Roundtables/Workshops/Seminars

Mark your calendars for the spring semester of workshops at A.R.T./New York! We are working on the specific descriptions of each workshop and will be in touch regarding the reservation details. Please contact should you have any questions.

NOTE: All workshops will take place at A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Conference Room in Suite 319), unless otherwise stated.

Upcoming Workshops

 

Graphic Design for Theatre Productions: Part 1
by Maggie Elliot
Saturday, March 6, 11am-2pm
Open to all members.

Graphic Design for Theatre Productions: Part 2

by Maggie Elliot
Saturday, April 10, 11am-2pm
Open to all members.

Special Events
by Karin Schall
Saturday, March 13th 11am - 2pm
Open to members with operating budgets of $100,000 and less (Tier 4).

Planning a benefit or special event?  Thinking about planning a benefit or special event?  Helpful tips and practical advice no matter the size or scope of your event. This three-hour intensive class will help you shape your benefit - from choosing the right type of event for your company, creating a budget, working with your board and company members, soliciting in-kind donations, writing up important timelines, to avoiding day-of disasters and sending out thank you letters.  We'll compare "friend-raising" events to fundraising events. This is specially created for small theater companies, with less than $100,000 budget and few, if any, full time staff members. You should be planning on having a special event in the next 12 months. Please bring any invites or materials from your last event if you have it.

Leading Arts Boards
by Anne Dunning
Saturday, March 20, 11am-2pm
Pre-requisite - Organizational Planning & Process: Part 1

This workshop extends the concepts and approaches outlined in AAR's Organizational Planning and Process Parts 1 and 2 as applied to board and community relationships. This workshop, based on AAR's publication Leading ARTS BOARDS/An Arts Professional's Guide, is appropriate not only for formally incorporated theatres but any group seeking to enlist appropriate help and resources from community partners. The Leading ARTS BOARDS workshop is for arts professionals and board leaders who are serious about creating healthy, balanced, respectful, and productive collaborations. From defusing years of theory and myth, to defining roles and relationships, to recruitment and orientation of board members, to practical problem solving, the Leading ARTS BOARDS workshop is a must for theatre professionals. Full attendance in the Organizational Planning and Process series, or a comparable session lead by ARTS Action Research, is required for participation in this workshop.

Budgeting and Cash Flow
by Michael Naummann
Monday, March 22, 5:30-8:30pm
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Conference Room in Suite 319)
Open to members with operating budgets below $500,000 (Tiers 3 and 4)
Prerequisite - Setting Up Systems

The first part of the workshop will lead you step-by-step through the budgeting process and will focus on budgeting production expenses as well as overhead administrative costs.

The second part of the workshop will give you tools and methods to manage your money so that cash is available when bills need to be paid. In addition, you will learn how to assess and handle periods of potential cash-flow shortage. There will be a 30 minute One on One follow-up session. Sign up sheets will be available at the workshop.

Strengthening your Organization's Voice to Sharpen Fundraising Material: Part 2
by Ellen Barker
Saturday, March 27, 11am-2pm
Pre-Requisite - Strengthening your Organization's Voice to Sharpen Fundraising Material: Part 1

In this time when it is extremely competitive to earn limited funding dollars, theaters must find concise and creative ways to get their voices heard and, ultimately, their work supported. The aim of this three-hour workshop is to help you develop fresh, precise, and compelling prose about your organization that you can use in much of your fundraising materials, as well as at events and meetings with donors. Two key partners from your organization are required to attend, so together, through interactive exercises and discussion, you will begin to create new language - from a compact four-word organizational description to a fully fleshed-out case statement which concisely documents your plans for the current season - that will inspire funders to support your theatrical work. We will also discuss how you can adapt this language for other fundraising materials, including individual donor appeals and grant proposals.

Grant Writing for a Panel

by Ellen Barker

Friday, April 9, 6-8pm

A.R.T/New York  Spaces @ 520, A.R.T/New York Conference Room

Open to all members

Annual Planning
by Micki Hobson
Wednesday, April 14, 4-8pm

Pre-requisite - Organizational Planning and Process: Parts 1 and 2
Ideas are a dime a dozen and they remain just that unless your limited human and financial resources are carefully prioritized and managed. This session covers the how-to's for putting cement under your sales and fundraising efforts, including time management, calendaring, and carefully crafting a staff. Exercises for self-assessment, setting benchmarks, and data retrieval and analysis will also be provided.

Building Audience Participation: Image Building
by Micki Hobson
Thursday, April 15, 4-8pm
Pre-requisite - Annual Planning

Participants will complete a branding exercise to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the components that comprise the image which outsiders have or will have of your company. Tools related to each item and measuring the success of your institutional development programs will also be discussed.

Building Audience Participation: Strategic Targeting
by Micki Hobson
Saturday, April 17, 11am-3pm
Pre-requisite - Annual Planning & Image Building

An exercise designed for participants to build audiences for a specific project through the development of partnerships with individuals and organizations whose interests are relevant to the subject matter of the production.

The process emphasizes the need for clear project descriptions and the creation of pertinent surround events to enhance the experience for a variety of constituencies. It is expected that such collaborations will translate into long-term alliances that will have residual benefits beyond ticket sales. This workshop is most helpful if you use a specific production that will be presented no sooner than four, preferably six, months from the date of the session.

