Workshops
A.R.T./New York offers a suite of workshops for our members as skills-building opportunities fully included in the cost of membership. We strive to offer education from multiple perspectives and pedagogies for staff in every department of our member companies. Members are encouraged to send interns and associate-level staff members to workshops as part of their professional development offerings.
We have organized our workshops into tracks based on the topic of focus. Some workshops are cross-listed under multiple tracks but refer to the same event. Click on each track below to view the available workshops.
Tracks
The Fundamentals
While some of these workshops intersect with other tracks, the workshops listed below are designed for our Incubator and Tier 4 members. If you're new to producing or running a theater company, these workshops offer a taste of everything you need to get started!
Organizational Planning & Process: Part 1
This workshop is the first in a three-part series comprised of two group workshops and a one-on-one consulting session for each participant theatre. This workshop provides critical conceptual and practical building blocks for theatres developing organizational structures that fully reflect and support the work they are developing and producing. Topics examined include realities faced by small theatres today; key defining and guiding values and processes of each theatre's organization and culture based on its own unique qualities; and, insights into broad organizational application of these unique qualities. Participants are given an assignment to write an Organization Profile for review in Part Two.
The Organizational Planning and Process series is for member theatres operating under $500,000. Limited to two staff members per company. Completion of both parts of Organizational Planning and Process is required to be eligible to apply for the Nancy Quinn Fund grant program.
Organizational Planning & Process: Part 2
This workshop is the second in the three-part Organizational Planning and Process (OP&P) series and focuses on reviewing and discussing the Organization Profile writing assignment of from Part One. The draft work of each participant theatre is reviewed and discussed in small group breakout sessions led by Anne and Nello. These review and discussion sessions provide each theatre with helpful feedback and insights toward greater clarity in their Organization Profiles from colleagues and the AAR consultants. Prerequisite for this workshop is attendance in the OP & P Part One and completion of the Organization Profile assignment.
Participation is limited to two staff members per company. Completion of both parts of Organizational Planning and Process is required to be eligible to apply for the Nancy Quinn Fund grant program. Participants who complete OP & P Workshops One and Two are eligible to have a 90-minute one-on-one session with either Nello or Anne. The one-on-one sessions are scheduled individually by AAR following the Part Two workshop.
Fundamentals of Financial Systems
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.
Quickbooks: The Basics »
Are you ready to move on to the next step in bookkeeping with your theatre company but don’t know where to begin? This workshop will cover everything from how to acquire QuickBooks and open a new company file, to the inner workings of writing checks, making deposits and reconciling with your bank statement. This course will address all of your most basic how-to questions.
Branding Through Social Media
Social media is hailed as an "indispensable" marketing tool for any company, especially non-profits, since it's a (mostly) free way to establish an online presence. However, recent changes to the algorithms that define how posts are delivered to users, combined with an excessive number of brands trying to reach consumers on these platforms, have put into question how much value social media can really add to any marketing plan. In this workshop, we'll tackle the principles of creating an organic "always-on" social media strategy, focusing on a) clearly conveying your company's mission, b) setting yourself apart from the competition and c) finding an audience to whom this content is relevant.
Succeeding While Small
Small companies can be powerful. With a smaller budget, you have the privilege of being scrappy, lean, and adaptable. But, regardless of your budget size, there are ways to streamline your operations and save time and money while growing your potential.
In this workshop, we will discuss industry standards to maximize your company's size, whether you're looking to stay small or grow. Learn basic best practices in audience/donor management, budgeting, and fundraising, so you can focus on making the work that you're passionate about.
Budgeting and Cash Flow
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.
Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Financial Systems. Recommended for companies with budgets up to $500,000.
Intro to Non-Profit Producing
What is a Producer? Do you need one? Is it You?
This workshop will provide a broad overview of the steps needed to get your show off the ground, from planning through performance. We'll use real-life examples of the day-to-day business of production to explore multiple producing models to get your work up and running at any level. Evaluating long and short-terms goals, we'll step through the production process, including expense budgeting, an intro to basic fundraising and income streams, contracting and negotiation, the practical skills of managing creative, technical and production teams, box office, marketing and PR and generally setting yourself up for success.
Producing Touring Engagements
This workshop will help you think through the A to Zs of touring a theatrical production, and will be of special benefit and interest to artist-led or ensemble-based nonprofit companies who have minimal to no experience with having their work presented outside of New York, and who have self-produced or co-produced their work in New York. We will explore how to rationally and efficiently set your production up to be ready to tour; how to budget for touring; how to determine what you need from tour presenters in terms of fee and project support; how you can identify the kinds of resources you need to make touring a sustainable and rewarding earned income stream; and how to think strategically about the intangible as well as tangible benefits to your organization. We will investigate strategies for approaching and networking with presenters and making your production appealing not just for its artistic merits, but also from logistical and budgetary perspectives. We will walk through the brass tacks of negotiating a touring contract, planning the logistics, and setting benchmarks to determine what you should manage and what you should expect your presenter to manage for you. Finally, we will touch on how to make the most of any touring engagement.
