agenda item, and should extend to all stakeholders including artists, trustees, staff, audiences and supporters.

  • Member organizations identify an advocacy leader on board and/or staff
  • Actively disseminate to member organizations materials like “Advocacy Basics for Performing Arts Organizations.”
  • Identify those individuals at member organizations already engaged in advocacy to assist with identifying, activating and training their colleagues at other organizations across disciplines

2. Through professional development educate and motivate all constituents to value advocacy of the performing arts as core part of their job.

  • Utilize all professional development opportunities e.g. fellowships, seminars, and training materials, to establish the importance of advocacy and introduce best practices.

Timing Table:All above could be achieved within the 3-6 month time frame

Resources:None of the above requires significant resource

2). Messaging

Strategies:

1. Develop a consensus on what the performing arts messages should be.

  • PAA should research what messages achieve the goals of communicating publicly the value of the performing arts.
  • PAA should collect pan arts data and talking points that support arguments regarding the public value of the performing arts

2. Disseminate key messages for consistent use in the field via NPA web portal

3. Draw attention to success stories in communicating the value of the performing arts –

  • ie if a particular Congressman gets a tremendous number of letters in support of the arts from a district, everyone from that district should be celebrated
  • PAA collect and highlight local and state advocacy messaging successes

Timing:Long term; 3-5 years

Resource:Message development and requires an entity to project management; and $300,000- $500,000.

3).Strengthening Advocacy infrastructure

Strategies:

  1. Establish means for regular sharing of information, experience, and training among and between the national intermediaries, like service organizations; and individual performing arts organizations.
  • The Performing Arts Alliance, and other national, regional, and local advocacy resources will communicate the extent and availability of their resources to constituents.
  • Achieve better strategic and communications alignment among NPAC intermediaries through more frequent communication.
  • PAA convene 2-4 conference calls per year with the individuals at PAA member organizations that are the most active in local, state, and national advocacy
  • PAA members’ advocacy staff request that their local organizational members convene a small group meeting with local arts advocates across disciplines whenever they are visiting American cities.

2. Build effective infrastructure at the local level for timely communication with policymakers at all levels.

  • National organizations will encourage members to seek our local partners for re-establishing strong coalition efforts.

3. Find ways to better utilize the extant infrastructure for timely communication with policy makers at the national level.

  • Better publicizing e-advocacy and opportunity for grass roots and grass top communication

Time Table: 3-6 month time frame

Resource:Achievable with existing resources – requires improved communications

Still developing strategies for the following goals:

4). Making Every Performance an Advocacy Opportunity
5). Prominently Integrating the Arts into the Civic Dialogue at the Local, State, and National Levels

6). Mobilizing the Widest Range of Potential Allies

III. ADVOCACY SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

  • Pervasive performing arts activity – professional, amateur, and commercial performing arts are available to or touch the lives of everyone.
  • Long history of performing arts activity in the U.S.
  • We constitute a critical mass of activity in the society. Large numbers of people participate as attendees, volunteers, and in performing arts “workforce” – all are potential advocates
  • Significant economic impact; jobs, etc.
  • Existing elements of an infrastructure for organizing; e.g. Performing Arts Alliance, and regional, state and local collaborations
  • Momentum from NPAC to collaborate
  • Access to influentials at all levels
  • Historically viewed as significant element in international diplomacy
  • Deliver quality lifelong learning opportunities to large numbers of people, including underserved populations
  • Artists and arts organization are becoming more outwardly focused, creating more public benefits.

Weaknesses

  • Limited awareness of existing channels for advocacy
  • There is not universal willingness to collaborate or a legacy of collaboration across disciplines
  • We do not act as a unified community of advocates or as a political block. There is confusion about the multiple national advocacy networks and misinformation about permissible advocacy activities
  • Lack of distinction among advocacy for performing arts institutional structures, artists, and the actual art forms
  • Advocacy is not an institutional priority
  • Advocacy at the local level is not connected to national efforts, and advocacy for the performing arts is assumed to be “taken care of” at the national level
  • Individual artists are not sufficiently leveraged as advocates
  • Disparate and diffuse messaging due to lack of capacity to create messages that can be reinforced at all levels of advocacy
  • No consensus on what the message should be
  • Inadequate sector data
  • Communication of public value does not match the public value that is actually created by an organization – it may be over- or under-communicated.
  • Confusion in the non-profit arts about its relationship with the commercial sector
  • Sustained arts policy leadership at all levels has been lacking

.

Opportunities

  • Momentum from NPAC to organize as a performing arts community and articulate the benefits of acting as a community
  • Cultural Data Project underway
  • New administration favorable to the arts
  • Support for the arts is bipartisan
  • International performing arts activities can be leveraged via advocacy
  • Opportunities to engage influentials in direct experience of the arts
  • Leveraging the potential of partnership with the commercial and other sectors
  • Active participation by audiences
  • Build relationships with non-arts partners
  • Build on Independent Sector message framework
  • New interest in work force attributes and role of creativity
  • New interest in volunteerism, service, and the aging

Threats

  • Public recognition of the value of the arts has never been sufficient and is being challenged
  • Access and quality of other leisure-time activities.
  • Performing arts community is not addressing critical questions regarding sustainability of nonprofit performing arts organizations and the traditional nonprofit model.
  • In the absence of coordinated advocacy, we will not have a seat at the table and others will define our advocacy agenda for us
  • Perceptions of elitism, exclusivity, and irrelevance persist and undermine progress we have made toward creating community benefit
  • In the current economic climate, our advocacy weaknesses are an even more significant a liability
  • Diminishing state and local resources for the performing arts.

IV. ADVOCACY LANDSCAPE

LOCAL

United Arts Funds

Local Arts Agencies

Arts Service Organizations

Cultural and Arts Districts

Community/Local Foundations

Local Advocacy Coalitions

Tourism/Convention/Visitors

Bureaus

Artist Union Locals

Arts Education

Roundtables/Partnerships

Artists Associations

Local Professional Arts Educators

Chapters??

REGIONAL/STATE

Regional Arts Organizations and

Alliances

State Arts Agencies

State Arts Advocacy Organizations

Statewide Service Organizations

NATIONAL

Performing Arts Alliance

National Arts and Humanities Service

Organizations

Arts Education Partnership

Americans for the Arts

Cultural Data Project

National Assembly of State Arts

Agencies

Independent Sector

SupportMusic.com Coalition

Future of Music Coalition

Artists Unions

Professional Arts Education

Associations

Broadcast and Recording Organizations

Publishing Organizations

Artist Managers

Arts Product Manufacturers

Grantmakers in the Arts

VIRTUAL

Web-Based Arts Forums

Blogs

Online Newspapers and

Magazines

E-advocacy Tools

Social Networks