Building Audience Participation: Part 4 - Smart Communicating
by Micki Hobson
Sunday, April 18, 11am-3pm
Pre-requisite - Annual Planning & Image Building

This session will focus on evaluating the communication tools to determine which will convey your message to your specific targets in the most compelling and economical way. The how-to's of producing direct marketing tools, including direct mail, email, websites, and in-house publications will be covered, with an emphasis on maintaining the institutional image and creating multi-use materials.


Publicity: The Ground Rules - Part 1
by Reva Cooper
Monday, April 19, 6-8pm
Open to all members.

Publicity: The Ground Rules - Part 2
by Reva Cooper
Monday, April 26, 6-8pm
Pre-requisite - Publicity: The Ground Rules - Part 1

This two part workshop will cover the tools of publicity, including the new world of press and how it's changed, concepts of what makes news and how to create news for your show, still-relevant traditions of the press (which no one tells you), dealing with and establishing relationships with the press, writing press releases and other PR materials, and developing an overall publicity campaign. There will be hands-on exercises and handouts distributed for future reference.

There will be a 30 minute one on one follow-up session available to each participating group following Part 2. Sign-up sheets will be available at Part 2.


Growing AUDIENCES
by Nello McDaniel
Tuesday, April 20 4-7pm
Open to all members.

This workshop extends the concepts and approaches outlined in Arts Action Research's (AAR) Context, Concepts and Planning as applied to building and maintaining audience relationships. The workshop, based on AAR's publication Growing AUDIENCES: Creating Value, Meaning and Energy, is appropriate for any group seeking to deepen their relationships with existing audiences and/or broaden or diversify their audiences by creating relationships with new participants. The Growing AUDIENCES workshop is for arts professionals who are committed to building relationships with their audiences beyond marketing and sales approaches. If you are tired of trying to keep up with the latest marketing trend and want to find a way to really connect with and sustain an ongoing audience for your work, this workshop will offer you the base from which to start. You will learn how to 'map' your current audience, set appropriate goals for audience growth and create strategies to build and sustain relationships with your core, connected and even unconnected audiences.

Past Workshops

Strengthening your Organization's Voice to Sharpen Fundraising Material: Part 1
by Ellen Barker
Saturday, January 23, 11am-2pm
Open to all members.

Organizational Planning and Process: Part 1
by Anne Dunning & Nello McDaniel
Monday, February 8, 4-8pm
Open to members with operating budgets of $500,000 and under (Tier 3 & Tier 4).

Organizational Planning and Process: Part 2
by Anne Dunning & Nello McDaniel
Wednesday, March 17, 4-6pm or 6-8pm
Open to members with operating budgets of $500,000 and less (Tier 3 & Tier 4).

Setting Up Office Systems
by Michael Naummann
Monday, February 22, 6-8pm
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Conference Room in Suite 319)
Open to members with operating budgets below $500,000 (Tiers 3 and 4)

You have a theatre company. You know you should be saving your receipts, but what else should you be doing? What files should you make? How does petty cash work? How much accounting do you need to know? What are the government's reporting requirements? This workshop will address these and other questions about managing the fiscal side of your company. Bring your own specific questions as well.

Planned Giving: Why You Should Start a Program

By Rita Fuerst Adams

Monday, March 1st, 5-7 pm
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bruce Mitchell Room)
Open to members with operating budgets above $100,000 (Tiers 1, 2, and 3)

So, what is planned giving?  What does it mean to have a planned giving program?  Are there rules my organization should know before we start?  Is planned giving only for organizations of a certain size?    Is this the right time for your organization to start a planned giving program? Explore what you will need in resources and staff and volunteer time to start asking your contributors to include you in their estate plans.

 

Roundtables

Throughout the season, A.R.T./New York's Roundtables bring theatre administrators together with their peers at similar-sized theatre companies to discuss topics of common interest. Roundtables are facilitated by A.R.T./New York staff, and are available to Artistic, Development, Managing, and Marketing Directors. Topic-specific roundtables, such as a spring gathering for producers of Ensemble theatres in collaboration with the Network of Ensemble Theatres, are held regularly.

Tier 2 Marketing Roundtable
Wednesday, January 20, 10am-11:30am
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bruce Mitchell Room)
Open to all Tier 2 member theatres (theatres with budgets $500,000-$1 million).

Please email to RSVP for the above Roundtable.

Tier 1 Marketing Roundtable
Tuesday, January 26, 10am-11:30am
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bruce Mitchell Room)
Open to all Tier 1 member theatres (theatres with budgets over $1 million).

Please email to RSVP for the above Roundtable.

Past Roundtables

Tier 1 Development Roundtable
Thursday, November 4, 10-11:30am
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bruce Mitchell Room)
Open to all Tier 1 member theatres (theatres with budgets above $1 million).

Tier 2 Development Roundtable
Wednesday, November 18, 10am-11:30am
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bruce Mitchell Room)
Open to all Tier 2 member theatres (theatres with budgets $500,000-$1 million).

Tier 2 Managing Director Roundtable
Monday, December 14, 10am-11:30am
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bruce Mitchell Room)
Open to all Tier 2 member theatres (theatres with budgets $500,000-$1 million).

Tier 3 Development Roundtable
Friday, December 18, 10am-11:30am
A.R.T./New York Spaces @ 520 (520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, Bruce Mitchell Room)
Open to all Tier 3 member theatres (theatres with budgets $100,000-$500,000).