tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209623132024-03-07T22:24:23.762-05:00Bread And RosesMusic, art, politics and the intersections between them in real and virtual worldsLinda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-69962809678637618702014-04-21T16:07:00.000-04:002014-04-21T16:19:02.601-04:00Getting it Right: Consulting Projects <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="421" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/33765699" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="512"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/lindar/getting-it" target="_blank" title="Getting it Right: Working Successfully with Consultants">Getting it Right: Working Successfully with Consultants</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lindar" target="_blank">Linda Rogers</a></strong> </div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-37825905448820707992014-04-11T10:05:00.002-04:002014-04-16T16:03:14.181-04:00The Arts Consultant: planning for a useful consultancy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So you and/or your Board of Directors is planning a project that will involve the use of an outside consultant or consulting firm. We've all seen consulting projects that have been irrelevant and even terribly disruptive. We've also seen projects that have bootstrapped organizations to the next level or supplied one small key piece of the puzzle that allowed an organization to maximize existing resources.<br />
<br />
How do you plan a consulting project and provide oversight to the workplan to get the most out of a time-limited relationship? It will be as good or as bad as your organization makes it!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Develop a project that is relevant to the organizational needs:</h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li>successful consulting projects are driven by and responsive to the organizational strategic plan</li>
<li>successful consulting projects are responsive to organizational strengths and needs.</li>
<li>successful consulting projects have a draft plan in place before potential consultants are approached</li>
<li>successful consulting projects are rarely driven by "friend of the board" consulting opportunities, to address shortterm needs due to staffing/funding shortfalls, nor projects proposed by the consultants themselves</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Choosing the consultant. Find someone with strong relevancy to your organization's needs. </h3>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Talk to colleagues, funders, professional organizations </li>
<li>Look at the past experience of the consultant for indications that they know your sector and how to work with organizations of your size, especially when sectoral knowledge is very key to the project. </li>
<li>Be sure the skills and expertise of your consultant is a match for the specific focus of the project, e.g. "social media marketing" and not just "marketing" if they are charged with a social media marketing plan. </li>
<li>Be sure that the consultant you are in conversation with is able to be as hands-on and present in the organization or as independent as your project needs them to be. Be frank with the consultant about what you need and don't need. </li>
<li>Discuss the draft plan with the consultant as well as the opportunities, strengths and limitations of your organization. Be receptive to suggestions that enhance your plan but wary of someone who wants to make huge changes to the plan. They may not be a fit for what the organization needs. </li>
</ul>
<h3>
Assure everyone involved in the project is clear about lines of authority, responsibilities and reporting.</h3>
<div>
<ul>
<li>In successful consulting projects there is organizational oversight. Who directs the consultant's work? Who intervenes if a consultant's work is not being done, goes off-course or is being disruptive of operations? </li>
<li>Is there a staff member(s) assigned to assist the consultant? If so are those staff members aware of how they will be expected to assist? This needs to be spelled out, "You will be required to occasionally assist X by research and assembling information. This is not to take precedence over your regular work, should not involve more than 1-3 hours work per week." </li>
<li>In successful consulting projects, staff understand the scope of the project and how it integrates with their own work and what they might be asked to do to assist with the project</li>
<li>Do staff know what information is permissible to share? Be thoughtful about privacy legislation and your own valuable contact lists. </li>
<li>Do staff understand the likely outcomes of the project? "The information you give us on information flow and 'who does what' in your department will guide an HR reorganization that could change reporting structure and job descriptions". Understanding the importance of the project will elicit buy-in. </li>
</ul>
<h3>
Why consulting projects fail? </h3>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Irrelevant projects</b>: A marketing plan for an organization without the staff or finances to support the plan. A "think outside of the box" innovational strategy that is not sustainable due to known factors.</li>
<li><b>Choosing the wrong consultant: </b>You picked someone with a knowledge of foundations and government funders to plan and pioneer an individuals and corporate donor campaign. </li>
<li><b>Absentee or "in your hair" consultants: </b>lack of clarity about workplan and style leads to a consultant that no one can connect with, ("I'm sorry but I am in Abu Dhabi for 6 months and I need to get my cellphone unlocked before I can call you back") or a consultant who is disruptive of daily work with a barrage of phone calls, emails and drop ins</li>
<li><b>Lack of oversight:</b> Consulting project takes on a life of its own due to lack of oversight. Results unlikely to reflect original goals and project either becomes irrelevant or disruptive. Results become hard to assess when it is unclear what the consultant actually did. Staff resent a consultant taking on roles that is in their job description. </li>
<li><b>Lack of clarity about reporting structure/staff roles</b>; Due to busyness and lack of information staff are uncooperative, stalling the project or the opposite, staff unduly priorize consulting project to the detriment of higher priority work. Consultant, unclear of how to get needed help, goes to anyone who answers the phone for help sometimes causing duplication and confusion. Consultant unclear of boundaries, contacts staff at home, via personal email etc. Staff who have no mechanism to refuse to put in extra hours for consultancy project ask for huge overtime payments or time in lieu due to work heaped on them by the consultant. </li>
<li><b>Lack of clarity/process and ethical considerations in information sharing. </b> Wary staff refuse to share information needed for the consultancy. Staff fail to priorize information sharing because they don't know how it will be used. Staff who misunderstand Consultant's scope share privileged information. Consultant offers the organization contact information that is not supposed to be shared. Our contact list is shared against our wishes and our contacts complain. Individuals added to our contact list complain about spam. We see a decline in funding results from known sources the following year and discover our list of funding contacts is being used by a competitor who has hired our former consultant. </li>
</ul>
<h3>
Key Points:</h3>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Strategic needs and long-term goals should drive the project, not shortterm opportunities or needs</li>
<li>Select a consultant who matches the project, the organization and the work style of the team</li>
<li>Provide clear oversight to the consultant and clear responsibilities/communication lines for the staff</li>
