Arts and Cultural Leadership: Creating Sustainable Arts Organizations

247 Pages·2022·5.192 MB·English

by  Kenneth Foster

Arts and Cultural
Leadership
This textbook provides an expert overview of the challenge of arts and
cultural leadership in the contemporary world. Grounded in theories of
sustainability and with a renewed global focus for this second edition,
the author’s insights from contemporary arts organizations facilitate
meaningful student comprehension.
Drawing on the work of practitioners and theorists in the fields of
philosophy, biology, and ecology as well as the arts, Foster proposes
a rethinking of organizational design, strategy, and structure that is
based on ecological concepts and the creative process that is intrinsic
to the arts rather than the conventional business model that currently
prevails, particularly in western arts and culture organizations.
He contests conventional thinking about arts administration and
management and urges arts leaders to foreground innovation as
they reimagine their organizations for a world unlike any other. New
sections include an enhanced theoretical discussion as well as new
material on business models, strategy, and organizational design and
practice. Applicable to any arts organization, the entrepreneurial focus
is especially relevant in the aftermath of the global pandemic, the
ongoing climate crisis, and the quest for democracy and social justice.
This updated edition will be a valuable resource both for present-
day arts and cultural leaders who are working to adapt to the current
environment as well as students and future leaders who aspire to make
change in the world through arts and cultural leadership.
Kenneth Foster is Professor of Practice and Director of Arts Leadership
at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, USA.
“We have long needed a definitive guide to arts leadership in our
time – and this is that book. As the arts have become ever more
complex, constantly evolving to meet a changing world, so the work
of leadership becomes ever more critical and nuanced. Ken Foster
not only perceptively describes the environment and diagnoses its
challenges, but offers genuine hope that we can meet those challenges
with thoughtful and creative strategies. It’s a must-read for every
current and aspiring arts leader.”
Simon Woods, President and CEO,
League of American Orchestras
“Ken Foster has given us an expansive ‘why to’ book. It’s a call to action
to become proactive practitioners of social change, to be energized by
challenges, and to forge the future of arts leadership with a renewed
sense of purpose.”
Dan Froot, Performance Artist and Professor of
Creative Process and Business of the Arts, UCLA, USA
“Kenneth Foster’s book, Arts Leadership: Creating Sustainable Arts
Organizations, provides a compelling and informative road map for the
unpredictable future of performing arts organizations. It is an essential
read for arts leaders and their staff. As Co-Managing Director at the
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, it was rewarding to witness the
success of the implementation of many ideas presented in Foster’s
book and the impact on audiences and artists, the university, and
greater Vancouver community. We were also delighted to work directly
with Ken while creating our organization’s own path. He shared his
wisdom, insight, and a wonderful sense of humor and validated so
much of the good work and passionate depth of our staff team. I highly
recommend Foster’s thoughtful and inspiring book for performing arts
institutions.”
Joyce Hinton, former Co-Managing Director, Chan Centre for the
Performing Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
“Ken Foster’s Arts Leadership is an important provocation for cultural
sector workers at all stages of their careers to rethink their practices
and pursue bigger, bolder impacts. My 2018, first-edition copy is
tattered and filled with underlines, margins scribbles, and stickie
notes. I regularly return to its legible and stimulating insights about
contemporary arts leadership, which almost presciently understood
the ways society would evolve toward greater complexity, and
with each read, I get inspired (and gain the courage) to embrace its
suggested non-traditional, non-linear, and deeply adaptive ways of
working – essential mindsets for decades to come.”
Omari Rush, Executive Director, CultureSource,
Detroit, Michigan
“Foster’s book is a must-read for leaders, advocates, and team members
of any cultural institution looking to become more aligned with their
purpose and integral values and stay relevant to their communities in
an ever-shifting world. With concrete examples and deep insights of
contemporary culture politics, Foster defies stagnated structures and
offers generous advice, guidance, and great inspiration for us to be
braver and do better.”
Gréta Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Director, Dramaturg and Curator,
The National Theatre of Iceland
