Performing Arts Research (ART) Initiative

Highlights

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Field-tested methods to grow capacity for small and emerging arts organizations
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Lessons learned from the ART research project
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Informational articles from experts across the field  </li>
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Spotlight videos documenting real-world challenges artists have faced and how they addressed  them  </li>
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Downloadable industry documents and templates all artists need
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A live community forum monitored by Pentacle staff where artists, students, administrators and  educators can ask questions and share information about capacity-building and infrastructure topics </li>
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About the Toolkit

With major support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s The Charles E. Culpeper Arts & Culture Program, Howard Gilman Foundation, and governmental funding, Pentacle is producing the Administrative Resource Toolkit (working title). A FREE printed/PDF report and a FREE website, the Toolkit will report on the findings of the ART research project, highlight lessons learned and artist testimonials, and provide continuously updated information and learning tools on the latest topics for artist capacity-building. Designed for the artist who is seeking to grow their company’s infrastructure, but not yet able to hire full-time administrative personnel, the Toolkit provides them with a roadmap for building a thriving artistic business.
The Toolkit’s printed/PDF report will include:
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Background on the ART Research project  </li>
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Description of the Research Design and Artist Selection  </li>
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Key Findings: Quantitative and Qualitative Results  </li>
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Snapshots of the Artist Experience as told by participants in the project  </li>
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Description of the Support Framework of the ART Program comprised of mentors and administrators  </li>
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Lessons Learned from ART  </li>
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Recommendations for artist support organizations
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The accompanying website for the Toolkit will be a one-stop shop for arts management-related resources by providing an interactive set of tools, a community-building platform, and an ever-growing collection of information and workable resources to download and share. 
Organized by subject matter – ie: Marketing, Financial, Legal, or Community Strategy - each section of the website will include:  
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Informational articles on arts management topics from experts across the field  </li>
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Artist spotlight videos documenting real-world challenges artists have faced and how they addressed  them  </li>
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Downloadable common forms and templates used by artists (e.g. independent contractor agreements,  budget templates) </li>
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A live community forum monitored by Pentacle staff where artists, students, administrators and  educators can ask questions and share information about management, capacity-building and infrastructure topics </li>
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The website will be responsive in realtime to the community discussion forum, address issues to the field, and be updated as new online resources and applications emerge that would benefit artists in their capacity-building efforts.

Timeline

During the summer of 2019, Pentacle worked with Hollis Headrick/Arts and Cultural Strategies, Inc. (ACS) to compile and analyze the findings of the ART Research Project. This data will be used to write the report on ART that will form the backbone of the Toolkit. Upon the report’s completion, Pentacle will work with graphic designer Christa Bianchi to design the printed Toolkit and build the website, while simultaneously researching organizational partners to collaborate with across the field to reach a broad and diverse artist constituency. Beginning in January 2020, the printed report and website of the Toolkit will be available and distributed at field-wide convenings, through workshops and panels presented by Pentacle staff, and promoted nationally through our partner networks such as local arts councils and service organizations.

Impact

We see potential for the Toolkit to have significant impact on the performing arts field, as it will manifest and disseminate the findings of the ART research project and provide key stakeholders with tested strategies and solutions for sustaining the next generation of performing artists. By distributing the FREE Toolkit nationally and utilizing a network of partner service organizations, we hope to provide all communities with access to these resources, especially artists from underrepresented communities of color.
We believe that field-wide impacts will include: 
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Advancing new and underrepresented voices in the performing arts community
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Proving the effectiveness of concentrated capacity-building for emerging artists
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Increasing infrastructure support (including artist representation) for emerging performing artists, particularly underserved artists of color, women, and LGBTQ identity, over the long-term, so they can move to the next level of capacity and be able to support their own organizational growth
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History Behind the Toolkit

