Arts administration?

Yes, surmounter, I am in arts admin.

What stories would you like to hear? This can be our thread.

HEY ILX SUCKERS! WE GET PAID TO BE IN THE WORLD OF ART HAHAHAHAH

is it a good field? i think i would quite like to enter it

It is not the greatest time to be in arts admin.

I've been halfway in this field for a long time (consulting to a foundation, reviewing proposals and seeing work) and, since my other field (financial-research editing) is all dried up, I've been looking to get further into it. Not the best time, though it's a good time to work with arts orgs on, if possible, weaning themselves off of the non-profit teat and generating their own income.

I work for a non-profit arts org. I think the key thing that a lot of orgs need to work on is individual donors - either through straight contributions or from fundraising events and other means of earned income. But earned income isn't that easy to come by right now, either in a lot of cases.

this is actually considered 'unearned income,' but yeah. it's really, really tough right now. i have just finished my masters in this field, and moved to a new city (totally smart, right?) and am looking for work but most of what's available is below my skill level/experience.

fundraising is fucked right now. save a few very generous people, the arts are pretty much the first thing to go when people look where to cut their donations. in addition, foundation support is suffering because most foundations are offshoots of corporations that have been hit extremely hard by the financial industry debacle (example: starr foundation, child of AIG).

in my experience, many organizations, especially the larger ones, really, really need to evaluate their activities and operations for efficiency. you'd be amazed how much waste there is. i feel like arts orgs think that just because they are not 'corporate america' they don't have to run an efficient business, and this frequently results in their downfall. of course, there are many other contributing factors, but i don't think there's just one thing that will save them right now. i also feel like it's time in the cycle of arts orgs for the larger ones to start dying off (and they are) and the scrappier, smaller orgs to start a renaissance of the arts business model.

Fundraising events are considered earned income, if the person is paying for a ticket to a benefit performance or dinner or bus tour, if they contribute in excess of the stated value of the event cost, (which one has to value as if one were paying for the food/performers/what-have-you even if the services are donated), then it would be a tax-deductible donation and contributed income. (lol I work in accounting.)

as far as efficiency goes ... seriously. I work once a month for a large organization, and there's serious waste and inefficiency. I continue to work there because I get paid generously to do very little and there are other good perks of being an employee. Much more so than the smallish one that's my main gig - where there are three people on staff, everyone else is contracted for various projects. But even there ... the guy that had my job before me seemed to have gone on office supply shopping sprees.

The non-corporate foundations are all victims of the financial crisis -- because as I understand it (I'm not a foundation person), they have to spend a certain percentage of their income (mostly from investments), and often have internal regulations, stipulating a maximum percentage they can give. A lot of them also give to education, social services, health, environment orgs as well. This also goes for the community foundations, who seem even more to be de-prioritizing the arts in order to save the kids and feed the poor, etc.

The trend I'm seeing now is an increase in matching grants, with the goal of encouraging orgs to build individual donor bases.

interesting. everywhere i've ever worked, individual donations, gala tix, memberships, etc, have all been considered unearned/contributed. the only things they ever counted as contributed were tickets, merchandising, and the like. i guess benefit performance is a gray area, but usually those are linked to galas, so they get lumped in with unearned. i would love to go look at the books, though, to see if they broke it up into "x payed $500 for gala ticket and $75 is earned while $425 is contributed."

arts accounting is funny. i just had a whole thing w/ my friend where she was shocked to learn that you had to count grant income as income on your taxes the year you receive the funds, not the year in which the funded project is executed. totally makes sense to me - it's like paying for a subscription before the performances happen. but she had some difficulty wrapping her head around the idea that you can't receive a check for $10k and not account for it for another fiscal year.

BUT

maybe that's part of my argument, about how it shouldn't be 'arts accounting.' arts orgs should follow gaap, and just because you're 'artsy' and don't necessarily 'get gaap' that doesn't mean you get a pass.

well depending on the grant ... you would probably count it as income the year received, then put it in as temporarily restricted funds. FASB the same entity that determines GAAP came up with this rule ... it applies to all non-profits, not just arts groups. I had a friend that actually lost her job because the President of the Board did not want to comply with this rule, and it was actually in the organization's benefit to do so. Multi-year grants are another headache ... but I figure, if you need to submit an interim report in order to receive the next year's funds, then the conditions for receiving the full amount of the grant have not been met yet, and you don't have to book the whole thing in the first year.

