December 18, 2010
A&BC is pleased to share news of its accomplishments this year in service to Chicago's amazing nonprofit arts community.
Thanks to all of the individuals and organizations that have expressed their congratulations to A&BC of Chicago for its 25th year of service to the nonprofit arts sector in 2010! It has been a busy one for our hard-working staff and the ever-expanding group of dedicated business volunteers who are the heart of our programs and services.
Our Business Volunteers for the Arts (BVA) service had a banner year, juggling nearly 50 consulting projects that met the needs of more than 40 arts organizations. Our fee-based Board Development Consulting practice continues to support arts organization boards as well. The base of "ready" BVAs reached nearly 200 in 2010, including 63 new trained recruits. At any given point during the year, approximately 70 BVAs were actively engaged on consulting projects for our arts clients.
We trained 25 individuals for board service via our On BOARD program in 2010, our second year of offering two training/placement cycles. Nearly a dozen of these business volunteers have already been elected to arts boards, with the remainder still considering their decisions. A total of 94 On BOARD graduates from past years are still serving on nonprofit arts boards in Chicago.
Also in 2010, we successfully piloted a new one-on-one consultation option, A&BC Connect, a free service for managers of Chicago-area arts organizations seeking quick, short-term answers, insights or perspectives from qualified advisor/coaches on organizational challenges of immediate importance. We hope to make the service more widely available in 2011. Thanks to The Boeing Company for its support of the pilot year.
We completed seven successful "Business Essentials for the Arts" Workshops this year, plus a three-session series of in-depth workshops funded by the NEA. Eight workshops are already in the advance planning stages for 2011.
Finally, on Friday, October 22 the A&BC proudly honored "25@25" at its 25th Anniversary Gala Celebration at the Chicago Cultural Center-25 individuals and institutions that have made outstanding and lasting contributions to the city's lively and diverse cultural landscape over the past two decades or more. Read about our veritable "all-star" team of arts groups and supporters.