March 1, 2011
Filed under: A&BC News
A&BC is pleased to announce that it has recently received a significant grant from The Chicago Community Trust for the purpose of conducting smARTscope® assessments for 31 arts and cultural organizations selected by the Trust for participation in the SMART Growth Program, 2011-2014. These in-depth self-inquiries into relative organizational strengths and areas-for-improvement of the qualifying organizations represent the initial, diagnostic and goal-setting phase of the Trust’s four-year capacity building grants Program. The Program is intended to serve the needs of diverse arts and culture organizations that are deeply rooted in and reflective of the communities, populations and art forms that are underrepresented in Chicago’s cultural spectrum. The SMART Growth Program helps to ensure that these groups benefit from sound management practices that effectively support their art and ensure their resilience through challenging economic times, staff transitions and an ever-changing marketplace.
A&BC’s proprietary smARTscope assessment tool, self-administered online by an arts organization’s full staff and board, was developed ten years ago to help arts groups better pinpoint opportunities for growth and development in seven key management areas—concept development & planning; board governance; income generation; financial management; facilities management (where relevant); audience development; and marketing. The assessment is grounded in the belief that healthy (i.e., stable, resilient) arts organizations progress evenly across the various management areas over time while effectively supporting their art. Realistically, this often means identifying the best ways to reallocate scarce organizational resources toward management areas that are found to be lagging. To learn more about smARTscope, visit A&BC’s website.
smARTscope has proven to be highly enlightening and useful to arts organizations as a basis for strategic planning and goal-setting, which is the role it will also play in the Trust’s SMART Growth Program. After the staff and board of each of the 31 organizations have completed the thorough online survey, A&BC and its trained consultants will study and interpret the collective results, clarify any discrepancies, and provide by summer’s end a full report of each group’s management strengths and lagging areas. In addition to generating productive dialogue within each organization, the smARTscope report supplies the initial direction for identification of long-term impact, specific goals/outcomes, and proposed measures. These priorities and benchmarks will form the basis for each organization’s proposed three-year vision and request to the Trust for Year One grant monies. Funding requests will range from $20,000-$50,000 annually.
We are grateful to the Trust for its support, we congratulate the 31 arts and culture groups that have been accepted into the Trust’s SMART Growth Program and we look forward to getting to know the many aspects of each organization examined collectively by smARTscope over the next few months!
For 95 years, The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community foundation, has connected the generosity of donors with the needs of the community by making grants to organizations working to improve metropolitan Chicago. In 2009 the Trust made over $100 million in grants. From strengthening community schools to assisting local art programs, from building health centers to helping lives affected by violence, the Trust works to enhance our region. Learn more at www.cct.org.