Accessibility
Make your shows and organizations more accessible by learning how to include audiences, artists, and staff with disabilities.
Making Internships Accessible: Including Interns with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities
Does your theater have an internship program? Attend this workshop with MAC's Supporting Transitions project to learn how to include individuals with autism and developmental disabilities as interns in your organization. Take steps to build a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable cultural workforce by learning strategies for including candidates with developmental disabilities in the outreach and application process, the interview and hiring process, and on the job. This workshop will help your organization access a wider pool of qualified, exciting candidates ready to enter the cultural workforce.
Achievable Accessibility
This workshop will focus on achievable solutions to engage and include people with disabilities in all aspect of your organizations, including artists, audiences, staffs, and boards. Welcoming people with disabilities doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. This session will examine some of the barriers to participation faced by people with disabilities and offer some solutions and suggestions on how to overcome them. Whether your theater is large or small, access and inclusion for people with disabilities can be achievable. Participants will be provided with tools and resources on how to best serve people with disabilities in all areas of our organizations. Advice on how to provide effective staff training and other accessibility options will be discussed.
Intro to ASL-Interpreted Theatre
Have you ever thought about offering sign interpreted performances and welcoming Deaf audiences to your theaters? Where and how do I start? The questions can sometimes be overwhelming, but we’re here to tell you there are not as many barriers as you think.
This session will provide participants with the basic information and resources needed to design a successful sign language interpreted performance. Among areas we will cover: how to reach out and find qualified sign language interpreters/interpreter directors; how to develop a workable budget; how to determine production needs (audience seating, interpreter placement, lighting needs, among other issues); and most importantly––how to reach out to and market to the Deaf community.
Engaging and Understanding Audiences with Disabilities
Arts marketers have long sought out ways to expand and diversify their audiences, but where do people with disabilities fit in? Historically, people with disabilities have been considered solely from a mandates perspective -- what do we legally have to do, how accessible do we have to be, what are regulations we need to follow. All important points, but this workshop will try to shift and add to the discussion by introducing the concepts of disability from a community/multi-cultural perspective. If we want to include people with disabilities in our theaters, then we need to better understand them as audience members, the barriers they encounter, the attitudes they face and other issues that prevent their full participation. This workshop will provide participants with an introduction to general ideas on how to market the arts for people with disabilities. Participants will be presented with an overview of disability from a multi-cultural perspective, provided with suggestions on how to create relationships with different segments of the disability community and given information on the basic tenets of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Audience Development
From community engagement to social media strategies, this track is dedicated to helping you know your audience better and develop them into loyal fans of your work!
Audience Development
This workshop will present tangible strategies on ways to build and expand multicultural audiences for the arts. The workshop includes an overview on national trends on engaging diverse communities including the following topics:
- impact of immigration
- generational marketing
- ten tools for building communities, and
- social media and the impact of press, publicity, and advertising on multicultural audiences.
Participants will break up into workshop groups and prepare a draft of an outline that maps tactics to engage a diverse audience. Groups will present outcomes and conclude with a summary of the discussion and action steps moving forward.
Branding Through Social Media
Social media is hailed as an "indispensable" marketing tool for any company, especially non-profits, since it's a (mostly) free way to establish an online presence. However, recent changes to the algorithms that define how posts are delivered to users, combined with an excessive number of brands trying to reach consumers on these platforms, have put into question how much value social media can really add to any marketing plan. In this workshop, we'll tackle the principles of creating an organic "always-on" social media strategy, focusing on a) clearly conveying your company's mission, b) setting yourself apart from the competition and c) finding an audience to whom this content is relevant.
Boards
Whether you're new to building a board or in the midst of transitioning your board, these workshops are taught by consultants in the field ready to guide you through each phase.
Foundations 101 (Part 1)
This workshop will focus on how to identify and research foundation prospects and getting your foot in the door with a new donor. Whether you are stuck in a rut with the same circle of supporters or you are just starting out as a grant writer, this session is geared towards expanding your list of prospects and increasing your response rate.
This workshop is part of a 3-part series. While not required, participants are encouraged to take all three workshops. This workshop is best for companies with budget sizes over 100,000 but under 2.5 million. 501 (c) 3 status is strongly encouraged. This workshop does not focus on corporate sponsorship or government funding.
Foundations 101 (Part 2)
So you’ve been invited to apply. Now what? This session will go step by step through the process of writing a grant narrative, from determining what to apply for to proofing and review to choosing what attachments to include. We will also discuss best practices for grant reporting.
