Now is the time of the year when many arts organisation face funding rounds. And, part of that application process, it to submit your organisation’s visionary strategic plan for the next 3-5 years period. While it feels like just more paperwork, it is an important aspect of the assessment process.
ArtsHub has sought advice on how to present a high-level strategic plan from a handful of experts, who collectively offer many years of experience in crafting such documents as well as submitting high-level grant applications.
Expert advice from a theatre perspective
Nicole Beyer is Executive Director of Theatre Network Australia, the leading national development organisation for small to medium independent performing arts companies. She is no stranger to strategic planning and offers ArtsHub the following recommendation:
‘A good strategic plan is an accurate reflection of what you are going to be doing in your organisation. It should identify a long-term, concise vision with a few main goals and then strategies for achieving those goals. This road map should include where you want to be in a number of years (three to five years is standard), how you will get there, what you’ll need to support that journey and how you will measure progress along the way.’
Beyer believes that every arts organisation, no matter how small or large, needs a strategic plan for its daily use and not just because it must have one for a grant application. ‘Your strategic plan should be something you will actually use and refer to regularly. So, include the process you will use to review and update it as part of the overall plan,’ she says.
With regard to using the plan as part of a funding application, Beyer advises: ‘You have to assume that the reader does not know your organisation. You need to clearly and succinctly explain what your organisation is, its history and what you want to do in the future. Don’t use too many acronyms or jargon, so that the plan could be read by a layperson who is not is the sector. Clarity is the key.’
She adds: ‘It is important to rigorously test the plan, preferably using someone or some organisation outside of your own and outside the arts sector. Do they understand what you are saying and communicating? Are they excited by your vision? Would they support it?’
High-level advice from a strategic consultant
Penny Miles is an arts consultant and a Senior Associate with Tony Grybowski and Associates as well as having a funding background within government. She has worked on many strategic plans in the cultural and arts sector. Like Beyer, she starts by describing a strategic plan as a road map: ‘I think the best plans are really clear, simple and elegant, not overcomplicated, nor with too much detail,’ she tells ArtsHub.
‘It’s a road map for where you want to be and how you’re going to get there. Above all else it’s a communication tool. And it is very important to keep in mind who you are communicating with and what you want them to know about you. It’s not only for your own organisation, but for a whole range of stakeholders too.’
She continues: ‘You must recognise that the process of the plan is a journey. You should have some unfettered dreams and goals and start big. Then you need to test these goals at every level. What are the current opportunities or obstacles to getting to where you want to be? If you involve stakeholders, artists, staff or the board in examining the stages of the plan, be open and receptive to feedback. It’s an intensive and long-term process,’ she says.
Miles speaks of the content of any plan being based on the values of the organisation. ‘You need to be unique and authentic,’ she says, mentioning a general arts response to COVID: ‘I saw some companies respond very quickly to the pandemic because they went back to who they were and their core values, which guided them to make the right decisions. Those whose values were not so clear floundered – and the same is true of a strategic plan,’ she explains.
‘The plan is also a story and it should be an enjoyable thing to read. Get someone outside the organisation to read it and ask them – is this a compelling case for investment? You’ll soon know if you are on the right track.’
Board member and former CEO offers quality advice
Formerly CEO of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Executive Director of Queensland Theatre, Libby Anstis is now an active contributor to the arts sector through board roles and consultancy to performing arts companies. She tells ArtsHub: ‘Writing a strategic plan is the ability to distil information and create a narrative. The backbone of your plan could be three or four big ideas that focus on where you want to be over the next few years. But you’ve got to do a lot of work in order to get to that distillation,’ she says.
She adds: ‘You need to think about your audience too. Who is going to be reading this? It can be targeted at funders, but it is also likely to be used for other stakeholders and supporters. Therefore, the plan will need to have input from all key stakeholders. You’ll need to identify a shared language and frame things accordingly, with an understanding of the high-level strategic context.’
Anstis continues: ‘One of the interesting things to consider currently is the relationship between the strategic vision of a company and the artistic programming choices that are made. Some companies are driven by programming, others by financial imperatives. To my mind there is no right or wrong here, but one needs to be mindful of those imperatives.’
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Standing out from the crowd
Beyer says: ‘The most compelling strategic plans are those that clearly and concisely tell the story of why your organisation exists. For assessors reading dozens of applications, great strategic plans are those that feel achievable and have a clear rationale for all the planned activities. They have realistic timelines and simple measures of success. Ambition is great – team growth, new activities, new partners – but if your ambition doesn’t match your previous trajectory, then it won’t be believable.’
She adds: ‘If you don’t make the argument for why what you are doing is compelling, then you are not going to convince the assessors or anyone else. Equally importantly, your budget needs to match the plan with resources that reflect that.’
Miles says: ‘You have to be ambitious. I’ve been working with some incredibly exciting and interesting companies over the past few months. The ones that stand out for me, competitively, are those looking to do something quite different. They have learned lessons from COVID and arts funding cuts and are responding accordingly.
‘Some are daring to break the mould of what a strategic plan looks like – values that are written as a poem, a vision that is written as the organisation’s ‘vibe’, and one where a statement of care in wanting to change the future is paramount. If it’s truly ambitious and authentic, then it will make sense. But you also need to ensure that all your programs and goals line up and are heading in the same direction.’
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Anstis says that making your case for funding in a strategic plan is all about alignment. ‘It’s how you line it up. Your vision, your strategies, what your program does and how your budget looks, plus how you’ll measure your achievements. If all of this aligns then you have a pretty clear and compelling case,’ she says.
‘A strong set of organisational values are fundamental to standing out in the crowd. So, the other key consideration is a thoughtful and considered one, understanding what’s unique about your organisation and how it fits into your particular sector or in your geographic region. When an organisation undertakes strategic planning, it needs to dig deep and take the time to really think carefully about its point of difference.’