But it is weird from a conceptual standpoint if you are keeping the books on the accrual basis for everything else, and having to deal with grant income on the cash basis. Okay ... now I'm getting sleepy.

I think one of the differences with the fundraising event stuff is how the organization perceives the event. A number of orgs feel the need to classify as much of what they do as possible as program-related, or show as much earned income as possible. I do bookkeeping work for one organization that considers memberships earned income, because one has to be a member to participate in some of their programs. The large org I work for once a month, I'm sure, considers memberships contributed income.

is it sad that thinking about cash vs accrual accting actually wakes me up rather than putting me to sleep!? i must be nuts.

i feel like the irs doesn't give a shit if it's earned/unearned, but potential donors may be more generous if they feel like your programming is bringing in more buck.

but also yeah the thing i said to my friend that got her to finally be like 'oh ok i get it' was 'um... so... if you receive $10k during fy09 and you don't want to report it til fy10 don't you think that's shady? how you gonna have $10k hanging in limbo for 12 months?' she was mostly concerned that the $ wouldn't be reflected in programming expense, but my feeling is that there is probably some programming this year that is being funded by a grant where dollars were received last year, so it all evens out in the end.

As far as the IRS goes, it depends on what subsection the org is exempt under ... one of them requires that at least 1/3 of the org's income is earned ... though that is averaged over a four year period ... at least it was on the old 990. I have yet to discover what joys the revised one has in store for me.

re: the grant income thing -- but you could do this with earned income - you could just call it deferred revenue, and it doesn't make it onto the income statement until the year its earned. I haven't read up on the reasoning for it. The one thing it brings to mind is IRS reporting ... I'm not sure if they actually check these things, but it would be easier for them to verify charitable contributions made if the recipient had to report the amounts the year received. Granted, this only goes for those $5k and up, but the larger the dollar amount, the greater consequences of fraud.

i assume this was a 501(c)(3)

i think irs rules sometimes differ with gaap? maybe not. i'm not a cpa. but this would most likely have been a +5k grant.

omg i found my artsadmin dork friend on ilx <3 <3 <3

yay arts admin dorkery! yeah there are subsections of 501(c)3 orgs ... one is exempt under section 501(c)3 and 509(a) number whatever. One of the 509(a) number whatevers corresponds to religious orgs .... another to schools, there are a few for other charitable orgs - like arts orgs - one is org receives substantial funding from government and the general public and the other is at least 1/3 of org's income is earned and less than 1/3 is from investments.

IRS rules do differ from GAAP ... I did taxes before I took up accounting, so I'm clearer on the IRS stuff than on the GAAP stuff.

<3 <3 <3

maybe instead of law school i should do acctg school

haw ... I've actually been idly considering law school, but it would make more sense for me to take classes and try to be a CPA or Auditor. I took one actual accounting class ... this was when I was getting my master's in a completely different subject. They made me test out of all these prerequisites, so I had to go to campus at like 9am on a couple of Saturdays and take tests in microsoft excel and how to use a computer and the basic accounting course - which was all about "define accounts payable" "what is an asset?" "what is depreciation?"

My mom thinks I should study estate tax and trust accounting, because all of her fellow baby boomers will soon provide a market for it. My mom is always thinking of things I should be doing with my life.

i took 1 online accting classy through cuny for a prereq for my grad program and 1 management accounting class for my grad degree. i got a's in both. it seems more lucrative than arts management. hmm.

oh the bonus is that in my last job i ended up doing mad acctg shit so now i have a year of that under my belt, too.

yeah ... on the job you end up learning more essential stuff than in classes, or at least, you have real life examples that help learn stuff. I took Financial Accounting, so I got to learn about the percentage completion method of recognizing income - which is mostly a construction business thing, and various inventory methods, basically a lot of irrelevant stuff to the job I have now.

I did an online non-profit accounting "class" for CPE credit for my tax credential and read a few books.

