1. EMERGING LEADERS TRENDS AND ISSUES
TODD TREBOUR
Program Coordinator
Arts Extension Service University of Massachusetts Amherst
© 2017 Arts Extension Service, all rights reserved.

2. TWO PHASES TO EL RESEARCH
Research comprised of two phases
PHASE 1: Research and Development of EL Trends and Issues Document
PHASE 2: Research and Development of EL Vision for the Future
PHASE 1 at request of board
PHASE 2 – we ran with it!!

3. EMERGING LEADERS COUNCIL (ELC)
Definition of Emerging Leader (EL)
15 Emerging Leaders from diverse areas of the field
Racially and Ethnically diverse Advisory Council
Role of ELC
Emerging Leaders Networks

4. EMERGING LEADERS NETWORK (ELN)
AFTA has identified over 50 independently run local emerging arts leader networks, found in nearly every major city in the nation.
● EL networks provide new leaders with important opportunities to go outside of their day jobs to build skills and exercise agency that they may not have within their 9 to 5.
● Networks lead everything from happy hour events, skill-building workshops, fundraisers, community conversations, artist studio visits, mentorship programs and equity summits.
● The council has a Network committee, which has two goals: provide resources to new and existing local networks and find ways to bring them together.

5. PHASE 1: Research and Development of EL Trends and Issues Document
Serendipitous Request from AFTA Board!
Existing Literature Research
Pre-existing Literature review of Age-Diverse Boards
Recently completed ELN Leads Survey
SYNTHESIS

6. OVERVIEW OF EMERGING LEADERS ISSUES AND TRENDS DOCUMENT
SOME DEFINITIONS OF PUBLIC ART
PERSPECTIVES
Equity Diversity and Inclusion as priority among Emerging Leaders
Role of the arts to address social, community, and cross-sector issues
Preference for Distributed Leadership Models
ISSUES
Economic Concerns
Uneven Professional Development Opportunities

7. SOME DEFINITIONS OF PUBLIC ART
SAMPLE DATA PRESENTATION: Uneven Professional Development Opportunities
SOME DEFINITIONS OF PUBLIC ART
Smaller cities & rural locations do not have sufficient networking and in-person professional development opportunities.
Need for more hands-on leadership development opportunities (e.g. board service).
Sources: Quotes from a survey conducted by the EL Council of 55 Emerging Leader Network (ELN) Leads, answer to the question: “What are the biggest challenges facing emerging art leaders?”
“Gaining the necessary experience to progress in careers (that could be the "right" kind of job or volunteer experience employers are looking for).”
I feel that as an Emerging Leader, you need to take it upon yourself to create learning, networking, and mentorship opportunities as organizations will most likely not pay/create these opportunities. I think that the culture is to let ELs figure it out for themselves. I hope to see a shift in this type of thinking where professional development for every level of leadership is made a priority…”

8. SOME DEFINITIONS OF PUBLIC ART
SAMPLE DATA PRESENTATION: Uneven Professional Development Opportunities
SOME DEFINITIONS OF PUBLIC ART
According to BoardSource’s 2015 study, “Leading with Intent: A National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices”
Nonprofit boards on the whole have seen only “modest progress on increasing racial/ethnic, gender, and age diversity.” Of the organizations surveyed in Leading with Intent, 80% of all board members were white, while 25% of boards were 100% white. 57% of all board members were also over the age of 50. For local arts agencies, the outlook for age-diverse boards is even more grim.
According to AFTA’s 25 Highlights from the 2015 Local Arts Agency Census:
77% of board members for the local arts agencies surveyed were over the age of 44…..

9. PHASE 2: Development of EL Vision of Future
JAN – MARCH 2017: Developed Issues/Trends into Statements
MARCH – NOVEMBER 2017: “Vetting” Statements in Field
DECEMBER – FEBRUARY 2018: Creation of EL Vision of Future Document
Serve as Architecture for proposed AFTA content + programming

10. JAN – MARCH 2017: DRAFT STATEMENTS DEVELOPED
EQUITY & INCLUSION: Arts Leaders embrace equity and inclusion as a field-wide and organizational priority.
COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP: Arts Leaders practice collaborative leadership, marked by more distributive leadership structures rather than the historical “top-down” approach.
COMMITMENT TO THE ARTS ECOSYSTEM: Arts leaders prioritize commitment to the arts field, local arts ecosystem, and to the public over survival of an organization. Arts leaders look outside their own organizations to collaborate with other orgs, funders, and government as it meets the needs of the community.

11. JAN – MARCH 2017: DRAFT STATEMENTS DEVELOPED
INTENTIONAL INVESTMENT IN ALL STAFF: Arts Leaders invest in and develop all their staff as a core responsibility, understanding that a competent staff is an asset and investment towards the bottom line.
ENDING THE BURNOUT CULTURE: Arts Leaders create work environments that value work-life balance and mission-driven resource utilization, which allow them to fully engage with their communities outside of work and lead to healthier, more effective employees and organizations in the long-term.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT: Arts Leaders cultivate “constructive non-conformity” at their organizations as a means promoting innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, and ensuring organizational flexibility and relevancy in our rapidly changing environment.

12. MARCH – NOVEMBER 2017: Vetting Statements in the Field
April: Blog Salon
August: ArtsU Virtual Town Hall
September: Cross-sector EL Conference Calls
October: Intergenerational dialogue around Vision Statement

13. DECEMBER – FEBRUARY 2018: Creation of EL Vision of Future Document
Basis of suggested actions and programming will be determined winter
February 2018: ArtsU Virtual Conversation to launch document

14. website: umass.edu/aes
QUESTIONS?
website: umass.edu/aes