Capacity building for the performing arts

The CRA’s Charities Directorate recently added a new and useful feature to its website. The Donation Credit Calculator allows donors to determine the total amount of tax credits, including federal and provincial, for their charitable gifts.

It is also handy information for fundraisers making a pitch by mail, email or in person.

An example: an Ontario resident who makes a gift of $1,000.00 to a registered Canadian charity during the 2011 taxation year will receive a federal tax credit of $262.00 and an Ontario tax credit of $99.38, for a combined total tax credit of $361.38.

Who wouldn’t give under those appealing circumstances?

Toronto’s Energy Efficiency Office provides incentives available to new and/or retrofit projects through its Better Buildings Partnership, which recently expanded its focus to include the Arts & Culture sector.

These incentives can represent up to 50% of project costs.

The 2011-2014 incentives include:

Audit Funding helps you spot energy-saving opportunities and cover up to 50% of the cost of an energy audit.

Retrofit Program covers 50% of costs of installing energy-efficient measures around lighting and various non-lighting projects

The High Performance New Construction Program provides design assistance in energy-efficiency for new buildings and renovations and supports up to 100% of the cost of modeling a building

The City has four technical associates that can help you apply to these programs. Contact Aria Gharib at the Energy Efficiency Office (416 392 6324 or agharib@toronto.ca) to discuss, or Jini Stolk (jini.stolk@creativetrust.ca) or Anthony Marshall (anthony@carbon.count.ca) if you have questions on how to proceed.

At a recent Ontario Nonprofit Network strategy meeting, we were reminded that many volunteers don’t think of themselves as “volunteers.” They are, instead, deeply engaged individuals who want to make a meaningful contribution in their communities.

Doesn’t that make more sense? It does to me, and led me to think about how that simple change in perspective could transform our relationships with board members, event committees, ushers and anyone else who gives of their time and skills to help us succeed.

And, as Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director of the Toronto Arts Council and co-founder of Creative Trust said in a Toronto Arts Coalition Newsletter, some volunteers may be colleagues too. “Volunteering works both ways. As there is not a great deal of opportunity for professional development for people working in the arts, volunteering helps to build skills, increase knowledge, gain confidence, and make new friends.”

Maybe it’s time to review our Board Handbooks and Volunteer Information Sheets to see that they reflect that sense of partnership and shared commitment to the artistic vision of the organization.

We can talk about greening our theatre spaces – and we do at Creative Trust’s Facilities Roundtable meetings – but it’s not easy to know where to start. That’s why we started by commissioning independent energy auditor Anthony Marshall to do detailed energy conservation audits for six companies in Toronto. Between May and October 2011, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Factory Theatre, Tafelmusik, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, and Toronto Dance Theatre/STDT provided a year’s worth of utilities bills for analysis and welcomed Anthony into every nook and cranny of their facilities. The Energy Conservation Audits report  is the first step in Toronto’s Green Theatres,  a concerted approach to greening performing facilities in Toronto.

The audit results are fascinating, and offer numerous opportunities for collaborative work and group sourcing and purchasing. From simple lighting retrofits, to door and window replacement and automated heating controls, all the way to major boiler and heating system upgrades and rooftop ventilation replacement, there are many commonalities.   For example, while not all the companies are suited to Solar PV Array units, those who are could share research and suppliers. For lighting and heating system upgrades, Anthony identified rebate and grant programs (including through Toronto’s Energy Efficiency Office) to offset costs; these could be approached collectively.

Measures taken to green Toronto theatres will result in improved working and public environments – along with significant energy savings over time. Each of the participating companies received detailed, practical recommendations that will help them integrate greening into their facility upkeep and repair and renovation plans.

One common recommendation came as no surprise: all the facilities were found to require some form of repair and/or upgrade to the building envelope. Creative Trust’s Facilities Initiative began in 2009 to tackle the need to repair, renovate or expand our members’ facilities, many of which are in heritage buildings repurposed as public performing spaces up to 40 years ago. Because affordable, accessible, and well-maintained facilities and performing venues are necessary for the community to thrive, we’ve been helping more than 20 organizations find ways to replace heat-leaking windows, deteriorating roofs, dusty old furnaces and poor insulation, and deal with the many challenges of maintaining an ageing physical plant while trying to control costs. The Facilities Initiative has become a network for sharing, learning and raising awareness and funding to address these issues.

Through Toronto’s Green Theatres we plan to use the results of the Energy Audits as part of an overall strategy that can be rolled out to performing venues throughout the City, inspiring Creative Trust members and the wider theatre community to build energy efficiency into each new build or renovation project, and sharing our experience with other arts and nonprofit organizations.

 Toronto’s Green Theatres is the first arts sector initiative of its kind in Canada and a possible model for other communities. Like all Creative Trust’s work, it was developed collaboratively and will rely on our collective muscle for its success. We thank both Toronto’s Cultural Services and Energy Efficiency Offices, which have been wonderfully supportive of our plans to work across our sector to reduce theatres’ carbon footprints. We hope that our results will act as a catalyst for changing awareness and behavior around one of the most compelling issues of our day.