Foundations 101 (Part 3)
Your budget tells a story about your organization just as much as your narrative does, and for many funders it is the most important element of the application. In this session we will look at budget templates for grant applications, going step by step through the process of building a project budget, as well as crafting an institutional budget for an application, and best practices for how to share your financials with a potential funder.
Leading Arts Boards
The Leading Arts Boards Workshop extends the concepts and approaches outlined in AAR’s Organizational Planning and Process, Part One, as applied to the board and community relationships. This workshop, based on AAR’s publication Leading Arts Boards, is appropriate not only for formally incorporated theatres but any group seeking to enlist appropriate help and resources from community partners. 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 seeking to build healthy, balanced and effective board relationships and practices for their organizations. This workshop is limited to two participants per company and board members are welcome to participate.
Body Autonomy
Learn how to develop policies and procedures to report and prevent harassment and abuse.
Please check back for more Body Autonomy workshops in 2019-20.
Finance
Do budgets mystify you? Are you worried about being in compliance with IRS rules for non-profits? This track covers everything you need to know to keep your organization in a healthy financial standing.
Quickbooks: The Basics
Are you ready to move on to the next step in bookkeeping with your theatre company but don’t know where to begin? This workshop will cover everything from how to acquire QuickBooks and open a new company file, to the inner workings of writing checks, making deposits and reconciling with your bank statement. This course will address all of your most basic how-to questions.
Quickbooks: Advanced
You’ve been using QuickBooks for your company but now what? With this advanced QuickBooks workshop, learn how to maximize QuickBooks as a management tool for your company. This course will show you how to generate reports for grant support, manage your budgeting versus your actuals, generate year-end 1099s and much more. This workshop is appropriate for artists and organizations who have taken Quickbooks Basics or are looking to expand their knowledge on Quickbooks.
IRS Receipt Requirements for All Gifts and In-Kind Contributions
The IRS requires organizations to recognize in – kind contributions for 990 purposes. They also have specific requirements for receipts given to contributors. There are also special forms and appraisals that must be filed in certain situations. Penalties can be high for non – compliance and your contributors could be hurt, as well.
This workshop will cover IRS compliance for in kind and cash contributions. We will also discuss reporting of in – kind contributions on CPA prepared and audited financial statements. Recognition is not always the same for financial statement and tax purposes. We’ll discuss the similarities and differences for tax and financial statement reporting.
Form 990: A Walking Tour
Form 990 is the essential document used by tax-exempt organizations for financial reporting. Both federal and state governments use this form as a compliance tool that discloses clear and evident proof by tax-exempt organizations that they are not required to pay taxes.
Every year, nearly 600,000 organizations file Form 990 with the IRS. This publicly available document is also used by state regulators, policymakers, the media, researchers, and contributors. It provides regulatory oversight and an opportunity to demonstrate transparency to those interested parties.
Topics covered in this workshop will include:
- When to file 990 vs. 990-EZ or 990N
- Governance Section
- Core form and schedules
- New special events and program reporting requirements
- Compensation reporting
- Public Support Test
- When to prepare your form 990 yourself and when to hire a professional preparer
- How to choose a preparer if you need one
Fundraising
The essentials of fundraising with individual donors from crowdfunding to special events and everything in-between!
Kickstarter Building Blocks
Learn about the ins and outs of running a crowdfunding campaign from Kickstarter’s Senior Performance Lead, Jessica Massart. This workshop will cover the necessary building blocks, including setting the right goals, effectively telling your story, creating manageable rewards, and building your community.
Special Events
Planning a benefit or special event? Thinking about planning a benefit or special 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.
Foundations 101 (Part 1)
This workshop will focus on how to identify and research foundation prospects and getting your foot in the door with a new donor. Whether you are stuck in a rut with the same circle of supporters or you are just starting out as a grant writer, this session is geared towards expanding your list of prospects and increasing your response rate.
This workshop is part of a 3-part series. While not required, participants are encouraged to take all three workshops. This workshop is best for companies with budget sizes over 100,000 but under 2.5 million. 501 (c) 3 status is strongly encouraged. This workshop does not focus on corporate sponsorship or government funding.
Foundations 101 (Part 2)
So you’ve been invited to apply. Now what? This session will go step by step through the process of writing a grant narrative, from determining what to apply for to proofing and review to choosing what attachments to include. We will also discuss best practices for grant reporting.
Foundations 101 (Part 3)
Your budget tells a story about your organization just as much as your narrative does, and for many funders it is the most important element of the application. In this session we will look at budget templates for grant applications, going step by step through the process of building a project budget, as well as crafting an institutional budget for an application, and best practices for how to share your financials with a potential funder.