<li>Get the necessary buy in from staff by sharing the project's goals and likely outcomes</li>
<li>Be thoughtful about information sharing making sure protections and permissions are clear</li>
<li>Track the project regularly assuring reports are accurate</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-7253790194571177252014-04-04T16:54:00.003-04:002014-04-21T16:16:47.768-04:00"Ends Justify the Means" Dilemmas in the Not-for-Profit Workplace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been thinking for some time about how we monitor and resolve ethical dilemmas in the non-profit workplace and how we could assure that public money is well-spent.<br />
<br />
In the not-for-profit and arts world I believe we set ourselves up to be uniquely vulnerable to the pitfalls of ethical systems based on utilitarianism. This is the ethical system in which the "good of the many" always outweighs the "good of the few", a system that becomes challenged when the means are not ethical in and of themselves. In not-for-profit workplaces we think about "Ends" all the time. Right on the top of all our literature and websites we spell out the "Mission". We are focused and passionate about the mission of our organizations, whether it is feeding the hungry, housing the homeless or assuring the survival of a classical orchestra.<br />
<br />
Into all this passion and energy for achieving worthy goals comes a number of roadblocks that can make us, as non-profit staff and managers, feel that government funders, sponsors, regulatory bodies, are treating us unfairly, stacking the deck against the success of our organization to achieve our mission. Those challenges include: the preference for funding projects and program costs, over needed support for core operations; shifting priorities and programs from governments and foundation funders; narrow program objectives that don't match the needs of the communities we serve. And some days we feel like if we hear the word "innovation" one more time, we'll scream. We twist our programs pretzel shaped to try to qualify for those innovation grants when, really, we think that the way we have always done things is probably pretty soundly based on best practices.<br />
<br />
Between the passion to do good and the frustration about roadblocks that seem illogical, unpredictable and insurmountable there sneaks in a philosophy of the "end justifies the means". Whether we bend the truth a little bit in our funding application to make our planned activity seem like a better fit, or we move expenses in accounting lines to shift expense from administration to program and marketing, we are embarked on a slippery slope. Tensions mount in organizations when doing whatever it takes to get or keep funding pushes staff members beyond their comfort levels.<br />
<br />
These are not victimless crimes. Public dollars, the reputations and health of workers, the continuation of programs and services that the public counts on are jeopardized when organizations foster a culture of unethical expediency. Staff members feel helpless in organizations where they are not just asked but required to do unethical things: back-date mail machines to send in applications after funding deadlines, forge a signature because someone is unavailable, spend all their time working on one project that they are not funded to work on and neglect the work they are funded to do (a common way of shifting funds from one program to the other surreptitiously), directly shift funds from one program to another without the funder's knowledge, invent statistics, report fundraising costs of a special event fundraiser as a "program" cost, report expenses of one project as the expenses of another, double and triple raise project revenues for one pet project while reporting a reasonable budget in each request, over-spending ridiculously on one area. . . all things that have been sanctioned in organizations I have worked for in the past. Yet there is little over-sight of non-profits and whistle-blowers at the staff level often have their careers ruined while they sometimes see the non-profit manager who forced the questionable or outright disgraceful practices be backed up by non-profit boards and even to be recognized with national awards.<br />
<br />
Any solutions have to deal with both the problem and its causes. Adequate funding of basic operations of non-profits that are operating effectively in the public good will stop the need to fudge program costs to cover operations. I could say that Boards should stop propping up corrupt leaders but . . . that's not going to happen. The "friends of X" board is alive and well everywhere. I have come to the conclusion that there needs to be tougher regulatory bodies at the provincial and federal level that will investigate allegations of mismanagement of publicly funded non-profits. Working currently in a very well-managed and ethical non-profit has given me new perspective on the harm that unethical non-profits do to workers, funders and programs.<br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-6897928603279407492014-02-13T11:47:00.000-05:002014-02-13T11:47:36.802-05:00Are you "grant-ready"? <br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguLtRol7LBfIT9p6zgTrJqJOjLzwaQ7-RE5PZaCSSqP_dfC01dYZfJzFlDw_Blpxjmibdp5QqTsExzXYRmeFAlBeZdJq6Sc3rfYRZFy2opgbbAhlhxsyqfNC3aR6wj-btiJJ2/s1600/connecting-the-dots2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguLtRol7LBfIT9p6zgTrJqJOjLzwaQ7-RE5PZaCSSqP_dfC01dYZfJzFlDw_Blpxjmibdp5QqTsExzXYRmeFAlBeZdJq6Sc3rfYRZFy2opgbbAhlhxsyqfNC3aR6wj-btiJJ2/s1600/connecting-the-dots2.jpg" title="" width="200" /></a>A great discussion today emerged in the Grant Writer's Network on Linked In <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=5839411701652426755&gid=3191042&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_nd-pst_ttle-cn&fromEmail=&ut=11AdSLfjoe5m81">"How do you deal with clients who don't provide you with the detailed information you need to write the grant?"</a> This comes up a great deal of the time when organizations ask me to write a grant for one of their projects. Normally writing a grant takes me 8-16 hours of work time (depending on the program) and I don't feel good about billing someone for more than 16 hours for any grant, because it just gets expensive for them and it is hard for organizations to understand why a "writing" task could take longer than 2 full work days. The answer is, "when you don't give me the information I need and I have to repeatedly request information, explain and re-explain what I need, and/or I have to research and create statistics/budgets myself. With some grantwriting tasks I have spent more time emailing the organization's staff with questions and requests than I have working on assuring they have the best possible proposal to submit to a funder. Stressful for me, costly for them.</div>
<br />
<br />
What should you expect to provide to a grantwriter?<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Organizational information: Mission, history, awards, reviews, bios of key staff involved, board list</li>
<li>Project information: The who, what, where and why of the project</li>
<li>Financial information: Audited financials, current year budget, working project budget </li>
<li>Support letters from partner organization, or who to contact to get the support letters.</li>
</ol>
I'd suggest that you keep all the annually updated organizational information in a zipped "organizational information" folder for easy emailing or post the documents in a password secured location for downloading. That will save you a lot of time finding the documents individually.<br />
<br />
Project information seems to cause people more difficulty. If you lack program details you aren't going to be able to effectively raise money. You cannot wait to "see if you get the money" before finalizing your plan. Plan your optimal project and contingencies, then you are ready to raise the money!
