Harlem Stage:
Strategic Planning for Artistic Impact
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A home for performing artists
for 40 years...
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In 2023,
Harlem Stage
(HS) will celebrate four decades of pioneering commitment to artists of color ... artists engaged in the full performing arts spectrum -- music, poetry, dance, theater and film. Much more than a theater space, Harlem Stage awards commissions for new work, develops and mentors artists, and cultivates audiences who are transformed by new, cutting edge work.
We are now at an exciting moment in Harlem Stage's history. The creativity and imagination stimulated by its commissioning program, the energy and dynamism of its stage performances, and the engagement added by its community programming all contribute to this singularly creative institution's vitality. As HS enters the new century's second decade, the Board of Directors recently endorsed a new Strategic Plan. The Plan is designed to:
- Strengthen the HS role as an artistic home for artists of color.
- Secure and reinforce its financial well-being.
- Expand HS investments in creative programming while exploring digital technology and other avenues designed to produce earned income.
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....creates a plan for the next 5 years.
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In 2004/2006,
The Whelan Group
(TWG) managed a campaign for Harlem Stage that raised $21 million -- resources that were invested in the renovation of The Gatehouse (a landmark Croton Aqueduct structure). The renovation created a new home and theater complex for HS. As HS approaches its 40 Anniversary, the organization again turned to TWG for assistance in developing its 2021-2025 Strategic Plan.
The planning process included many voices. A Working Group, the Strategic Planning Committee, and the staff members met for a series of wide-ranging and probing discussions over a six-month period. One of the Strategic Plan's most significant features was a set of thought-provoking interviews with artists, patrons, leadership of other arts organizations, funders, and city officials. We also engaged a number of corporate and nonprofit innovators around the creative use of digital technology as a mechanism for scaling HS's impact. At the end of the process, a series of discussions with the Board of Directors concluded with the unanimous approval of a new Strategic Plan for Harlem Stage.
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Growth driven by clarity & simplicity
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The Strategic Plan has three major vision-driven elements; the plan:
- Re-packaged Harlem Stage's programs to more easily identify them for the public, more effectively organize collaboration between programs, and make it easier for funders to understand and underwrite each initiative. HS programs are now presented in three major categories: Commissioning and Artist Development, Performance, and Education and Community Engagement.
- Re-framed Harlem Stage's financial plan by laying out operating, capital and special purpose budgets to focus on five-year fundraising priorities.The budget forecast foresees fiscal growth in achievable, incremental steps.
- Re-imagined organizational governance and senior leadership calls for expanded board size and a new voluntary structure enabling HS to cultivate its most important constituents and former board members. This step includes a succession plan for the board, executive director and senior management.
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The Whelan Group:
Strategic advisors to nonprofits
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To learn about TWG's work with arts organizations, cultural institutions and some 300 other nonprofit clients that have sought the firm's advice on issues ranging from strategic planning, business planning, capacity-building, governance, to campaign management, please
visit our website
or give us a call.
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We want to hear about your organization's next steps.
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Photo credit:
Jason "Timbuktu"
Diakité
from Harlem Stage website
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