Relational Fundraising and Development
This workshop extends the concepts and approaches outlined in AAR’s Organizational Planning and Process Part One as applied to fundraising and development. This workshop will help any arts leader to understand how cultivating and nurturing relationships in an intentional and meaningful way can help to sustain their organization’s programs and infrastructure by providing simple steps to create a plan, set appropriate goals, identify potential supporters, cultivate supporters and see relationships through the ask for support and beyond.
Grantwriting
Learn the fundamentals of writing competitive grants for foundations and funders in the arts!
Work Samples & Grant Supplemental Materials
Writing a successful grant application isn’t just about the narrative! In order to win over funders, your entire application package - from budget to work samples and more - have to all tell the same, compelling story. In this two-hour workshop hosted by Benvenuti Arts Founder, Sarah Benvenuti, we’ll focus on storyboarding out your entire grant, ensuring that you’re creating the best supplementals package to support your request. We’ll cover work samples, budgets, and other administrative documents, looking at examples and working through some simple best practices. All attendees will have the opportunity to review their samples individually, getting feedback from Benvenuti and other attendees.
Organizational Management
These workshops are designed to teach best practices for producing, general management, and office systems.
Organizational Planning & Process: Part 1
This workshop is the first in a three-part series comprised of two group workshops and a one-on-one consulting session for each participant theatre. This workshop provides critical conceptual and practical building blocks for theatres developing organizational structures that fully reflect and support the work they are developing and producing. Topics examined include realities faced by small theatres today; key defining and guiding values and processes of each theatre's organization and culture based on its own unique qualities; and, insights into broad organizational application of these unique qualities. Participants are given an assignment to write an Organization Profile for review in Part Two.
The Organizational Planning and Process series is for member theatres operating under $500,000. Limited to two staff members per company. Completion of both parts of Organizational Planning and Process is required to be eligible to apply for the Nancy Quinn Fund grant program.
Organizational Planning & Process: Part 2
This workshop is the second in the three-part Organizational Planning and Process (OP&P) series and focuses on reviewing and discussing the Organization Profile writing assignment of from Part One. The draft work of each participant theatre is reviewed and discussed in small group breakout sessions led by Anne and Nello. These review and discussion sessions provide each theatre with helpful feedback and insights toward greater clarity in their Organization Profiles from colleagues and the AAR consultants. Prerequisite for this workshop is attendance in the OP & P Part One and completion of the Organization Profile assignment.
Participation is limited to two staff members per company. Completion of both parts of Organizational Planning and Process is required to be eligible to apply for the Nancy Quinn Fund grant program. Participants who complete OP & P Workshops One and Two are eligible to have a 90-minute one-on-one session with either Nello or Anne. The one-on-one sessions are scheduled individually by AAR following the Part Two workshop.
Fundamentals of Financial Systems
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.
Your Personnel: Are they Contractors or Employees?
What’s the difference between an employee and an independent contractor? What do you need to know when hiring and paying someone to work for your organization? If you fail to correctly classify people who work for you, you may be liable for significant penalties for unpaid withholding and Social Security taxes as well as State and Federal unemployment insurance contributions, disability, and workers' compensation. In this workshop, we’ll review the rules, and talk about how they affect you. We’ll go over Internal Revenue Service rules and guidelines for worker classification, Department of Labor rules and guidelines for worker classification, the interaction between IRS and DOL, union rules, IRS and DOL audits, remedial action, and how worker classification affects workers’ compensation insurance.
Succeeding While Small
Small companies can be powerful. With a smaller budget, you have the privilege of being scrappy, lean, and adaptable. But, regardless of your budget size, there are ways to streamline your operations and save time and money while growing your potential.
In this workshop, we will discuss industry standards to maximize your company's size, whether you're looking to stay small or grow. Learn basic best practices in audience/donor management, budgeting, and fundraising, so you can focus on making the work that you're passionate about.
Budgeting and Cash Flow
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.
Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Financial Systems. Recommended for companies with budgets up to $500,000.
Intro to Non-Profit Producing
What is a Producer? Do you need one? Is it You?
This workshop will provide a broad overview of the steps needed to get your show off the ground, from planning through performance. We'll use real-life examples of the day-to-day business of production to explore multiple producing models to get your work up and running at any level. Evaluating long and short-terms goals, we'll step through the production process, including expense budgeting, an intro to basic fundraising and income streams, contracting and negotiation, the practical skills of managing creative, technical and production teams, box office, marketing and PR and generally setting yourself up for success.
View the full event calendar below.
A.R.T./New York welcomes people with all abilities to attend our workshops and roundtables. Interpretation services are available by request which must be made at least 7 business days before the event. For accessibility information, special circumstances, or other accommodations, please contact Kirsten Sweeney at [email protected].
The Nancy Quinn Technical Assistance Program is made possible in part by generous funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, and New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick.
Header: Tectonic Theater Project's production of Carmen. Photo by Stan Borough.