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<br />
<h2>
<b>Balky processes:</b></h2>
Recently I completed a "Celebrate Ontario" grant application on the Grants Ontario website. In addition to the "One Key" Log on for the Service Ontario site there is now an additional log on process for Grants Ontario. I waited 48 hours before my log in was sent to me after registration. Once on the site I was presented with two options: Complete the application online or download the form. Since I couldn't get more than the first page to display online, I chose "download the form", thinking to email the form to collaborators for input. HOWEVER, the copies generated by the form were locked pdf's and it was impossible to convert the document to Word for collaboration.<br />
<br />
I tried uploading it back onto the site but there seemed to be no way to save a draft created offline for online collaboration once the form had been downloaded. Submit was the only option after upload. It was truly infuriating.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Wasted time:</h2>
In order to work collaboratively it was necessary to copy and paste questions one by one into a Word document and then collect responses and copy back into the document. Why? What is fundamentally wrong with allowing organizations to easily share working on a document? <br />
<br />
While attempting to complete an application for another program using an
online fillable form, the site kept timing out and losing my work
although it appeared to be functional until I hit the "save" button.<br />
<br />
<h2>
One size fits none:</h2>
Is there anything more infuriating than the "Ping" of a locked form when you have reached the end of your character limit? Because people, organizations and projects are very different, why not allow them to provide more content in some fields and less in another. Rigid word/character counts distort project descriptions and rob funders of detail.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Security:</h2>
But surely online forms are more secure? I seriously question that assertion. Recently I submitted an application on behalf of an organization, working as a consultant. I expected that I would have to verify my ability to file an application on behalf of the organization but in fact no such checks were made. No signature was required and I could have asked that the cheque by made payable to anyone or sent anywhere. By contrast, old-fashioned paper submissions required multiple organizational signatures. <div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-19112548834758636252013-10-16T14:50:00.000-04:002013-11-29T15:42:13.170-05:00Founders' Syndrome: Why we should all be concerned<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp8tkQ6yg0XOfzjCN-uKo96P2a8GFTfSW7ZzWoKtmTWKzUHCxzWnjRV3lpnsjtEmYFm3-fD8fj-qN6vLd-ssrApKO5tWzWnoOBsPoB93eJcUJKr7YfO6UY-QsJ0mP7w9gz0Us/s1600/puppet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp8tkQ6yg0XOfzjCN-uKo96P2a8GFTfSW7ZzWoKtmTWKzUHCxzWnjRV3lpnsjtEmYFm3-fD8fj-qN6vLd-ssrApKO5tWzWnoOBsPoB93eJcUJKr7YfO6UY-QsJ0mP7w9gz0Us/s320/puppet.jpg" /></a><br />
<h2>
What is founder's syndrome and why does it affect so many smaller arts and non-profit organizations? </h2>
<div>
Founder's syndrome occurs when a founder of an organization is not able to transition leadership style as the organization matures and grows. The founder continues to operate in the same manner as he/she did in founding the organization, seeking to personally manage every aspect of a growing organization.<br />
<br />
The strong entrepreneurial personality that developed a new organization may be unskilled at or unwilling to delegate. The tireless worker that was willing to pull all-nighters to get in last-minute grant applications may be unable to schedule work or effectively manage their time. The genius that came up with spontaneous project ideas may not be willing to work on long-range plans or within budget guidelines. All of the affects of founder's syndrome results in limiting the growth and effectiveness of organizations and often creates toxic environments for workers, artists, clients. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We naturally see more of this in smaller organizations because it is such a strong factor in limiting growth. It is more prevalent in the non-profit sector because while for-profit organizations can be affected by founder's syndrome, market forces exert limiting pressures on poor leadership. The for-profit company that cannot grow and change often fails while others are forced to change their ways or leadership to remain competitive. By contrast non-profits are less subject to market forces and may have difficulty discerning reasons for organizational stagnation or failures. Non-profits are governed by unpaid community volunteers who may feel unable to pass judgment on the workings of an organization that is outside their area of expertise and where evaluation may be more qualitative than quantitative. Volunteer Board Members customarily spend little or no time observing the day-to-day workings of the organization. They may also be friends of the Founder and so not impartial. They may have been convinced by the Founder that any inquiries about management is "meddling". Staff and volunteers in the arts and non-profits tend to be very high-minded and mission-driven. This results sometimes in a willingness to tolerate a sick work environment in a mis-guided idea that it is "for the good of the cause". <br />
<br />
<h2>
How does Founder's Syndrome develop in organizations?</h2>
<br />
Founders alone cannot create an organization with Founder's Syndrome. It takes a step-by-step, person by person tacit agreement to cede power to the Founder by Board Members who should be providing governance to the organization. It also requires funders, volunteers, staff, colleagues and other stakeholders to decide to continue to support the sick organization or to leave silently. Over the years it there may be numerous loud and clear signals that there is something terribly wrong in the organization but no effective action is taken to address the problem or to provide help to the Founder to assist them in developing a more effective leadership style before they stifle or bring ruin to the organization they founded.</div>
<h2>
What are the symptoms of founder's syndrome? </h2>
<div>
1. There's a "friends of the founder" Board of Directors. The founder has recruited the Board of Directors him or herself (normal in the initial stage of an organization) and the Board has never taken over authority for recruiting new members themselves based on the needs of the organization. Board members are vetted by the founder and Board Members that try to counter the Founder's wishes are quickly ejected. The Board sees their role as supporting the work of the founder rather than stewardship of the organization's Mission and sound governance of the organization's work and resources. </div>
<div>
2. Decision-making within the organization is all controlled by the founder. Staff either don't know what's going on or plans suddenly get de-railed by a decision of the founder. Ideas that come from elsewhere than the Founder don't go very far. Staff become discouraged about offering innovative ideas, stop being pro-active and may even be afraid of the founder. </div>
<div>
3. Organizational information such as newsletters and brochures contain a lot of information about the founder: personal letters from the founder to supporters, news of the founder's awards, achievements, pet projects. Board members and staff seem oddly uninformed about the details of project plans, budgets, and any results or evaluation. Staff cannot articulate processes, statistics or evaluation methods. </div>
<div>
4. The founder often talks about "my vision, my program, my goals" rather than "our goals". When asked about rationale for methods it is not unusual to hear, "we have always done X" or "I believe it is best to do Y". There is no process for new ideas and methods to be introduced. </div>
