Synopses & Reviews
Over the past two decades, the arts in America have experienced an unprecedented building boom, with more than sixteen billion dollars directed to the building, expansion, and renovation of museums, theaters, symphony halls, opera houses, and centers for the visual and performing arts. Among the projects that emerged from the boom were many brilliant successes. Others, like the striking addition of the Quadracci Pavilion to the Milwaukee Art Museum, brought international renown but also tens of millions of dollars of off-budget debt while offering scarce additional benefit to the arts and embodying the cultural sectorand#8217;s worst fears that the arts themselves were being displaced by the big, status-driven architecture projects built to contain them.
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With Building for the Arts, Peter Frumkin and Ana Kolendo explore how artistic vision, funding partnerships, and institutional culture work togetherand#151;or fail toand#151;throughout the process of major cultural construction projects. Drawing on detailed case studies and in-depth interviews at museums and other cultural institutions varying in size and funding arrangements, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Atlanta Opera, and ATandT Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Frumkin and Kolendo analyze the decision-making considerations and challenges and identify four factors whose alignment characterizes the most successful and sustainable of the projects discussed: institutional requirements, capacity of the institution to manage the project while maintaining ongoing operations, community interest and support, and sufficient sources of funding. How and whether these factors are strategically aligned in the design and execution of a building initiative, the authors argue, can lead an organization to either thrive or fail. The book closes with an analysis of specific tactics that can enhance the chances of a projectand#8217;s success.
A practical guide grounded in the latest scholarship on nonprofit strategy and governance, Building for the Arts will be an invaluable resource for professional arts staff and management, trustees of arts organizations, development professionals, and donors, as well as those who study and seek to understand them.
Review
and#8220;Are large-scale building projects good for the arts? And why do so many go so horribly wrong? These are some of the questions that Peter Frumkin and Ana Kolendo address in Building for the Arts. The authors bring to life the processes by which decisions get made with compelling interviews and colorful characters, revealing a tangled web of internal politics, personal ambitions, miscalculations, community conflict, and public relations fiascos. Throughout, they provide thoughtful analysis to help planners and project directors think about how to approach decisions along the way. Their book should be essential for arts and public administration programs.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Freakonomics meets facilities planning. Through incisive case studies and insightful analysis of decision making, Peter Frumkin and Ana Kolendo shine a bright light on why cultural building projects often go awry and show how a deeper (and earlier) understanding of the logic of the situation can contribute to happier endings. Important reading for anyoneand#8212;professional, board member, or funderand#8212;who comes within a mile of one of these demanding, multifaceted projects.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Building for the Arts makes a valuable contribution to the field of arts management by addressing a topicand#8212;how arts organizations make the difficult decision to launch major, new building projectsand#8212;on which there is relatively little research and for which the financial, institutional, and community stakes of and#8216;getting it rightand#8217; are high. The authors present well-written case studies, including both success stories and cautionary tales of projects gone awryand#8212;to remind the reader that strategic facility design is an interactive process that can move into and out of alignment at different times.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The central question of Building for the Arts is whether the cultural infrastructure in the United States is overbuilt. Organized around the topics of funding, the relationship between institution and community, mission, and organizational capacity, this volume explores how cultural organizations can put themselves in peril by overextending their reach and embarking on unsustainable building campaigns. . . . Recommended.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;Frumkin and Kolendo have produced a fine study of the complexities of undertaking capital projects in the arts. Building for the Arts is timely, relevant, and engaging for nonprofit scholars, executives of arts organizations, and foundation program officers. Moreover, any community member who is interested in participating in the arts as a donor, board member, subscriber, or audience member will benefit from reading this book. Everyone will enjoy gaining a deeper understanding of how best to achieve strategic alignment that will give a proposed building project the greatest opportunity for success.andrdquo;
Review
andquot;A valuable resource for practitioners in the arts world, . . . [Building for the Arts] provides illuminating descriptive narratives, going behind the scenes to graphically document the organizational politics of decision making and organizational strategy and action in connection with planning, fund-raising, and capital campaigns, building design, programming, and connecting with audiences and local communities. All of these are essential dimensions of professional practice in art organizations.andquot;
Synopsis
Practical advice (supported by extensive case studies) for fixing troubled arts organizations
Synopsis
Many arts organizations today find themselves in financial difficulties because of economic constraints inherent in the industry. While other companies can improve productivity through the use of new technologies or better systems, these approaches are not available in the arts. Hamlet requires the same number of performers today as it did in Shakespeare's time. The New York Philharmonic requires the same number of musicians now as it did when Tchaikovsky conducted it over one hundred years ago. Costs go up, but the size of theaters and the price resistance of patrons limit what can be earned from ticket sales. Therefore, the performing arts industry faces a severe gap between earnings and expenses. Typical approaches to closing the gap--raising ticket prices or cutting artistic or marketing expenses--don't work.
What, then, does it take to create and maintain a healthy arts organization?
Michael M. Kaiser has revived four major arts organizations: the Kansas City Ballet, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, and London's Royal Opera House. In The Art of the Turnaround he shares with readers his ten basic rules for bringing financially distressed arts organizations back to life and keeping them strong. These rules cover the requirements for successful leadership, the pitfalls of cost cutting, the necessity of extending the programming calendar, the centrality of effective marketing and fund raising, and the importance of focusing on the present with a positive public message. In chapters organized chronologically, Kaiser brings his ten rules vividly to life in discussions of the four arts organizations he is credited with saving. The book concludes with a chapter on his experiences at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, an arts organization that needed an artistic turnaround when he became the president in 2001 and that today exemplifies in practice many of the ten rules he discusses throughout his book.
Synopsis
Over the past two decades, the cultural sector in the United States experienced an enormous building boom. From Seattle to Boston, a wide range of new construction projects were undertaken: some came to successful conclusions, while others did not. Award-winning author Peter Frumkin and Ana Kolendo explore how artistic vision, financial and organizational patterns, as well as institutional culture, work togetherand#151;or donand#8217;t work togetherand#151;throughout the process of major cultural building projects. Building for the Arts identifies four elements that must be successfully addressed and harmonized in designing a successful cultural building project. These are: managing the demands of mission; building the operational capacity of the organization; garnering broad-based community support; and securing the necessary funding. How and whether these elements are addressed and then aligned with each other in the design and execution of a building initiative lead an organization to either thrive or stumble. It will be invaluable to professional arts staff and managers, trustees of arts organization, development professionals, and individual and foundation donors, as well as to those who study and seek to understand them.
About the Author
Peter Frumkin is professor of social policy and faculty director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania.Ana Kolendo is a research fellow at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. The Idea of Strategic Design
2. Elements of the Building Decision
3. Seeking Funding
4. Connecting to Community
5. Growing Operational Capacity
6. Refining Mission
7. Seeking Strategic Alignment
8. Better Building for the Arts
Notes
Index