An Academic Report on New Orleans Airlift

76 Pages·2015·8.82 MB·English

by  Bridget Nolan

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Arts Administration Master's Reports Arts Administration Program
12-2015
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Bridget Nolan
University of New Orleans
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Nolan, Bridget, "An Academic Report on New Orleans Airlift: An Internship Academic Report" (2015). Arts
Administration Master's Reports. 194.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/aa_rpts/194
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An Academic Report on New Orleans Airlift

An Internship Academic Report

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
University of New Orleans
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

Master of Arts
in
Arts Administration

By

Bridget Nolan
B.F.A, Frostburg State University 2010
December 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………..…iv
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1

Section I: Profile of New Orleans Airlift......................................................................................2
Mission and Objective………………………………………………………………………..2
History………………………………………………………………………………………..3
Legal Status…………………………………………………………………………………..5
Management Structure……………………………………………………………………….5
Staff…………………………………………………………………………………………..5
Advisory Board………………………………………………………………………………7
Budget Information…………………………………………………………………………..7
Programs …………………………………………………………………………………….8
Marketing…………………………………………………………………………………...10

Section II: Description of Internship………………………………………………………….12
Development …………………………………………………….…………………………12
Community Outreach……………………………………………….………………………13
Social Media/Website Upkeep……………………..……………………………………….14
Research………….…………………………………………………………………………15
Special Events…………………………………..…………………………………………..15

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Section III: S.W.O.T Analysis…………………………………………………………….17
Strengths…………………………………………………..………………………………...18
Weaknesses…………………………………………………………………………………20
Opportunities…………………………………………………………...…………………...22
Threats………………………………………………………………………………………23

Section IV: Best Practices……………………………………………………………………...24
Overview of coLAB Arts…………………………………………………………………...25
Donor Giving………………………………………………………………………………..26
Versatility…………………………………………………………………………………...27
Solid Financial Staff……………………………………………………...…………………28

Section V: Recommendations………………………………………………………………….30

Recommendation 1………………………………………………………………………….30

Recommendation 2………………………………………………………………………….32

Recommendation 3………………………………………………………………………….33

Recommendation 4………………………………………………………………………….34

Section VI: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………35

Vita………………………………………………………………………………………………37

Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………..38

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Appendices

Appendix 1.1………………………………………………………………………………...40
Appendix 1.2………………………………………………………………………………...41
Appendix 1.3………………………………………………………………………………...42
Appendix 1.4………………………………………………………………………………...46
Appendix 3.1………………………………………………………………………………...51
Appendix 5.1………………………………………………………………………………...69

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ABSTRACT

This academic report was composed at the conclusion of a 480-hour internship with New
Orleans Airlift. This report includes Airlift’s mission, history, and organizational structure, a
SWOT analysis, duties and projects completed and a summary of best practices. Listed are also a
series of suggestions and recommendations as to how New Orleans Airlift can improve and
strengthen current practices to maximize its potential as a small arts organization.
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INTRODUCTION

This report is intended to provide an organizational outline and academic assessment of
New Orleans Airlift. The 480-hour internship was served from January of 2015 to October 2015.
This report will also serve as a guide for New Orleans Airlift as it transitions from a National
Performance Network partner to a self-sufficient 501(c) (3) status holder (while seeking financial
stability for seasonal programming). The author intends to address how small arts organizations
can find financial backing in the ruthless world of New Orleans philanthropic funding. The
author also aims to explore how and why Airlift has continued to be a successful and relevant
small arts organization. Art is the thread that unites the community of New Orleans into a unified
yet diverse and vibrant fabric. Small arts organizations like Airlift continue to impact and unite
their audiences and communities, creating a necessary space for themselves within the cultural
economy of our city.