<div>
5. There is a resistance to any changes that might create a real or perceived loss of control, e.g. a founder that is uncomfortable with technology will resist the implementation of a user-friendly website that a staff member might be able to create and manage because she/he will feel unable to control the content. </div>
<div>
6. Information hording can occur because information is power. The more threatened a founder is by a staff member, the less likely the founder will be in sharing information with that staff member.<br />
<br />
<h2>
What are the options for an organization with Founder's Syndrome?</h2>
<br />
1. If the Founder recognizes the problem, get them help through professional leadership counselling.<br />
2. If the Founder does not recognize the problem you'll need buy-in from more than one organizational level to effect change. Without support from Board, Staff, and Funders you will not be likely to succeed. Staff driven efforts alone result in Board backed firings that can ruin careers and even the health of staff members summarily dismissed for the efforts to alert the Board to the dysfunction. Board-driven change processes that lackstaff and funder buy-in can result in funding cuts, and/or sabotage at the staff level and ultimately Board fatigue, resignations, replacements. Funder led calls for reform without organizational support can result in financial hits for the organization but no real change. The organization will find new funding partners or fail, but will be unlikely to effect real change to suit a funder unless there is recognition of a problem. <br />
<br />
<h2>
What are the implications for staff employed in an organization with Founder's Syndrome? </h2>
<br />
1. Recognize that you are in a very challenging environment and you may not be able to effect change. Go easy on yourself.<br />
2. Consider your options and prepare your exit strategy even before it's necessary.<br />
3. It is unwise to try to effect change in the organization unless there is a Board initiated effort for organizational change.<br />
4. If you elect to stay in the organization focus on small goals or achievements within your area of responsibility with minimal opportunities for friction with the Founder.<br />
5. If you choose to whistle-blow, be prepared for a very difficult time and possibly lasting career damage. It might be personally advantageous to simply resign. <br />
6. Work within the non-profit sector to promote awareness of this problem and protections for workers. </div>
<br />
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-48307080208794202552013-07-12T10:00:00.000-04:002013-07-12T10:00:04.742-04:00Is it time for some "rules of the sidewalk"? We all have to learn and obey the rules of the road when we drive a car, motorbike, or even venture on the roadway with a bicycle. But who sets the rules for pedestrian thoroughfares: sidewalks, malls, escalators, stairways, hiking trails? Some days it feels like a free-for-all out there and it is getting dangerous.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Slower traffic bears to the right:</b><br />
A near accident a couple of days ago started me thinking about this. On a busy downtown sidewalk I heard someone walking rapidly behind me. Being a polite person, I did what I have been trained to do my whole life: I politely stepped to the right to let the person in a hurry pass me. Engrained in my sense of how the world works is that slower traffic stays to the right and faster traffic passes on the left. Because this individual decided to pass on the right instead, I unintentionally shoulder checked her into King Street where she could have easily been hit by a passing car. If you try to pass people on the sidewalk on their right, this kind of accident is going to happen. <br />
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<b>Stay in your lane:</b><br />
On the roadway we know that we have to stay in our lane and that traffic is two-way unless signed otherwise. In rush hour that often means that lanes going one-way are crowded while the roadway on the other side is empty. However car drivers do not see that as a licence to drive all over the road. Yet the same people when exiting the subway decide that they can walk up both sides of stair-wells and make it difficult and dangerous for the fewer number of individuals going in the opposite direction.I have sometimes shouted out, "hey two-way traffic stairwell, bear right" as I have wrestled my way down the King Street station stairwell. As someone who lives in downtown, I often find myself commuting against the flow of traffic.<br />
<br />
<b>Who belongs on the sidewalk?</b>:<br />
Pedestrian routes are for pedestrians. No wheeled vehicle, apart from mobility devices has a place on the sidewalk. I had someone on a bicycle justify their presence on the sidewalk on the basis of walking a dog from bicycle! There's so many things wrong with that it left me sputtering. With motorized wheelchairs and scooters sharing our walkways, seems like we need some rules about how fast these devices travel. No mobility device should be moving on a congested sidewalk or other public space faster than pedestrians. Increasingly I see mobility scooters traveling at reckless speeds on sidewalks, in malls and in shopping centres.<br />
<br />
<b>Shared pathways and trails</b><br />
Again, keep in your own lane and slower traffic bears to the right helps prevent a lot of accidents. Bicycles on shared pathways need to slowdown and make sure the people they are passing are aware of their presence and are not going to step out into your path. You shouldn't think that just because you have pinged a bell or a horn that the pedestrian has heard you. Between Ipods and hearing impairment you can't be sure until that pedestrian steps aside and you have eye-contact. <br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-15971309307782239582013-02-04T11:27:00.001-05:002013-02-04T11:30:56.021-05:00Critics At Large: Inspired Flight: Cylla von Tiedemann's What Dances..."<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">What Dances in Between</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">, the title given to Toronto-based photographer Cylla von Tiedemann’s exhibition of dance images at the <a href="http://www.thealgreengallery.com/html/exhibition2013jan10-feb9.html">Al Green Gallery </a>through February 9, captures the essence of the quasi-retrospective as having no strict beginning or end: a creative journey that, like the dancers in her kinetically charged photographs, is caught in mid-flight." </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2013/01/inspired-flight-cylla-von-tiedemanns.html?spref=bl">Critics At Large: Inspired Flight: Cylla von Tiedemann's What Dances...</a>: Fire Bird, by Cylla von Tiedemann (Ink Jet Print, 2012, 22” X 33” Dancer’s name: Anastasia Shivrina) What Dances in Between , the ti...<div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-14364082778908067342013-02-04T00:43:00.000-05:002013-04-24T00:44:15.053-04:00(Presentation) Arts Presentation Contracts <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16324478" width="427" height="356" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC;border-width:1px 1px 0;margin-bottom:5px" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lindar/arts-presentation-contracts" title="Arts presentation contracts" target="_blank">Arts presentation contracts</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lindar" target="_blank">Linda Rogers</a></strong> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-78389273826125834202013-01-28T20:45:00.000-05:002013-04-23T20:45:52.489-04:00My presentation on DIY Social Media for Small Arts Orgs, free to download<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16203383" width="427" height="356" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC;border-width:1px 1px 0;margin-bottom:5px" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lindar/commonsense-media-for-small-arts-organizations" title="Commonsense social media for small arts organizations" target="_blank">Commonsense social media for small arts organizations</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lindar" target="_blank">Linda Rogers</a></strong> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-63427868633823238072012-10-10T09:05:00.005-04:002012-10-10T09:06:42.536-04:00"I'm Not the Indian you are thinking about" at HarbourfrontMichael Crabb reports today in the Toronto Star on "<a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/onstage/article/1268651--next-steps-series-i-m-not-the-indian-you-have-in-mind-show-aims-to-dispel-stereotypes">I'm Not the Indian you are thinking about"</a> from Red Sky.<br />
