To write a business plan, a large commercial company will have in-house business specialists, explains Rebecca Rickard; but smaller commercial companies normally have to outsource specialist consultants, and arts managers often need specialist advice to write a realistic and strategic business plan.
This was the problem facing Maria Bartha, Manager of Community Focus, an arts centre for disabled and older people in Colindale, North London. Community Focus offers a wide range of arts ? from drama and dance to visual arts and video and wanted a plan for expansion, encompassing a change of location and a new service of training in digital design and photography. he organisation approached Arts & Business, which recruits volunteers from the corporate sector as mentors, advisers or board members in the arts. Volunteers contribute a number of hours over a fixed period ? their role is to advise and assist the arts manager as they work on the project and bring it to completion. Arts & Business paired Community Focus with Aniko Czinege, Head of Commercial Development at MCA-Banner McBride, who helped them write a business plan and submit a lottery application. To do this, they had to think like a business, identify what made them different from their competitors, and clarify their values and vision, in order to justify why they should receive funding.
?With Aniko?s coaching, I undertook comprehensive research into how we were perceived externally. I learnt about how to develop our brand and how to manage change within the organisation,? explains Maria. ?The result was a core business plan, which has been used as a framework for all areas of our work and has given us a long-term perspective on our work. It made us see how well we fitted the criteria for the New Opportunities Fund and as a result, we received 150% of our original bid for funding!? For Aniko Czinege, the business adviser, working in the arts was not as easy as one might think. ?Decisions are made at a different pace, and one has to adjust to the fact that one?s emotions play a bigger part in management in the arts than in a conventional business.?
Another arts organisation which has benefited from professional advice is the Blue Elephant Theatre Company, in South London. Its artistic director, Antonio Ribeiro worked with Les Rowe, National Sales Operations Manager, Norwich Union on developing its business plan. Valuable advice was given about the format and layout of a business plan, identifying performance indicators, making budgetary forecasting and presenting of numerical and non-numerical data to support strategic planning.
?On a personal level I found the experience very rewarding,? commented Les Rowe. ?I learnt a great deal about the arts, charities, funding and trustees work. I realised how communities would be poorer places were it not for organisations such as the Blue Elephant. I did not know how much work goes on behind the scenes without recognition and reward. For me it was a humbling and fulfilling experience. On a professional level I found that the problems encountered by the Blue Elephant were broadly the same as those facing any private company: lack of structure, skills, clarity of purpose or clear funding strategies for finance. Once we set down a clear business plan it became easier for the theatre to work through how it would achieve its objectives. The most difficult part of the assignment was how to dealt with people in the process of change. This was as difficult as it would have been in any commercial business.?
For Blue Elephant, the plan has provided a focus for developing the theatre?s programme of work and supporting fundraising applications. ?We have found creative and cost-effective ways to run the theatre?s administration and marketing, which has left more time for me to focus creatively on running the theatre,? explained Antonio Ribeiro. ?And what amazes me the most is it?s not just about finding a feasible way to run a business. It?s finding a new way to approach creativity and artistic direction. From a dream chaser I feel more like a dream catcher.?
Rebecca Rickard is PR Manager for Arts & Business t: 020 7378 8143.Arts & Business matches the skills of volunteer business people with the needs of arts organisations through the Arthur Andersen Skills Bank. The Mentoring Programme encourages business executives to help senior arts managers develop their full potential. w: http://www.aandb.org.uk