Administrative Resource Team (ART) was a three-year research project designed to examine the benefits and impact of a full complement of bundled services on dance artists' development and growth. More information on the project and the participants can be found here.
The sixteen artists selected for the project were divided into two groups: a capacity-building cohort who received bundled administrative services and implementation funds, and a comparison cohort who received a stipend but no direct services. It was important to create two groups that closely mirrored each other in order to have accurate and productive research.
Hypothesis: 
By providing eight dance artists with comprehensive, capacity-building services over 30 months, we believed that at least 75% of those artists would increase their earned income, contributions, and in-kind resources. In addition, we believed that this group of eight artists receiving capacity-building services would experience increased artistic successes in the form of performance engagements, public recognition, and audience-building over other similarly qualified artists who were pursuing the same goals, but without access to infrastructural resources.
Pentacle engaged the services of ACS to design and implement a methodology for evaluation. Using a developmental evaluation (Patton 2002) to develop rapid, real-time feedback on how well the project was functioning, and an impact study to test the implementation of the ART hypothesis, ACS is currently compiling and analyzing the research data to author the physical report on the project, which will form the basis of the Administrative Resource Toolkit.
Sharing the findings: 
The Administrative Resource Toolkit will report on the empirical data collected from the sixteen artists who participated in the ART project to demonstrate how well capacity-building support in the form of bundled administrative services have allowed artists to succeed at an increased rate. We believe that this information garnered from the project will be of great value to the field. It will demonstrate a variety of successful career strategies for performers and dance and theatre companies and provide broader data for foundations, individuals and other performing arts supporters to inform their decisions about allocating funds to capacity-building services directly to artists.

Key Personnel

Clarissa Soto Josephs 
Project Coordinator 
Pentacle’s Associate Director, Clarissa Soto Josephs will oversee the production of the Toolkit. As Project Coordinator of the ART research project, Clarissa helped to develop a series of user-friendly forms that informed Pentacle’s organizational learning as ART developed and measured how well the project functioned. Now she will use this knowledge, combined with her experience developing entrepreneurial training programs for the dance community, to distribute the findings of the ART project and help other performing artists and partners use the information to grow their capacities and build thriving arts organizations.
Christa Bianchi 
Administrative Resource Toolkit Web Designer and Developer 
Pentacle’s long-time graphic designer Christa Bianchi will design both the printed Toolkit and the website for the Toolkit that will exist tangentially to Pentacle’s own website.
Mireya Guerra 
Translator
Sandy Garcia 
Director of Booking
Amanda Ayo 
Artist Services Associate, Assistant Translator
Hollis Headrick/Arts and Cultural Strategies, Inc., 
Outside Evaluator for ART and Administrative Resource Toolkit Author 
Hollis Headrick is a consultant for arts, education and philanthropic organizations focusing on program development and strategic planning. His clients have included the Brooklyn Academy of Music, League of American Orchestras, Lincoln Center Education, Pentacle, National Guild for Community Arts Education, The New York Community Trust, and the Wallace Foundation.
From 2003-06 he was the Director of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. He was the founding Executive Director of the Center for Arts Education, 1996-2003, a public-private initiative with New York City government and the Annenberg Foundation. From 1990-96 he was Director of the Arts in Education Program, New York State Council on the Arts. Hollis received the Arts Management Excellence Award from the Arts and Business Council in 2002.

Pentacle’s Administrative Resource Toolkit (working title) is supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Pentacle receives private support for the Administrative Resource Toolkit from the <a href="https://www.rbf.org">Rockefeller Brothers Fund</a> and The Howard Gilman Foundation.
<img class="alignleft wp-image-8338" src="http://www.pentacle.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2018-Horizontal-Logo-with-url2-300x85.jpg" alt="National Endowment for the Arts" width="177" height="50" /><img class="alignleft wp-image-8108" src="http://www.pentacle.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/NYSCA-Logo-Green-300x77.jpg" alt="New York Council on the Arts" width="194" height="50" /><img class="alignleft wp-image-8105" src="http://www.pentacle.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/dclaLogo_color_2-300x54.jpg" alt="NYC Cultural Affairs" width="275" height="50" /><img class="alignleft wp-image-8692" src="http://www.pentacle.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Rockefeller-Brothers-Fund-e1567543784772.png" alt="Rockefeller Brothers Fund" width="198" height="50" /><img class="alignleft wp-image-8124" src="http://www.pentacle.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/hg_logo_color_horiz-300x67.jpg" alt="Howard Gilman Foundation" width="223" height="50" />

Mara Greenberg

Comptroller

212.278.8111 ext. 3420