Not all of us who attended Creative Trust’s Facilities Roundtable  in August wore hard hats and steel toed boots – but we sure could have. The site of our meeting, Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie’s  space at 304 Parliament Street, was a construction project very much in process. We carefully picked our way through roughly sketched in door frames and tried to picture what the place would look like with walls, much less theatre seats. We were all, I think, highly impressed and a little alarmed by the exciting chaos of a massive renovation project. And we were very appreciative of the open and detailed advice offered by Laurence Lemieux and her construction manager on the do’s and don’ts of arts facility renovations.

We are therefore delighted to see that the Citadel, a former Salvation Army building directly across from the wonderful new construction at Regent Park, is celebrating its grand opening on February 14th with an open house from 5:00 to 6:00pm. I, for one, wouldn’t miss it for the world.

The $1.8 million renovation started with a more modest budget three years ago when we first put forward a request to the City of Toronto to support a joint proposal for federal and provincial infrastructure funds for seven arts facilities. With billions of dollars on the table, we believed that this was a unique opportunity for governments to work together to create jobs while renewing our City’s social and arts infrastructure.

We described ourselves as ‘shovel-ready’ – perhaps an exaggeration, given the complexity of such projects – but accurately said that our list was made up of essential projects addressing years of unmet need. They were community-based with a strong focus on youth, would support excellence in the performing arts and neighbourhood economic development, and contribute to the companies’ long-term organizational sustainability by making it possible to attract new audiences.

Although the City declined to support our request in full, they did back the Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre and that wonderful Artscape project will be providing a new home to COBA, Native Earth Performing Arts and many other cultural organizations in the near future. Others in the group, such as the Theatre Centre, Toronto Dance Theatre/STDT, Factory Theatre, Young People’s Theatre, Tarragon Theatre and Tafelmusik are finding other more measured ways to reach their goals.

After years of collaborating and sharing, any project’s completion is really a triumph for all. Much applause and congratulations to Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie and the new Citadel!

Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie is launching their new centre for contemporary dance with the world premiere of Les Cheminements de l’Influence (Pathways of Influence) choreographed and performed by Laurence Lemieux with music by Gordon Monahan.

Performance Dates: February 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25 at 8pm. 304 Parliament Street, just south of Dundas.

Tickets: $25 (HST included), , or at the door with cash, debit cards or credit cards.

Artscape’s New Online Do-It-Yourself Resource for Creative Placemaking and City-Building Through The Arts, Artscape DIY features extensive case studies, tools and resources, including easy-to-use downloadable templates and examples, informational videos, guides and articles designed to help users develop sustainable, affordable space for culture and creativity. Among the most valuable sections are detailed Case Studies of Artscape Projects from inception to current operations, including feasibility studies, project plans and calls for proposals; and easy-to-use Downloadable Templates, Guides, Tip Sheets and Examples such as Request for Expressions of Interest and Commercial Sublease examples, guides to Engaging the Community, Managing the Development Process, Operating Budgets and more.

ArtPlace, a public-private collaboration in “creative placemaking”, established in March 2011 by the Ford Foundation and 10 other top foundations with the National Endowment for the Arts and seven federal agencies, to drive revitalization across the U.S. through an investment model that puts arts at the center of economic development. ArtPlace supports projects where cultural groups collaborate with other community partners—private and public—to increase the vitality of neighborhoods: an inspiring idea that could spark solutions in towns and cities here in Canada.

ArtsBuild Ontario’s Facilities Portal, the first and only tool developed to provide a dynamic and continually updated inventory of the facilities used and needed by Ontario’s non-profit arts organizations, is launching in early 2012. The most important aspect of the Portal to arts organizations is that it will strengthen and support the need for increased investment in safe, green and adequate cultural infrastructure. Registration will open soon; stay tuned.

The deficit has become our artistic director, according to one Creative Trust member from the early days of Working Capital for the Arts: dictating choice of play, number of actors, design decisions, weeks of rehearsal and more. And for many of us, “Cash flow…cash flow…cash flow!”, co-founder (and former Tapestry Music Theatre General Manager and Producer) Claire Hopkinson’s cry from the heart when asked about why Creative Trust was necessary, resonated deeply.

Creative Trust companies have come a long way since then, having developed their financial skills, eliminated deficits and built working capital reserve funds. But we should all cheer the launch of a made-in-Canada website on financial matters and management in the arts. Heather Young of Young Associates (and Creative Trust’s Finance Manager) draws upon her extensive experience with doing the books for music, theatre and dance companies for her new website www.youngassociates.ca.