The thing with arts admin - at least from my experience - is that so many of the jobs come out of social networking, knowing people, etc. But maybe that's just smaller organizations. A friend of mine moved out here after grad school in another state and didn't know anyone and found work fairly easily ... but she's a development person. Now she's wanting to get a curatorial job in a museum, so she went back east to get a master's in Art History, and is probably going to go for a phD. And it makes me feel really lucky that I'm not her ... because those jobs seem really hard to come by and are super-competitive.

that is ... found work fairly easily at a large organization, then moved to a different large organization.

oh yeah, all my positions, large org included, have come from networking/knowing people (including an internship via ilx!). another reason i fear i am screwed now, in a city where i knew very few people. but i am attempting to network.

I'd be too scared to move somewhere and not have something lined up/prospects, etc. but I'm a total wuss like that.

lol @ you two

(i am in arts admin and am allowed to lol)

i had a prospect, i just don't think it will come through any time soon.

but... it was a timing issue. my last job was one i took because i knew it had an end date, and if i stayed in ny any longer, i'd be stuck there for at least another 5 years bc of career things. so... it was now or never.

lol @ you, avuenjo. lol @ you.

avuenjo, can i get an arts admin invite?

hey T i wanna argue with your contention that large orgs should die but i think it'd be better to do in person. after-work arts neighborhood drinks soon? you goin to the block party or are you free friday?

I had to create a report yesterday of institutional funders for the Development Director yesterday, because she constantly does the grant in the project year (as opposed to the funding year) thing.

We have to use the Cultural Data Project system now for some of our larger funders, and she sent me her list for the past three years, and I looked at it, and it was a total wtf at how it did not match mine.

xp avuenjo: Some orgs have to be large, based on what they do: major art museums, big city symphonies and operas.

i am free friday. i am not going to the block party because i no longer believe in paying money to see sonic youth. i think there is more to that but whatever. and yeah, that's a long discussion but my feelings have to do with cycles and we should definitely discuss them over a drink.

did you guys find a new devo director? saw a posting a while back. wish i was qualified! or not. probably not a great time for devo directors.

here is a funny thing:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/07/supervisors-los-angeles-ring-wagner-anti-semitic.html

based on the previous article

Domingo expects to receive financial backing from city and county funding sources. "We are talking," he said. "We cannot go without a little support from them."

i don't think the city should dictate what you put on your festival unless it is DEFINITELY providing financial backing (xpost to european arts funding thread).

not a great time for devo directors.

otm (and yes, we did find one)

"what's your job?"
"devo director"
"lol @ u! NAGL!"

if there were artsadmin comics or something, that is what they would say.

drunken cocktail arts admin comic back of napkin LET'S DO THIS

What's your strategic plan?
"Fuck Bitches, Make Money"
That's not a good strategic plan.
What's yours?
Utilize board connections to cultivate relationships with known arts patrons and increase marketing efforts on social networking sites to connect with younger audiences
Isn't that kinda the same thing though?

!!!

sorry, that's kinda tacky ...

gotta come up with a good one involving SWOT analyses

wishing i had arts admin skillz

(pref. w/o having to do more school again for it)

ughhhhhh

so i had this strategic plan i did, and we were required to include a swot. and everytime i show it to a marketer they kind of laugh when they see the swot and are like 'lol there's your swot! haw' and i am thinking i should just pull it out of the thing because it is stupid anyway but then i'll have to redo the table of contents.

choices.

I learned mine through volunteering, then getting paid to do it, and doing reading on the side and talking with other people in the field.

yeah donna rouge, go volunteer or do an internship. don't go into grad school debt like me!

mine was 100% otj

i mean, i did learn a LOT in grad school and knew some stuff before bc i had a music background, but now i just feel super qualified with nowhere to go.

Maybe the comic would have a SWOT team with headgear and dry erase boards as shields with a stern lady in a suit in front of them saying

"Do not touch the cookie platter until you complete the SWOT analysis matrix!

Look, I know I came on a little strong (and tbh I am surprised at the INSTANT vitriol I got...