<br />
Since I first worked with Sandra and Carlos at Red Sky in 2003 on "Caribou Song" while serving as General Manager at Soundstreams Canada, I have admired their choice in projects and their voice in Canada in dispelling stereotypes about native people.<br />
<br />
There is actually a lot of vested interests on both sides in keeping those stereotypes alive but until we move past them we really can't have understanding nor begin to work together on the social justice problems that we'd all like to see addressed effectively. <br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-37132571871559191302012-09-12T19:42:00.000-04:002013-04-24T00:34:44.546-04:00Note to Factory Theatre Board: Please reinstate Ken Gass and stop the foolishnessUPDATED: After a prolonged and unsettling out-pouring of outrage, Ken made an announcement that he believed the theatre needed to move on under new leadership.<br />
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I only came across this <a href="http://savethefactory.ca/why.htm">news</a> (don't know how I missed it) when I saw Ken Gass's job posted on Work in Culture and wondered what the story was, had he retired, or whatever.<br />
<br />
I just signed the petition in support of re-instating Ken. I first
met Ken when I was a theatre student and a play I wrote was selected for one of Factory's reading nights at the old JCC. At one point I was shortlisted to work with him as General Manager at the theatre and we hit it off famously and stayed in touch. I regret that I didn't get the job but couldn't argue with the fact that I had only a small amount of experience with facility management and the building renovations were most important at that juncture. Whatever one thinks of his particular merits, there is a more important issue: Arts Boards in Toronto need to be told that the arts public does NOT want them to treat dedicated arts leaders and staff in this fashion. Arts organizations are not US corporations and we should not be sending our arts leaders to the door with their belongings in a shoebox.<br />
<br />
Here's some press:<br />
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<span id="change_Powered"><a href="http://www.change.org/" target="_blank">Change.org</a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=20962313">|</a><span id="change_Start"><a href="http://www.change.org/start-a-petition">How to Start a Petition</a></span><br />
<table border="0" style="width: 1050px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="center" height="0"><blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/04/dramatic-tension-an-explainer-for-ken-gass-vs-factory-theatre/">"Dramatic Tension- an Explainer for Ken Gass vs Factory Theatre"</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by Steve Kupferman, NATIONAL POST </div>
</blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
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</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.nowtoronto.com/stage/story.cfm?content=188313">"Artistic icons weigh in on Factory fallout"</a><a href="http://www.nowtoronto.com/stage/story.cfm?content=188313"><br />
</a>by Glenn Sumi, NOW MAGAZINE <a href="http://www.nowtoronto.com/stage/story.cfm?content=188313" target="_blank"><br /></a></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/onstage/article/1245731--factory-theatre-boycott-michel-marc-bouchard-pulls-his-play">"Factory Theatre boycott: Michel Marc Bouchard pulls his play"</a><br />
by Richard Ouzounian, TORONTO STAR<b><br /></b></blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/now-playing-at-smaller-theatres-the-handyman-special/article4490616">“Playing at Small Theatres- The Handyman Special”</a><br />
by Kate Taylor, GLOBE & MAIL<br />
</blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/onstage/article/1235074--factory-theatre-founder-ken-gass-pursuing-legal-action-against-board">“Factory Theatre founder Ken Gass pursuing legal action against board”</a><br />
by Richard Ouzounian, TORONTO STAR<br />
</blockquote>
</td></tr>
<tr><td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/1231150--playwrights-judith-thomson-george-f-walker-and-others-seek-boycott-of-factory-theatre">"Playwrights Judith Thompson, George F. Walker and others seek boycott of Factory Theatre"</a><br />
by Richard Ouzounian, TORONTO STAR<br />
<br /></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.creativetrust.ca/2012/07/when-should-a-board-fire-itself/">"When should a board fire itself"</a><br />
by Jini Stolk, CREATIVE TRUST<a href="http://www.creativetrust.ca/2012/07/when-should-a-board-fire-itself/" target="_blank"><br /></a></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/onstage/article/1216985--petition-urges-reinstatement-of-ken-gass-at-factory-theatre">"Petition urges reinstatement of Ken Gass at Factory Theatre"</a><br />
by Richard Ouzounian, TORONTO STAR<a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/onstage/article/1216985--petition-urges-reinstatement-of-ken-gass-at-factory-theatre" target="_blank"><br /></a></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><blockquote>
<a href="http://torontoist.com/2012/06/why-many-are-calling-for-factory-theatres-board-to-resign/">"Why many are calling for Factory Theatre's board to resign"</a><br />
by Steve Fisher, THE TORONTOIST<br />
<br /></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/petition-calls-for-reinstatement-of-ken-gass-resignation-of-theatre-board/article4365097/">"Petition calls for reinstatement of Ken Gass, resignation of theatre board"</a><br />
by Kelly Nestruck, GLOBE & MAIL<br />
<br /></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/gasss-dismissal-from-factory-shocks-toronto-theatre-world/article4362870/">"Gass' dismissal from Factory shocks Toronto theatre world"</a><br />
by Kelly Nestruck, GLOBE & MAIL<br />
<br /></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><blockquote>
<a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/onstage/article/1255165--factory-theatre-dispute-is-far-from-over-ouzounian">"Factory Theatre dispute far from over"</a> Toronto Star</blockquote>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<script src="http://e.change.org:80/flash_petitions_widget.js?width=300&petition_id=439384&color=1A3563" type="text/javascript"></script>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-23446575436617179242012-07-03T10:55:00.000-04:002012-07-03T11:20:42.147-04:00Delegation # 1: Why managers are afraid of delegating.<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The first in a small series on the management art of effective delegation. </i></span><br />
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When you talk to unhappy employees and ask them what is wrong with their jobs or their relationship with managers, the leading issue is usually poor delegation techniques. In the arts and non-profits we are often working as managers having no business training in supervisory management and as employees we are working with bosses who may be wonderful in their fields but don't know the first thing about managing people.<br />
