CEO’s Six Ideas Toward Cultural Shift

Americans for the Arts is in the midst of numerous changes. We are launching our Strategic Realignment Process, while also addressing the proposed actions from the Task Force for Racial and Cultural Equity, and beginning an internal Workplace Culture Rebuild. Any one of these projects would be a heavy lift on its own, but we are doing this work concurrently. As well, we are still in the midst of a pandemic and its resulting economic shifts.

As we look toward the future, it is important that our organization—working with our partners—has clearer communication and better feedback loops. In the spirit of this value, I am sharing some observations I have made since joining Americans for the Arts. Based on staff interviews, board, and key field and stakeholder discussions, it is my sense that there is a misalignment between the current environment, our operational strategy to address it, and the structure that supports it.

To achieve realignment, our process for assessing the external environment must transition from one that is largely reactive to one that is proactive. Our approach for responding to environmental changes must be less organization-centric or transactional in nature, and instead more mission-driven and relationship-based. In all that we do, we should reflect our central focus of service to the arts, NOT the organization itself.

The forthcoming Strategic Realignment Process (SRP), Workplace Culture Rebuild, and other efforts will address many of these challenges, but today I want to share what I believe are six themes necessary for achieving transformational change. I share these ideas with you to begin a more inclusive conversation—both internally and externally—about the way ahead together:

  1. The arts are a national asset: arts everywhere and for everyone
  2. Community is where the arts make a difference
  3. Focus on our place in a network of networks
  4. Success depends on equitable and collaborative partnerships
  5. We must build trust and resiliency
  6. Stay relevant, be prepared

Sincerely,
Nolen V. Bivens
President and CEO
Americans for the Arts

'Six Ideas Towars Cultural Shift' on a blue background with a river running through

View the Six Ideas Toward Culture Shift for Americans for the Arts, which is a visual summary of the details outlined on this page.

1. THE ARTS ARE A NATIONAL ASSET: ARTS EVERYWHERE AND FOR EVERYONE

Everything Americans for the Arts does starts with the premise that the arts make our communities healthier and stronger; that there can and should be something for everyone; and that the arts are everywhere. The arts should be thought of as a national asset, supported, cultivated, and nurtured as such.

Our own research captures the economic, educational, diplomatic, and innovative value of the arts sector. We know that the public values the ways that the arts connect people and create healthy places where people want to live, work, and visit. And our recent experiences reinforce our understanding about the impact of the arts on health outcomes, addressing trauma, and highlighting racial inequity.

And while a majority of the public believes this truth based on our public opinion polling and other research, it’s often not their default way of thinking about the arts. This makes it harder than it should be to ensure the public treats the arts as a shared responsibility and critical in both policymaking and the allocation of related resources. It must be a priority for all of us to change public perception in a way that leads to action.

2. COMMUNITY IS WHERE THE ARTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

People can tell their own story about how the arts changed a street, neighborhood, or community. Even in places where walking home from school can be a traumatic experience, the arts change the way we view places, and the way we feel about being there. When people can tell their own story of how the arts contributed to their well-being, and even their economic security, we know that policy and funding can follow.

2020 demonstrated just how important the arts are to our community life. COVID-19 and the increased spotlight on racial injustice make our case for the arts as a shared responsibility and national asset. The public has experienced the arts and artists in healthcare efforts, including both mental health and physical health initiatives. We have all seen the arts connect us and provide meaning during the pandemic. And the arts and artists continue to draw increased attention to racial injustice and the necessary systemic change.

As a part of the solution, the arts must continue to be a vital component of public health and a contributor to the nation’s health security. We need to find even better ways to spotlight and communicate the broadening and ever-increasing contribution and value of the arts as a solution for addressing the consequences of the nation’s most challenging economic, health, and security concerns—meaning the public, and in turn policymakers, must view arts and culture as a national asset.

3. FOCUS ON OUR PLACE IN A NETWORK OF NETWORKS

Building broad support for the arts, and all the ways the arts contribute to a healthy, equitable society requires Americans for the Arts to focus on the structure of, and our place within, multiple networks. We need to see and understand our role in one network connected to other networks, all of which support the arts and artists. This means engaging the entirety of the arts ecosystem, and beyond—individuals, private organizations, and public agencies—in our work to build widely shared understanding of the role the arts offer in contributing to broad societal solutions, the lives of individuals, and the health and well-being of communities.

In the pandemic and the racial reckoning of 2020, we learned that it wasn’t enough to advocate for the nonprofit arts sector. Without artists of all disciplines and cultures, and connection to other sectors, our system fails. The organic emergence of art and non-art-based structures in

the advocacy space for pandemic recovery and equitable relief—everything from for-profit performance presenters to economic and racial justice coalitions—showed us the power of multiple networks supporting shared goals.