You posted to this thread when it presumably was near the top of ILE or site new answers. I posted a question in this thread, and tbh was surprised by your seemingly instant vitriol.

I mean, it's fine to criticise other careers on this board, or maybe those careers are more established and therefore require less defensiveness...

Well, maybe for research purposes, you could search for threads specific to various careers and post how fucked up someone must be to work in that field.

But you did make some attempt to explain where you're coming from, so I will too:

I started out as a volunteer for a couple arts non-profits because I liked what they presented, I had event production/technical experience, and I wanted to meet people and make connections in a new city that I'd moved to because there were a lot of interesting things going on in the arts/music scene there.

Several years later I ended up founding an arts organization with a few friends, that began as a loosely-organized co-op, and for various reasons evolved into a non-profit. I learned the arts admin "skill set" (in quotes because I'm still learning, and different types of organizations require slightly different ones) by doing, and did the wrong things plenty of times before figuring out what the right ones were. I've gotten several jobs at other arts orgs based on my experience with the one I founded (which does not pay). Having an educational program that teaches this stuff, is something I see as useful. If you're questioning the rationale for arts admin degrees or university programs, then, to me, it seems you also have particular biases about university education in general -- what should people go to school for, etc.

In the U.S., most institutional funders -- governments, philanthropic foundations, corporations -- prefer to give to non-profit organizations rather than individuals for a host of reasons. If you are a true believer in free market capitalism or DIY/anarchism, then I can understand feeling non-profit arts orgs are worthless. But, the thing is, the non-profit org structure often is the most effective way to present art and artists on a larger scale (e.g. museums, opera, symphonies) or in a sustainable way (i.e. self-perpetuating, as opposed to being based on the whims and interests of the market or a particular individual).

Yeah I basically posted "fuck arts admin" in the same tone I would post about an album I hated or a restaurant I didn't like, in other words an insensitive choice of register. To me the computer is basically just a device for swearing into, so this has been a useful reminder that there are actual people writing the swears on the other end. (After that I was totally willing to troll a bit, too, just for kicks, I'll be honest.)

Anyway, that was a really good post about the field and fwiw it sounds like a great gig you've got. I'm not sure an itemized list of my grievances with arts admin over the years is appropriate at this stage but I've got my reasons—give me that at least—and the unfortunate thing for now is that arts admin is like a bad penny I can't get rid of (or trade up for arts admin people who have the down-to-earth kind of approach I'm sensing from your post). On another note a good friend seems to be having a bit of a nightmare at work at the moment and the bloody, batshit, tooth-and-nail side of arts admin seems to be kicking off again in my mental landscape. I wasn't surprised at all to hear he has an exit strategy. Anyway, I'm not trying to re-ignite anything here I'm just trying to state where I'm coming from without swearing at y'all again.

yeah i guess that's a pretty good try at covering your ass. next time maybe try thinking before you post "i hate you." xo

The thing is, arts admin jobs aren't all the same. I have friends that work for large institutions, and it isn't all that different from working for some other corporate entity. I get paid to work for a few smaller orgs, and it's a lot like working for a small business in another field. I end up doing a little bit of a lot of different things, which I like.

Friday evening, I was at an event and was talking with a friend of mine - an artist whose day job is as a financial planner - about how the current trend is making arts orgs more like for-profit businesses, judging them by similar criteria, etc.

I guess, my question to you is, what unique flaws/problems do you see in arts admin? Or, do you just have friends that work for dysfunctional organizations?

Managed to survive (without pissing anyone off) today's board meeting where I raised the issue of board approval of executive compensation and fringe benefits. I've been dreading this for weeks ...

as in they should approve a raise?

as in the new 990 asks about how executive compensation is handled/determined and the board's involvement in it. Previously, we showed the board the budget, and there are line items for his salary and his benefits, but the fringe stuff is buried in other expense categories, and there isn't much in the way of discussion about it as executive compensation.

did the board not approve his fringe benefits upon initial hiring?

he's the founder, and it's pretty much his org. It's pretty much an issue of these are things that require a certain amount of oversight, as opposed to him being able to make all the decisions including whether certain expenses of his are covered by the organization. For example, should the org pay the entire amount of his monthly cell phone bill, when it's mostly his, but part of it is for a family plan?