Among the highlights, all offered with Heather’s typical generosity and thoroughness, are the Tips of the Day, an extensive Glossary of financial terms and some great Tip Sheets on Financial Management, Bookkeeping, and Database Management. Current Tip Sheets include:

Ten Tips for Analysing Your Organization’s Operating Statements
Ten Tips for Drafting Your Annual Budget
Ten Tips for Better Financial Planning
Ten Tips for Analysing Your Organization’s Balance Sheet
Ten Tips for Managing Your Bookkeeper
Ten Tips on Being a Better Bookkeeper for Smaller Organizations
Summary of a Simple Bookkeeping System
Ten Tips for Making Clear Connections Between your Database and Financial Software

A Discussion Board offers space for venting, sharing and asking questions on topics such as the controversial Charity Intelligence article in the Nov. 15 Toronto Star, and Policies and Procedures on Gift Certificate Programs.

What a great resource, and I dare you to try to find anything as useful and interesting on the topic from anywhere else in the world.

Just in from TechSoup Canada: They now have QuickBooks Premier 2012,  and Sage Simply Accounting Premium 2012 available for qualified nonprofits and charities.

And don’t forget Finance for the Arts in Canada by Heather C. Young – a unique Canadian reference guide, self-study resource and textbook for the accounting and financial management functions in not-for-profit cultural organizations, available through www.youngassociates.ca.

Ariel Fielding’s passionate involvement with culturally diverse performing arts led to an extraordinary work experience last summer with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. Creating and implementing the Festival’s social media and community engagement strategies–no small task to undertake during a four-month fellowship supported by the Metcalf Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council–was all the more daunting in that this was the Festival’s (one of North America’s largest) first coordinated venture into the world of social media!

Ariel shared these challenges, and her on-the-spot solutions at a fascinating workshop with Creative Trust members on January 26^th. What came first? Deciding on her goals (guiding people to a wealth of festival events); her audience (primarily attenders and their community of contacts and friends); her resources (limited for the most part to her and her small team’s untiring efforts); and her tactics (using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and QR codes to create a growing affinity group highly engaged in a daily blog and crowd-sourced photo gallery with “faves of the day” and prizes.)

The results were increased and diversified attendance at events and a palpable buzz and excitement that bodes well for future Festivals. While there was not enough time to fully integrate a collaborative community outreach model into the work, Ariel’s policy recommendations for year-round grassroots community engagement and the symbiosis of social media and community engagement, set the stage for more growth and sustained engagement of diverse audiences in years to come.

By Sue Edworthy

Social Media Week (#SMWTO) starts in two weeks and it makes a lot of sense for the arts community to attend. I’m on the Advisory Board this year, and it’s given me some time to look over the schedule to see what I want to attend, and what I’d recommend. (As a shameless plug, I’m doing a workshop with the Parkdale Village BIA, as well as sitting on a panel about Women and Social Media.)

A brief note that many workshops are close to or already full, but you can just show up and get yourself on a waiting list for cancellations or no shows.

Although it’s tempting to attend all and only arts-related events, try not to do that – look for panels that can expand your horizons with ideas that can be applied  to arts and culture, if that’s what you’re going for.  There are hundreds of events going on all over the city the entire week and all are free, so hopefully you’ll find something that sparks your interest and attend.

At any rate, here are some of the events I think look interesting.

Social Media: Successful Audience/Community Engagement in Arts & Culture Our panel will share their experiences in successfully leveraging social media to achieve audience engagement goals and stimulate community awareness.  Using case studies the discussion will undoubtedly stimulate idea exchange and potential partnerships.  A conversation for both visionaries and doers.

What You Really Must Know To Succeed in Social Media Marketing It is understood that in a social world, brands must participate to succeed, evidenced by 94% of the Canadian online population actively utilizing social networks, in the past month.1 However, to win, brands must leverage the power of paid, owned and earned media in order to promote discovery, consumption and sharing. By investing in and building an ecosystem of followers, advocates and participants, brands can attract, engage and amplify their message to potential partners and customers.

Curation vs Curation This panel discussion places art curators and online content curators side by side to discuss changing definitions of the word. Is there common ground and the potential for a common understanding? If we all have the potential to become curators online, what effect does this have on traditional concepts of the profession?

Lunch and Learn –> A Social E-Society: Community Building Online  Learn how to create, share and build community online using new tools for digital dialogue. We’ll tie together the most popular social networking sites, user generated content, conversation hubs, forums and community calendars – to form a social E-society.

Social Media, Crowdsourcing and Microvolunteering for Charities and Non-profits Fundchange and Koodonation invite you to an interactive breakfast workshop on social media, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding for charities. The format will be a combination of seminar with discussion in order for you to learn from the successes of your peers.

SMWTO is also running the SMWTO Coffee House by ING DIRECT all day, every day – stop by and recharge your batteries and your devices! And I will be honest – parties are something the arts community does best, and SMWTO is having one every night of the week. Check the schedule for locations and timess

You can find Social Media Week on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter. Happy Social Media Week! Hope to see you around!

Sue Edworthy runs Sue Edworthy Arts Planning, a freelance arts consulting service specializing in marketing, communication and planning for the arts.