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Why do so many managers fear and avoid delegation?<br />
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<h4>
<b># 1. Fear of loss of control.The inexperienced and insecure manager is afraid that if they don't do everything themselves things will spin out of control and they will lose authority to shape projects. </b>Let's examine this fear:</h4>
<br />
<ul>
<li>If you recognize this as your own fear as a manager, remember that you have the power to require employees to check in with you, report progress, and you can set the schedule for completion of stages in a project to build in time for edits and tweaks you feel are needed.</li>
<li>Delegate from a sense of your own power and your fears will fade </li>
</ul>
<h4>
<b># 2. Fear/Dislike of employees stealing credit or sharing the limelight. </b> </h4>
Let's look hard at this fear: <br />
<ul>
<li>Just as your organizations failures ultimately reflect on you as a manager, so do the successes</li>
<li>A part of maturing as a manager and human being is learning to enjoy your new role as a mentor to a new crop of professionals. Their successes are your successes.</li>
<li>If an employee truly tries to steal credit or becomes unduly competitive, that is a separate issue that you can deal with, ultimately you have the power to fire them so why be bothered by small expressions of ego? </li>
</ul>
<h4>
<b>#3. Don't feel you have time to teach employees how to do the delegated work or supervise them:</b></h4>
<ul>
<li>If you are feeling time crunched, only effective delegation will get work off your desk so a small hump of extra work will pay off in the long run</li>
<li>Part of delegating the task can be assigning the employee to job-shadow, read, take a course, do online tutorials to acquire skills. You don' t have to take on all the training yourself. </li>
<li>While a lot of supervision might be needed the first time an employee takes on a job, it will decrease markedly the next time. </li>
<li>Delegation and supervision IS your job as a manager. Likely all the work on your desk is really not your job and needs to be delegated. </li>
</ul>
<h4>
<b>#4 Worry that your employees will make mistakes, use methods you don't approve of, generally goof up something. </b></h4>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Employees will make mistakes and that is a part of learning.</li>
<li>Planning for training and supervision and scheduling to allow for error correction is part of your job as a manager and part of your effective delegation strategy.</li>
</ul>
When you feel these fears coming on (and we all have them as managers) remember the gains that will come to you as an effective delegator. You will develop happy, productive employees who not only think for themselves but regard you as an effective mentor and supervisor, someone they can go to for advice without fearing their project will be yanked away from them. You will be enhancing your own reputation and chance of advancement. You'll free up time for your own innovative, non-routine tasks which require your unique expertise.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-11094322914948774282012-06-27T11:14:00.000-04:002012-07-03T11:25:29.265-04:00Boundaries, clock-watching and values-based managementConsider this scenario that is acted out in workplaces every day:<br />
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You need to leave on time for once because of family plans. It's busy at work and your boss says, "Well I don't know about you, but I've always been the sort of person who doesn't watch the clock at work because I prefer to just get the work done". It stings because your self-image has always been that of a hard-worker but there is nothing in the current situation or workplace that motivates you to stay late. What has changed? Is it you? Is it the job?<br />
<br />
Getting to understand your own values helps to answer with confidence about the balance you have between commitments to work and to other parts of your life and what you need in order to give more time to work. As a manager, knowing your employees values helps you negotiate for the flexibility and extra effort you may need for a project. <br />
<br />
Understanding what are core expectations for your position is the starting point. While you might have regular work hours, some contracts have language that requires a flexible schedule or extra hours in peak periods. It is only when we are asked to exceed the language in our agreement that we need to consider where our boundaries lie. While we like to give ourselves labels like "dedicated", healthy individuals have limits about the amount and type of work they are willing to do on their own time and the conditions under which they find it reasonable to put in extra hours. If you don't know your own priorities you could find yourself agreeing to work you'll resent or saying "no" to an opportunity that might be congruent with your goals. Neither of these outcomes is good for you or the workplace.<br />
<br />
What motivates you to take work home, put in hours over the weekend, or stay late to finish a project? For me I know that I will volunteer to work on projects that involve learning new skills that are congruent with my goals and interests. I'll also burn the midnight oil for a project that I'm given ownership of that I can add to my resume folder in future. Affirmation goes a long way with me also. Even if there is nothing in it for me, I'll do extras when I feel appreciated.<br />
<br />
As a manager, you need to know what your employees value and use that understanding to motivate appropriately. This is a part of values-based management. <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Employees motivated by financial security will go the extra mile for raises, promotions, contract renewal</li>
<li>Employees with a thirst for learning will be motivated by staff training or time for taking on new work with steep learning curves</li>
<li>Those with interests outside of work, family, hobbies, enjoying nature will be motivated by time-off in lieu of overtime hours</li>
<li>Praise, recognition, and simple thank-yous motivate most of us, but are often the most neglected motivational tool in the management toolbox. </li>
</ul><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-30472491581157084332012-02-17T08:05:00.004-05:002013-04-24T00:27:30.516-04:00New animation from Prashant Miranda<span style="font-style: italic;">In memory of the northern Red Oak</span> is a simple, evocative and transformative piece of art, and that's really typical of what Prash does in art. Here's the film. Prash can be found at <a href="http://Prashart.blogspot.com">http://Prashart.blogspot.com</a><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K8Er94-EnKA" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" width="427"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-87514104504422955302012-02-12T11:15:00.006-05:002012-02-12T12:15:35.925-05:00Writing Grant Proposals as a Team<span style="font-style: italic;">Recently I realized that my article <a href="http://breadandroseslife.blogspot.com/2009/06/grantwriting-basics-grantwriting-101.html">"Grantwriting Basics"</a> had less detail on grantwriting in a team than I remembered, whether through editing or never getting around to all of the content in my mind. Here’s an expansion for those of you writing in a team environment, something that I find I do about 50 % of the time. By team grant-writing I mean situations in which key parts of the grant are written by others and editing and changes to the document are done collectively</span>.