Arts research: A vital link to decision making and advocacy

11/30/22 • 34 min

Being on top of the rapidly evolving state of the arts sector, locally and nationally, is vital to government agency policy setting and decision making. It is also essential for the advocates of Canada’s arts community to advance change. So, how do we stay on top of this? We get current good quality research that focuses on the arts and culture sector. Join Kelly Hill and Victoria Steele as they discuss the vital link played by solid arts research and how it can be of use.

Based in Hamilton, Kelly Hill has provided research insights into the Canadian arts community for 25 years. His company, Hill Strategies Research, is probably best known for its statistical work. However, Kelly also conducts qualitative research, such as a recent story project on resilience within the cultural sector during the pandemic.

Kelly has a unique perspective on the arts thanks to the over 400 research projects that he has undertaken. With a thorough knowledge of arts information sources, Kelly has produced many benchmark studies of the arts sector. He has a strong interest in projects that illuminate the well-being of artists and arts organizations.

His statistically-focused newsletter, available at statsinsights.ca, provides data and insights into artists and arts workers, public engagement, impacts of the arts, and current challenges with an eye to important issues such as accessibility, decolonization, equity, diversity, inclusion, and sustainability.

Victoria Steele is a bilingual management consultant based in Ottawa with 40 years’ experience in arts presenting, community engagement and advocacy. She is passionate about the power of the arts to connect communities and works with clients and stakeholders to develop strategies, realize innovative projects, and mentor careers. She has worked with arts organizations and festivals across Canada - mainstream, independent, indigenous, culturally diverse and francophone.

Victoria is best known as a former Managing Director of Theatre at the National Arts Centre for 19 years and general manager of Ontario theatre companies. With a passion for new work, she partnered with artistic directors to program over 50 world premieres. She served as Executive Director of Arts Network Ottawa and chaired the Ottawa Cultural Alliance as it developed the 2019–2022 Ottawa Cultural Roadmap. Victoria also currently teaches cultural management at UNB and is the Chair of Arts Consultants Canada and Treasurer of Cultural Human Resources Council.

Kelly Hill:

Victoria Steele:

ACCA links:

Kelly Hill:

Victoria Steele:

ACCA links:

Previous Episode

Leadership Coaching: An approach for arts consultants

The field of coaching has recently exploded as has an expectation that everyone should be able to coach as part of their role as consultant, supervisor or colleague. But what is coaching exactly? Join Jewell Goodwyn and Lucy White as they explore what coaching is and is not, how coaching, mentoring, and consulting differ and how coaching skills can be useful tools to bring to your consulting practice.

Lucy White is a certified coach and cultural executive with over thirty years’ experience.

She crashed her first ACCA members-only meeting in about 2013 when still employed full-time as executive director of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres.

As a Principal with The Osborne Group, Lucy serves as interim executive director for non-profit organizations. Recent cultural sector clients include: Koffler Centre of the Arts, Norm Foster Theatre Festival, Gardiner Museum, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestras Canada.

Lucy’s long-time interest in personal and professional development in the non-profit sector led her study mindfulness practices, co-active coaching, and to become a Certified Positive Intelligence Coach. Lucy offers Mental Fitness for Nonprofit Leaders as well as individual coaching.

Lucy is an active volunteer and has served many boards including Mindfulness Everyday, Friends of the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books, CHRC and ACCA. She is a founder of the Canadian Arts Coalition.

Jewell Goodwyn, principal of J.R. Goodwyn Consulting, has worked in the not-for-profit arts sector for nearly three decades, with twenty+ years serving the artist run centre community as President and Founding Executive Director of Artist Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario (ARCCO.) Jewell established alliances and networks regionally, provincially and nationally to build support for the artist run centre community. Goodwyn is a founding member of Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA). With fellow Ontario arts service organizations, Jewell also initiated the cross disciplinary coalition PASO-OPSA, to strengthen and increase public investment in the arts in Ontario.Since 2020, Jewell has served as an Artsvest Mentor, for Business of the Arts, and has worked with over 30 administrators of arts organizations, nationwide.Jewell is committed to cultivating environments that are equitable, inclusive and respectful. Jewell’s areas of expertise include organizational development, board governance, strategic planning, profile building and network-building.

Lucy White:

www.lucywhite.ca
www.osborne-group.com
LinkedIn
Instagram: @lucywhitecoaching

Jewell Goodwyn:

Show Links:

Next Episode

Risk Management: An Essential Tool for Resilience

Over the multi-year stretch of COVID-19, the global pandemic has shaken, threatened, and challenged how the arts, culture and heritage sector operates, and how it sees risk management as an essential tool for optimizing our contribution, our impact. Consultants have been essential to supporting – often leading – the learning curve the sector has experienced.

Active as trainer, consultant, educator and leader, Jerry Smith established the professional theatre training program at Humber College, and their post-diploma certificate program in Arts Administration. His experience includes a wide range of leadership roles on arts and culture boards in the Greater Toronto Area for which he was recognized as Volunteer of the Year and Cultural Champion.

Currently, Jerry serves as a member of the ArtsVote Toronto and ArtsDay at City Hall campaigns, a member of the peer assessment panels for the ArtsVest Program, and the Imagine Canada accreditation program. As a freelance consultant, Jerry has carried out program reviews and strategic plans for MCC, OAC, the Living Arts Centre, Orchestras Canada, Lakeshore Arts, Clay and Paper Theatre, Urban Arts, Neilson Park Creative Centre and HCA Dance Theatre.

Heather Clara Young has worked in arts management for over thirty years. Her experience includes leadership roles with Ontario arts and heritage service organizations, theatre and dance producing companies, facilities, festivals, and community organizations. Her firm Young Associates, founded in 1993, provides full-service bookkeeping and payroll as well as consulting services to not-for-profits and charities, primarily in the arts and culture sector. Heather also teaches in Humber College’s Arts Management program and has taught for the University of Toronto’s Arts Management program. She was the 2012 recipient of the Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture, and a 2004 recipient of Humber College’s Continuing Education Award for Outstanding Academic Contribution. Her unique self-study guide, Finance for the Arts in Canada, will have its second edition published in 2023 and is a invaluable reference source for cultural organizations.

Recommended Resources:

A selection of effective worksheets to support the process of developing a working plan for Risk Management