Review by Brann J. Wry of the book A Handbook for Cultural Trustees: A Guide to the Role, Responsibilities and Functions of Boards of Trustees of Cultural Organizations in Canada [Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: University Press of Waterloo, 1987, 75 p.].

In approaching A Handbook for Cultural Trustees, I wondered what such a slim volume could hold. The volume was attractively packaged in a slick plasticized ring binder. It felt like something one could slip into a briefcase and looked like a work one might find at any well-heeled board of directors meeting. If I were sitting at my place at a meeting, I would guess that someone wanted me and my associate trustees to take notice because the title addresses that very small class of devoted volunteers - cultural organizations' trustees. Rare is the volume that does that well, and the present handbook has the potential to get a board off to a very good start.

Trustee education is one of the last frontiers of arts administration education. In the past few years, it has become a more frequently addressed topic for boards of trustees because of their heightened sense of responsibility. Boards are becoming more concerned with how well they are doing, and they are taking measures to improve their performance. It is quite common today to speak with trustees who are engaging in a planning endeavor, taking a seminar on trusteeship or investing time in a board retreat.

While A Handbook for Cultural Trustees will not answer every question trustees will have about governance, it will provide a path for action. It can be a very helpful tool in this respect and as such is a needed addition in the area of trustee education. I sense that this handbook will be used predominantly by those boards who are already sensitive to their educational needs and be overlooked by those not taking their responsibilities seriously enough. If there were a work that could reach the latter, arts governance might find itself in the best of all possible worlds.

In approaching A Handbook for Cultural Trustees, I wondered what such a slim volume could hold. The volume was attractively packaged in a slick plasticized ring binder. It felt like something one could slip into a briefcase and looked like a work one might find at any well-heeled board of directors meeting. If I were sitting at my place at a meeting, I would guess that someone wanted me and my associate trustees to take notice because the title addresses that very small class of devoted volunteers - cultural organizations' trustees. Rare is the volume that does that well, and the present handbook has the potential to get a board off to a very good start.