<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:targetscreensize>1024x768</o:TargetScreenSize> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> </p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Grantwriting in a Team Environment </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Grants written with a collaborative team are usually stronger, more realistic and tied to the real activities and history of the organization and provide opportunities for team-building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Grants written with a collaborative team can also be among the most frustrating and time-wasting of activities if there is no plan for the collaboration and team members don’t adequately understand their roles. </span></p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Why write a grant collaboratively? </span><p></p><ol><li>Capitalize on multiple talents</li><li><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span>Get multiple viewpoints</li><li><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""></span>Increase organizational and/or partnership buy in to the project proposal</li></ol> <span style="font-weight: bold;">There are four key steps to ensuring a successful collaborative grantwriting process:</span><p></p><ol><li> Define roles<br /></li><li>Choose the team</li><li>Chart a realistic timeline<br /></li><li>Choose tools</li></ol> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">TEAM ROLES:</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">NOTE:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Many times one individual is responsible for more than one role in grantwriting, but it is useful to break down the roles to understand all areas of responsibility. For most grants the roles include: </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l10 level1 lfo7; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Grant Lead: </span>This is the person, often referred to as “the grant developer” who is delegated responsibility for team leadership on the grant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They define the process, assign grant tasks, manage the timeline and are ultimately responsible for declaring when grant components are final. They may or may not be the actual grant-writer.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l10 level1 lfo7; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Grant Researcher:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This role requires someone with skills and experience in researching funding bodies and (if applicable) expertise with the fundraising database used by your organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They identify funding programs with high relevance to the activities of the organization.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l10 level1 lfo7; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Grant Analyst:</span> This role requires someone able to summarize the grant requirements and provide the information to key individuals within the organization for decision-making about whether and how to proceed and to set out key requirements needed to be met (such as signed contracts).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l10 level1 lfo7; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">4.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Organizational Historian/Fact-checker:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This role provides up to date content on organizational history, mission, projects,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as well as needed documents such as board lists, audited financial statements, incorporation papers, photos, biographies/profiles of team members and partner organizations.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l10 level1 lfo7; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">5.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Needs Manager/Project Rationale Researcher:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This role is able to research the “need” that the project addresses whether it is a need in the community or an organizational need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Articulating the need is important to making a case for the relevance of your project (whether the application asks you to answer questions about needs or not).<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l10 level1 lfo7; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">6.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Grant Writer:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span> </span>This is the individual who takes all content provided and crafts it into a coherent argument that is presented with one voice through the document. They are ultimately responsible for style, grammar, format.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l10 level1 lfo7; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">7.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Collaboration Organizer:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This role is responsible for the nitty-gritty of the collaborative effort, sending invitations to team members, organizing meetings according to time-line, chasing people for content, and tracking the receipt of all needed materials, signatures, support letters, etc. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">THE GRANTWRITING TEAM:<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">While above, I have defined the ROLES needed within a grant-writing process, one team member will likely assume more than one of the roles. Your grantwriting team may be 2 people or 20 people (or more).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Most grants involve 2-4 key contributors with some input from stakeholders. Who you choose for your team depends on your organization and the nature of the application.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>While you typically would want only one person assigned to some roles (such as project leader and/or lead writer), others can be performed by teams (such as researching community needs or literature surveys, getting equipment quotes). </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"> KEY SKILLS:</p><p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal">The skills you need to assure are on your team include:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo9; tab-stops:list 18.0pt"> 1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span>A professional within the organization who has key insight in the organization’s history, goals, and able to speak to the nature and importance of the key points of the proposal.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo9; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span>A grantwriting professional who is skilled in researching funding opportunities in tune with organizational needs</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo9; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span>A budget specialist able to craft a realistic project budget and answer financial questions about organizational finances</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo9; tab-stops:list 18.0pt">4.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span>Writer/editor who will be the “voice” of the grant--responsible for the tone, grammar and persuasive language of the grant</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Unless one person has <span style="font-weight: bold;">ALL </span>of the skills above, you need to develop a team however small!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you are the Grant Lead--taking into account both the roles needed in the grant and the list of key skills--consider who will make up your team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Following the rules for good delegation, you will need to assure that team members understand their role(s) on the team as well as the role of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Each team member must have the tools and resources needed to perform the tasks (time, materials, budget) and the authority (existing or clearly delegated) to successfully fulfill their role.