"The arts are not a frill. The arts are a response
to our individuality and our nature, and help to shape our identity.
What is there that can transcend deep difference and stubborn
divisions? The arts. They have a wonderful universality. Art has the
potential to unify. It can speak in many languages without a translator.
The arts do not discriminate. The arts can lift us up."
–Former Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan

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SECTION I: NEW ORLEANS AIRLIFT

Mission and Objective
The current mission statement for New Orleans Airlift is:
“Collaborating to inspire wonder, connect communities and foster opportunities through arts
education and the creation of experimental public artworks.”1
Founded in 2008, New Orleans Airlift is dedicated to producing innovative projects for New
Orleans-based artists to collaborate and engage with diverse communities locally and
internationally. Airlift projects are identified by collaboration, experimentation and a belief in the
artist’s role in creating a just, equitable and joyous future.

One of New Orleans Airlift’s most acclaimed and successful projects are The Music Box,
a multi-disciplinary project dedicated to bringing the exploration and performance of musical
architecture to the public. The Music Box first took place in the Bywater neighborhood of the
upper 9th Ward in 2011. The installation was later followed by a new movable incarnation, The
Music Box Roving Village Residencies. The Roving Village appeared in City Park in April of
2015 and plans to move throughout the city on a yearly basis.

1
New Orleans Airlift."Mission." Mission. Web. 26 Sept. 2015. <http://www.neworleansairlift.org/index.php/about/mission>.
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History
Airlift was founded in 2008 by Delaney Martin, a multi-media installation artist, and Jay
Pennington, a musician and artist manager. Pennington and Martin began to collaborate just after
Hurricane Katrina. Both witnessed the particular devastation of the Storm on the New Orleans
artistic community, Pennington and Martin saw a shared, collaborative creativity as a way of
coming together and mending this community.

While looking within, they also looked beyond New Orleans. Pennington and Martin
also recognized the need for new audiences who could support local artists as they rebuilt their
city. Together they organized an event called The New Orleans Airlift, which brought New
Orleans artists to Berlin Germany in 2009. Pennington and Martin named this project, thought to
be a one-time-event, after the Berlin Airlift of WWII. Soon after returning from Berlin, though,
Pennington and Martin decided to continue the cultivation of unique artistic collaborations, and
kept the organization’s name New Orleans Airlift.

In 2011, Martin, inspired by the sounds of old New Orleans homes, questioned how a
house could be a musical instrument. Coined, “musical architecture”, Airlift envisioned two
pillars of New Orleans culture- music and architecture- coming together into one sculptural
piece. This was the conception of the musical house. Internationally acclaimed street artist
Swoon was tasked with designing the look of the house. A small cardboard model of the house
soon turned into a 10ft scale model. Inspired by Swoon’s ten-foot model, Martin created The
Music Box: A Shantytown Sound Laboratory, which took place in the Bywater neighborhood
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from 2011-2012. Alongside Swoon, and local artists, Martin created a village of small shacks
and shanties that acted as laboratories for artists to collaborate and create musical inventions.

To this day, New Orleans Airlift programming highlights New Orleans’ underground art
and experimental artists. Through networks, friendships and a close connection to Swoon, Airlift
is able to cultivate and foster long-standing relationships with artists locally and globally. The
organization understands how important a dynamic street culture, living culture and a thriving
contemporary arts scene are to the neighborhoods within New Orleans. From the 2011 Music
Box events held in the Bywater, to the most recently held events in City Park, Airlift is a
growing experimental, artistic force within New Orleans.

In 2012, New Orleans Airlift took the Music Box out of the United States for an
“Outpost” experience. The United States Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine invited New Orleans Airlift
to create a Music Box styled piece for the Art Arsenal Museum. This was the first and only
“Outpost” located outside of the United States, but spawned the idea of the Roving Village. By
transporting that which is unique to New Orleans across the globe, Airlift is able to bring
recognition to New Orleans as well as provide inspiration and creative collaboration
internationally.

Since 2011, Airlift has been operating as a partner of the National Performance Network
(NPN). Through NPN, Airlift is able to apply for most grants with NPN’s EIN and Tax number.
Airlift is transitioning into a 501(c) (3), a designation from the federal government that allows
tax-free operations by virtue of its culturally enriching programing. Unfortunately, many
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