Hosted by Victoria Steele with invited guest expert, Roger Gaudet: Arts organizations have always sought out partnerships to help them develop - to increase their dissemination and production opportunities, to reach new audiences or to share services and infrastructure. Your organization may be thinking of entering a partnership with a group in another sector - or considering a long-term collaboration with an organization that is quite different in structure or mandate. Roger Gaudet and Victoria Steele discuss a simple exercise that partners can do to get to know each other better, improve communication and smooth the way forward in partnering activities.

Animé par Victoria Steele avec l'expert invité Roger Gaudet: Les organismes artistiques ont toujours recherché des partenariats pour les aider à se développer - pour accroître leur diffusion, augmenter leurs opportunités de production, rejoindre de nouveaux publics ou partager des services et des infrastructures. Votre organisation envisage peut-être de conclure un partenariat avec une autre organisation dans un autre secteur - ou envisage une collaboration à long terme avec une organisation dont la structure ou le mandat est très différent. Victoria Steele et Roger Gaudet discutent d’un exercice simple que les partenaires peuvent faire pour mieux se connaître et faciliter la progression des activités de partenariat.

As we approach the end of 2023, how has the arts and culture industry adapted since the pandemic - or has it? Considering the current state of inflation and economic instability, what unique revenue generation challenges are arts organizations facing now? Tune in for a discussion with Sue Edworthy and Ben Dietschi as they talk about virtual events and online platforms, collaboration with other sectors, the preferences of younger audiences, and the ever-evolving financial and artistic landscape all without ever using the word pivot.

Ben Dietschi:

Ben Dietschi is a Senior Consultant with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, supporting a diverse array of organizations to achieve short and long-term goals in the areas of strategic planning, artistic planning, marketing, fundraising, change management, and community engagement.

Since joining the Institute, Ben has led or assisted 50+ strategic planning processes, conducted regional arts ecology studies, and served as advisor to 30+ organizations. Recent clients include The Yale Schwarzman Center (New Haven), The Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus), Step Afrika! (Washington, DC), Philharmonia Baroque (San Francisco), The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music (New Orleans), and Kentucky Shakespeare (Louisville).

Prior to joining the Institute, Ben was executive director of Soundstreams, Canada’s leading contemporary music and opera producer. During his tenure, the organization expanded revenues by 67% to support more staged opera and immersive performances, launched an ambitious international touring program, and transformed its brand to reach new audiences. He spearheaded the launch of a guest curator program designed to address the fragmented talent pipeline for music curators in Canada and contribute to the organization’s artistic succession plan.

Ben has served on the boards of several cultural institutions, frequently speaks at industry forums and conferences, and has served on numerous award and grant assessment panels. He received a distinguished alumni award from Brandon University and completed the DeVos Institute Global Arts Management Fellowship from 2017–2019.

Fundamentally, his arts management ethos rests on formative years as a saxophonist and composer, performing and recording across North America and Europe, experiencing the transformative power of the arts firsthand.

Sue Edworthy:

Sue Edworthy has worked in the non-profit performing arts for over twenty years, with stints as a director, event coordinator and arts administrator. She is now in demand as a consultant, speaker, and facilitator. She has run 75+ workshops on marketing, social media and branding, including the inaugural Work in Culture Marketing Masterclass in 2021/22. In addition, her company Sue Edworthy Arts Planning provides counsel, solutions and support for individual artists and arts organizations in areas such as marketing, branding, strategic planning, mentorship and facilitation.

Sue is a former Board Member for TAPA, was co-chair for Artsvote 2014, 2016 and 2018 and spent two years of a seven-year stint as Vice President of The Toronto Fringe Festival. She is a Harold Award recipient, received the 2012 and 2013 Char-PR Prize for PR, and was the 2015 recipient of the Leonard McHardy and John Harvey Award for Excellence in Arts Administration. Most recently she hasaccepted the Marketing position for Arts Consultants Canada.

How are municipalities and other regional governments approaching culture planning and strategy? What trends are taking hold in how municipal and regional planners are approaching culture planning and culture service delivery? How have municipal cultural planning goals shifted?

In this episode of At The Mic, Peter Lyman and Mila Dechef-Tweddle from Nordicity discuss their observations of how culture planning has evolved over the past decade and what approaches their team use to ensure a successful, community-engaged planning process.

Peter Lyman is Senior Partner of Nordicity, which he co-founded in 1979. He guided Nordicity’s merger with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998 and was made national lead partner for the Information Communications and Entertainment/Media practice. He then led Nordicity’s re-emergence as a standalone firm in 2002. Over the decades, he has found new ways to drive the business and help companies, arts and heritage institutions, industry associations and government agencies transform themselves to the digital world.

Peter is a media commenter and frequent panelist or moderator at professional conferences. He is active in the arts and social justice community, as past chair of the board for the Inspirit Foundation, governance chair of Canadian Stage in Toronto, and currently a board member for Caribbean Tales Media. He is an adjunct professor at Schulich Business School at York University, where he teaches cultural policy to the MBA students in arts and media. He is fluently bilingual in English and French.

Mila Dechef-Tweddle is a Director based in Nordicity’s Toronto office. She is a skilled consultant and accomplished leader who works closely with clients and stakeholders to proactively respond to key issues and opportunities.

Building from her background in museums and heritage, Mila works primarily with clients in the arts, culture and heritage sectors. Her work ranges from policy analysis, evaluation, and development, to economic and social impact assessment, to strategy development at the organizational and sector level.

Fluently bilingual in French and English, Mila has a proven track record of developing and implementing multifaceted methodologies and leading effective stakeholder and community engagement in both languages to inform the development of meaningful and actionable recommendations for her clients.

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