i get what you're saying, and i think the board definitely should have oversight over that kind of thing. if that sort of thing wasn't an issue at the time of the founding/board cultivation/incorporation (say if the org wasn't big enough to warrant that sort of thing), then they should certainly re-evaluate his compensation package. i understand that you can't run to them for every tiny little thing, but i'd think a periodic (maybe quarterly or semi-annual) review, if these costs are fluctuating a lot, is certainly appropriate.

are you reimbursing for the cell phone bill, or paying it directly? i mean, that obviously makes a difference in how you'd handle it, too.

the expenses & compensation are pretty consistent ... the organization has been around for over 30 years. I feel like it was acceptable to have the board approve last year's numbers, as they'll probably be the same as this year's. Personally, I'm kinda iffy on the org paying for cell phones for his wife and kid, even though the majority of the bill is for his. In the four years that I've been there, the organization has done very well, and this year will probably be okay, but I'm not looking forward to next year if things get bad, and broaching the subject of cutting some of these things.

paying bill directly ... there was a period of time when his son had signed up for games and ringtones and stuff that went on the bill, and the boss was pretty good about reimbursing for that, though I think he didn't reimburse every single instance of it.

if you're paying the bill directly, i'd think it should just be a 1-person plan, and he would be responsible for add'l charges to make it a family plan. the idea of a family plan as a 'benefit' is kind of outrageous to me, even for a healthy org. and you'd have to make sure you had the time to review each monthly statement for additional charges that he should reimburse. tricky stuff. my dad's company (not a nonprofit, but this seems universal) recently switched from partial reimbursement of his plan to giving him a company cell phone because they didn't want to accidentally pay for anything not work related, which means they now pay more!

i guess the bigger question is: did the board know what they were approving in terms of fringe benefits before, when the expenses were scattered throughout different budget categories? were they aware his family gets cell phones on you? that's certainly something i'd think they should review, at least once, to establish what's going where, etc. i know there's a lot of budget crafting for boards (not sure if your board is big enough to have its own finance committee that sees the thing in its entirety and really hammers it out), but it seems they should be aware of what's going on with the top executive.

i'm probably repeating myself and not making a lot of sense tonight; i'm tired.

Is kingfish even working in arts admin? Dude has like an engineering degree.

guess the bigger question is: did the board know what they were approving in terms of fringe benefits before, when the expenses were scattered throughout different budget categories? were they aware his family gets cell phones on you? that's certainly something i'd think they should review, at least once, to establish what's going where, etc.

I don't think they were aware before, which bugged me ... but now they are. Probably the worst thing in this regard, is a year or so back, when he decided (probably prompted by his wife) that his teenage son should learn the value of working for money, and wanted to pay him to work the merch table at concerts, when usually salaried staff or a volunteer have done so in the past ...

uh yeah wow that's beyond 'fringe benefits' hah!
but no one can tell him no??

I said that technically that would be an excess benefit transaction that we'd have to report, and it would probably just be best if he paid him out of his own pocket, as it would still be teaching the boy the same values.

is it worth going to some meeting/gathering for "emerging arts professionals"?

yes definitely.
there was a great network (even better list serv) in ny for 'emerging leaders' and i heard there's a comparable group here but i can't find it :(

i'm kinda feeling like i should be learning more / developing new skills, etc. I was just at the point where I had mustered up the courage to ask my boss if the org would pay for me to take professional development workshops when the economy went to shit and one of our two major grants got seriously cut, and the other is a big question mark.

well, at the very least there are lots of cheap webinars and your local arts council should host panels/workshops from time to time that would be free and valuable networking opportunities.

yeah, there's an org here called Compass Point that does a variety of nonprofit training courses: web design, fundraising, accounting, strategic planning, etc. The prices aren't too outlandish, but they're just expensive enough that I'd want my job to pay for it.

this article is reallllly pissing me off. did local 1 pay wakin to write a puff piece? not to mention that some of the claims of 'top paid stagehands' at a particular organization can be topped by looking at last year's chronicle of philanthropy report.

job hunt not looking so hot :(

In a couple weeks I'm teaching part of a college class about the business of the arts - specifically non-profit issues - I'm trying to brainstorm what to say, and how to present it. These are grad students in various arts departments, so I don't want to focus on the issues of large or more established institutions, but I want to give a good overview, but also be relevant.