“Foster’s book offers great food for thought and discussion, which is
why we have used it in educating theater directors and managers. He
challenges us to think about art organizations in terms of sustainability
in its broadest sense. It is truly inspiring how he questions the way arts
organizations are often built into unchanging monoliths, when they
should be resiliently changing platforms of living art.”
Saana Lavaste, Professor of Directing at Uniarts, Helsinki, Finland,
and Saara Rautavuoma, Theatre Producer and Manager, Tampere,
Finland
“In this crucial text, Ken Foster applies considerable critical pressure
on the structure and values of our 20th century arts ecosystem. He
implores us, as arts citizens, to consider new models for a new era.
For Foster, the inquiry is urgent – if we don’t act now, our culture is
at risk – yet his intentions come from an unwavering devotion to arts
and community. At every point, he reminds us that if we are willing to
innovate, a stunning future is within reach.”
Andre Perry, Executive Director of Hancher Auditorium and the
Office of Performing Arts and Engagement at the University of Iowa
Discovering the Creative Industries
Series Editor: Ruth Rentschler
The creative and cultural industries account for a significant
share of the global economy. Gaining and maintaining
employment and work in this sector is a challenge and chances
of success are enhanced by ongoing professional development.
This series provides a range of relatively short, student-
centred books which blend industry and educational expertise
with cultural sector practice. Books in the series provide applied
introductions to the core elements of the creative industries. In
sum, the series provides essential reading for those studying to
enter the creative industries as well as those seeking to enhance
their career via executive education.
Consumer Behaviour and the Arts
A Marketing Perspective
François Colbert and Alain d’Astous
Business Issues in the Arts
Edited by Anthony Rhine and Jay Pension
Arts and Cultural Leadership
Creating Sustainable Arts Organizations, Second edition
Kenneth Foster
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.
com/Discovering-the-Creative-Industries/book-series/DCI
Arts and Cultural
Leadership
Creating Sustainable Arts
Organizations
Second edition
Kenneth Foster
Cover image: Alli Gray-Odeniyide, Dancer, Versa-Style Dance
Company Photo by George Simian. Courtesy Versa-Style Dance
Company
Second edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Kenneth Foster
The right of Kenneth Foster to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2018
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-20462-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-20459-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-26365-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003263654
Typeset in Calvert
by codeMantra
Contents
List of Figures ix
About the Author xi
Preface to the Second Edition xii
Acknowledgments xvi
Introduction 1
Part 1
A Theory of Sustainability 13
Unsustainability and Arts Leadership 15
Redefining Sustainability for Arts and
Cultural Organizations 29
Upbuilding, Rewilding, and Regeneration
for Arts and Cultural Organizations 52
The Power of Performance 63
Considering the Current Environment 77
Part 2
From Theory to Practice: Enacting
Organizational Change 111
Foundational Documents for Arts and
Cultural Organizations 113
Environmental Scanning 146
vii
A Business Model Canvas for the Arts 155
Strategic Thinking in Arts and
Cultural Organizations 171
Creating a Culture of Sustainability 185
Bibliography 219
Index 222
viii Contents
Figures
P.1 Donna Simone Johnson in “Pang.” Photo by Will
O’Loughlin. Courtesy Dan Froot xii
I.1 A performance at the Apollo Theater, Harlem,
New York City. Photo by Shahar Azran.
Courtesy Apollo Theater 11
2.1 Kronos Quartet. Photo by Evan Neff.
Courtesy Kronos Performing Arts Association 40
2.2 Astral Mixtape Ensemble. Left to right: Misha Vayman
(violin), Juan-Salvador Carrasco (cello), Nathan
Ben-Yehuda (keyboard), Michael Siess (violin). Photo
by Mateo Nikolav. Courtesy Astral Mixtape Ensemble 42
2.3 Bridge to Everywhere. Photo by Philip Graulty.
Courtesy Bridge to Everywhere 43
4.1 Jackie Lopez, aka Miss Funk, and Leigh Foaad, aka
Breeze-lee, Cofounders of Versa-Style Dance
Company. Photo by George Simian. Courtesy
Versa-Style Dance Company 75
5.1 From Four Larks’ The Temptation of St. Antony
featuring (from left to right) Katherine Redlus,
Danny Echevarria, Prudence Rees-Lee, Matthew
Proffitt, Esther Hannaford, Zachary Sanders, Max
Baumgarten, Paula Rebelo, and Eli Weinberg.
Photo by Vikk Shayen. Courtesy Four Larks 108
6.1 Audience for a performance at the Wallis Center
for the Performing Arts. Photo by John Linden.
Website: www.johnlindenphotographs.com.
Courtesy Wallis Center for the Performing Arts 115
6.2 Outside entrance to the new building for Heart
of LA. Photo by Aaron Rapoport. Courtesy
Heart of Los Angeles 119
ix