Our organization’s place in this “network of networks” gave us the ability to connect with the different partners across sectors and these connections have been crucial in pandemic-related advocacy. For example, we saw the power of joining multiple networks when Congress supported the Paycheck Protection Program providing support to nearly everyone who suffered business losses due to the pandemic: arts and other companies, both non-profit and for-profit, as well as self-employed people and gig workers, including artists. The breadth of this financial support was unprecedented and is evidence of the power of multiple groups working together.

No single organization is at the center in this kind of successful structure; instead, the arts are at the center of our network. Americans for the Arts must be a mission-minded, diverse, and inclusive entity in this “network of networks.” And this broader structure is critical to our ability to maximally serve and partner in advocating for the arts.

4. SUCCESS DEPENDS ON EQUITABLE AND COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS

Creating the environment for broad public support for the arts, and the policy and funding support that follows, requires that every possible partner plays their most powerful part, and that each partner recognizes other partners’ ability to contribute. How we work with others matters just as much as who we are working with. Concerning equitable and collaborative partnerships, the Task Force for Racial and Cultural Equity outlined these ideas for potential action:

  • The realignment and/or expansion of strategic partnerships of Americans for the Arts to reflect the societal and cultural shift in the United States.
  • The democratization of policy and advocacy agendas to include and engage various communities.

We can do what we do best when we collaborate with others, while ensuring and supporting them to do what they do best. The success of our partners is necessary for us to succeed.

Through an advocacy infrastructure that’s built upon genuine power sharing partnerships and the network of networks, Americans for the Arts must collaborate to determine what research, collective policy and practices our nation needs to advance the whole of the arts ecosystem.

Genuine power sharing means all partners gain inherent value from the relationship in a way that is clearly defined and/or meets relational expectations. As we look to partnerships, the organization must have a keen understanding of our own strengths and limitations, so that we can elevate the work of other organizations and support and invest in them, and in goals and aims that align with our greater network.

5. BUILD TRUST AND RESILIENCY

Within our organization, and throughout the nation, there are people who have been hurt and under-valued, and any process we take moving forward must involve healing. This means as a staff, and as an organization, we need to prioritize humanity toward others as we create and nurture relationships—starting from a human-centered relationship model rather than defaulting to one that is purely transactional.

Creating strong relationships based in support and trust can help us create change in the organization, which can inspire even more trust. Trust and healing and change are all needed moving forward, each will help the other grow, and this can aid us in creating a staff and culture that is supportive and resilient. Going forward, we must develop and sustain a trifecta of trust: Staff-to-staff; Staff-to-Board; and organization to members, field, sector, and the public.

It is also crucial that we address the cultural and racial justice lessons re-learned during 2020 in the culture, policy, and practice within our organization. It is my intention for us to create a foundation that prohibits sliding back to where we were and instead supports the aspiration of continuous momentum on resiliency and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We must come to the point where we are comfortable with honest conversations among and across staff, treating each other with respect as people. Honest conversations about our goals, our work, and our capacity will help build trust and staff morale and will also prevent us from developing relationships that are purely transactional. The complex workplace and world we operate in requires a restorative or healing component.

In further support of this idea, we are creating new opportunities for the staff and board to work more consistently with each other. This includes a new board committee structure with greater participation from staff; more “real-time” or dashboard updates to the board so they better

understand the work of the organization; and increased transparency around the work and function of the board.

Our organization cannot succeed without the trust of our partners and the field. Proposed actions from the task force for racial and cultural equity will be key to success, including:

  • Democratization of the policy and advocacy agenda and recognizing those partners in the field that can be strong collaborators.
  • Providing more information on financial commitments to core DEI initiatives and programs, demonstrating the full measure of resources expended in service to this priority.
  • External communications of actions taken by Americans for the Arts to elevate presence and advancement of racial and cultural equity commitments, beyond intentions.

6. STAY RELEVANT, BE PREPARED

Americans for the Arts must be relevant in this moment and into the future. We want people to turn to us for meaningful responses, whether it is a crisis or not. For this to happen, we must be vigilant to our field and the environment and understand challenges before they unfold. We have to ask: What is next? What is likely to be next?

Our country experienced at least three unexpected and significant societal shocks in the last twenty years including: 9/11, the 2008 economic crisis, and the current pandemic. In addition, our nation continues to feel an increasing and important shift in awareness of racial injustice. While we can’t predict exactly what is coming, we can be more attentive to the challenges and particular vulnerabilities of the arts sector. We did not foresee the pandemic, but we could have been better prepared to address the reality of a period of sustained unemployment in the arts sector.

In the wake of the pandemic, we’ve seen the arts industry experience its highest, longest, and most enduring levels of unemployment. Acknowledging and addressing the vulnerabilities of our sector requires continuous scanning of our external environment. Failure to do so will mean we are not serving the community of the arts and artists.

Closing

To paraphrase Amanda Gorman’s presidential inaugural poem: we are not broken, just unfinished.

Yes, we have much work to do. We have faced crisis in the past two years, and we are likely to face crisis in our future. We should remember that a crisis is a call out of the ordinary and call to the extraordinary. If we work together better, build trust internally and with the field, and keep an ear to the ground, we can be better prepared for the future.