Any ideas?

is this a one-off or does the class meet regularly to discuss such things and you're a guest lecturer for one week?

the class meets weekly - it's on a variety of topics - i'm a guest lecturer for one week.

i'd go with something you specialize in then. maybe finance issues for nonprofits? budgeting? maybe use your experience as a case study? can you find out what they've covered in other weeks so you don't end up repeating what they've already learned? i had a few courses like this - each week was someone who was an expert on a certain topic, ie finance, fundraising, marketing, pr, business management, strategic planning, etc. i'd figure out what your strongest area as an administrator is and go from there.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/roundabout-theater-company-offers-new-deal-for-playwrights/

digging this! aside from limited runs, the co essentially behaves like the rest of the broadway producers despite its not-for-profit status. nice to see them doing something in the interest of and to nurture their artists a little more.

Why are so many small arts orgs incapable of writing a decent mission statement? There are so many embarrassingly bad ones. How hard is it to succinctly describe what your goals are and what your organization does?

haha there are a lot of large arts orgs also incapabale of this as well. in fact, i work for one! i've always felt mission and vision are extremely important but working someplace without m/v makes it REALLY hard to figure out what your driving force is other than 'sell tickets'.

hah, and then there's where the mission/vision are one thing, and what the org does is another ... like you feel like raising your hand sheepishly and saying, "Aren't we supposed to be doing (blah blah blah) like it says in our mission statement?"

Why are so many small arts orgs incapable of writing a decent mission statement?

Clarity and brevity are difficult for most people. Artsy people often fear these qualities, as being too harsh and exposing an environment for their creative ideas, whereas nebulosity and evasion provide a refuge and a comfort. Such people are rarely great artists or visionaries. Great artists usually know exactly what they are doing and why. Visionaries who accomplish their goals know enough to combine vision with tremendous practicality.

that's an interesting way to look at it.

In my early years in arts admin, I was really anti-mission statement, in terms of following the standard form, because I thought it was cheesy and corporate. But I did believe that it was important to clearly and concisely state what it was your org did and what its goals were.

I eventually came to view it as a convenient tool for funders and peers and the press to be able to paraphrase when describing your organization.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/what-happened-at-intiman/Content?oid=8526047

worth a read if ur into this.

that's a really great article, thanks.

Yeah, great one.

i really can't wait to start my new job :)

still in arts administration, or another field?

still in arts admin. but just not working for a performing arts org.

welcome back, nights and weekends :)

i am wondering if there is like a magical website where you can sign up for freelance special events gigs

hmmm. maybe check into party planners that work for nonprofits and offer to do consulting work?
i know most of our special events rely heavily on staff from other departments volunteering.

interesting, yes, thanks

another option would be venues that present events/shows -- some have a pool of contractors/on-call employees that they draw from

u know - i work at a venue like that. lol. i need to begin by looking at other departments here cuz i know they do part time stuff sometimes.

if you're not concerned about money, you can always volunteer

i wish

I started out 7 years ago as an on-call art handler (we call them preparators here) and now am running said department, at this point 2 years in. It is the hardest fucking job I've ever had. We are now in year 2 of closure and in the midst of a massive expansion. It feels like every week there's a new dimension to the struggle to keep my department apace of the ever-expanding program.

I went from a very physical job to a solely administrative one, in which I find myself functioning as lobbyist, HR-issues detective, dispatcher and chief errand-boy. I have an unruly staff whose bad behavior thrived in a hothouse of many years of absentee management, who tend to have massive egos, terrible interpersonal skills, domineering personalities and drinking problems.

It does not come naturally to me to be a disciplinarian, and the will required to maintain a more strict environment in a time when we are deep into a void of current programming is something I wonder if I am capable of. Why am I posting this? I have no idea, it's just on my mind. Once upon a time I thought it would be fun to work in an art museum. It was at one point and I hope it is again someday.