March 1, 2010
Filed under: BVA, Volunteerism
Recently, A&BC has faced a wonderful challenge – a surge in requests from arts groups looking for support through our Business Volunteers for the Arts (BVA) program. This presents a challenge because while our pool of volunteers has been steadily increasing (the total number of new volunteers grew by 20% from 2008 to 2009), there are still a limited number of veteran BVAs that have the experience and confidence to be project leaders.
BVA project leaders are integral to every BVA project; they’re the task master that keeps projects moving forward and the guide that provides direction. That’s why, in response to the demand for services, A&BC decided to plan special trainings for select BVAs who show promise to be skillful team leads. The first of these trainings focused on marketing plan projects and was facilitated by Toby Sachs, a BVA since 2003. Amanda Belton, one of the 13 BVAs who attended, was thankful to A&BC for planning it:
“The session by Toby was great. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with the project I’m currently on. It was helpful to hear other participants’ stories and share suggestions. Toby offered great advice on how to make the project more manageable and more deliverable to the arts community. I felt energetic and ready to take on my current project. I feel more confident to not only tackle this project but hopefully many more marketing projects to come.”
Toby shared tips on how to effectively keep the momentum of a project going and avoid “scope creep.” He also provided insight on how to deal with challenges such as an arts client having little audience data available and a limited budget. The training was not only instructive for the attendees; Toby said he benefited too. “The information and tips exchanged really flowed both ways,” noted Toby. “When you look at everyone in the room, our greatest asset is our combined, varied experience. Having a chance to compare notes with the other BVAs is always stimulating and sparks new thoughts that feed back into the next project.”
A&BC’s next training for project leads will be focused on strategic plan projects. This training will be led by Francis Sadac, a BVA of eight years, who is currently a Senior Management Consultant at IBM. Although trainings for project leads are not open to all of our volunteers, A&BC continues to offer other supplemental training opportunities to the full group of BVAs. By building the capacity of our volunteer corps, we’re in turn helping them to better build the capacity of our arts clients.
If you’re an arts organization interested in receiving a team of BVA consultants to help with a particular project, become a client of A&BC. If you’re a business professional that would like to become a BVA, apply today! The upcoming BVA orientation is scheduled for Friday, May 7, and the application deadline is Friday, April 23. For more information, contact Katie Kurcz, (312) 372-1876 ext 229.