onward through the fog (2)
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Onward Through the Fog
Finding Our Way in Unfamiliar Twenty-First Century Terrain
Funding Our Way in Unfamiliar Twenty-First Century Terrain?
21st Century Challenges and Opportunities
New York/New England in 1556
Digital technologies are creating new cultural frontiers
• Cultural authority has moved to the Web
• The era of the digital native began in 1985
• 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engage in at least one type of content creation
10 million subscribers
2008 Study on Gaming
• Conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the first to investigate the prevalence of gaming among young people aged 12 to 17.
• www.pewinternet.org
Demographic shifts are driving changes in cultural expectations
• The U.S. Census Bureau now projects that by 2042 we will be a “minority-majority” population.
Aging Population, Aging Audience
• Today, seniors aged 65 and older number 36.3 million, 12 percent of the population
• By 2050, they are projected to grow to 86.7 million, approximately 20 percent of the population
Generational leadership transitions are reshaping
organizations
• Young leaders will reinvent organizations for the 21st century
• It’s up to the “elders” to cultivate and encourage them
Cultural organizations are profoundly undercapitalized
• Is the cultural system overbuilt?
• What are the alternatives to our current Darwinian approach?
• Mergers/alliances work when there is congruence of mission, compatibility of collections and political will of the governing body
• The very idea of mergers raises hackles in the culture community: most though not all are driven by crisis
Agreement about the value of cultural nonprofits has eroded
• The market definition of cultural value is now dominant
• It’s time to listen to what our constituencies value in cultural experience
• John Holden, “Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy. www.demos.co.uk
Schenectady 1896
Navigating by Compass
True North
Philadelphia Cultural Leadership Program
• Vision, mission, goals, programs and identified constituencies are all aligned
• Strong and informed leadership guides the organization
• There is a culture of planning throughout the organization
Tools and Assistance
• Index of Organizational Health• www.pewtrusts.org
• Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative• www.artshelp.org
• Cultural Data Project
Annual Report (Financial Activity Section)Annual Report (Financial Activity Section)
21st Century Assumptions
• Organizations need to know their environment as well as they know themselves
• Achieving programmatic relevance in a crowded marketplace will be more challenging
• Operating “in the black” is no longer sufficient for long-term sustainability
A new role for cultural organizations?
• In the future, cultural organizations could be a force for securing all individuals’ right to their own creativity.
• For now, planning toward this or other transformative visions is all that may be possible.