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">TIMELINE:</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Chart your timelines with key points for completion of stages of grant development through a work back schedule from the due date with full understanding of that due date which can vary from “postmarked by X date” to “must be in our hands by 5 pm on the due date”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>While generally the earlier the better, a too early start date can undermine any sense of urgency about the work and lead to procrastination and dropped balls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Likewise some RFP have tight timelines that mean that intensive work will be unavoidable. </p>Generally the charting done by an experienced Grant Lead will look like this:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qo1woAM3BHONJZgMKCKbiruUgHS7J971gIFbAWFmLxTaSeSOZIAHZl-aLPq8-vvr_w4hxl-lLuEtCoR4wCo2JBwuRN9bQWa0sHbhcnS6j6EXyI7D4Oauks1yXtz_Y2hPzuUn/s1600/Grantwriting+GANTTchart.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 654px; height: 151px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qo1woAM3BHONJZgMKCKbiruUgHS7J971gIFbAWFmLxTaSeSOZIAHZl-aLPq8-vvr_w4hxl-lLuEtCoR4wCo2JBwuRN9bQWa0sHbhcnS6j6EXyI7D4Oauks1yXtz_Y2hPzuUn/s400/Grantwriting+GANTTchart.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708287115052142530" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">By making your first draft completion date far enough in advance, you can allow for a second round of commenting and revision if necessary or if the project gets behind schedule due to external factors or difficulties in obtaining all information needed, you can forgo this step. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">TOOLS FOR COLLABORATION: </span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Do you need special tools for collaboration?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Not necessarily. It depends on your team, process and proximity. If a grant is being written by one person who edits submitted content and incorporates 2-3 team members content and comments (the majority of grant-writing scenarios) no special tools are needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Emails, word documents or notes written on a table napkin, will all be incorporated by one individual into a master document that is not available for editing by anyone else. No tools beyond a word processor needed.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Where it gets dicey is where multiple individuals are working on writing/editing sections of the grant collaboratively (and there has to be a strong rationale for this approach).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Here version management becomes difficult and if there is no system in place, valuable content can be erased by a contributor who lacks the big picture. The grantwriter has started by organizing content into paragraphs dedicated to single ideas, ensuring that all building blocks are in place over the entirety of the grant. This can become lost as new writers add irrelevant details to paragraphs unaware those ideas are stated later, or in a different section of the application that they may not have in front of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Simply tracking the revisions becomes a chore. Take this as an example:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Susan has written the first draft of a project timeline that outlines a series of workshops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>She sends it out simultaneously to Sandra and Kevin by email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sandra gets back to Susan first with her revision and has added 2 workshops to the list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Kevin (working on the original document) adds one workshop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If Susan saves the most recent edit (Kevin’s) as final, she will not have incorporated Sandra’s input. So how will this be avoided without adding hours of pouring over revisions with a fine tooth-comb?<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The need for a unified voice and coherence within the full application dictates that:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l6 level1 lfo10;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">The process for editing needs to be clearly articulated</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l6 level1 lfo10;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">There needs to be a start and end point to edits (a date where no more edits will be received and the key writer will consolidate).</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l6 level1 lfo10;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">A system or tool for tracking versions must be decided on and used by all contributers</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l6 level1 lfo10;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">The final edit must be done by one person assuring a single voice and coherent thread. </li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">MS Word “Track Changes”:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">When two or three editors work on a document and only one or two revisions are anticipated, the tools within Word for tracking changes, emailed back and forth will likely be sufficient to the team’s needs, provided they agree on version labeling and documents are not sent to multiple editors at one time without the knowledge of the key writer. The key writer needs to know which version of the document the edit is based on to not lose content previously submitted. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The drawback of “track changes” with multiple edits and editors is that the document becomes unreadable unless the revisions are hidden by selecting “show final”, however in that view content crossed out by one editor which may be necessary and need to be restored can be lost. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Google Docs</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Google docs are similar to MS Word’s track changes in look and feel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The advantage of using Google docs is that two people cannot work on the document at the same time so that the most recently saved document is always based upon the work of all previous contributors. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Wikis</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Wikis were developed specifically for collaborative writing and allow team-members to look at all version histories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Within a wiki, it is easy to roll back to a prior version or ensure content is not lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There are a number of free wiki spaces available online and using wiki tools are highly recommended where team-writing for sections of a grant involve three or more people and or is anticipated to involve more than two rounds of editing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My favorite wiki spaces include:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><a href="http://www.wikispaces.com/">http://www.wikispaces.com/</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and <a href="http://pbworks.com/">http://pbworks.com/</a> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Proximity (a collaborative tool we sometimes forget):</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Grant-writing teams seldom go off the rails when collaborators work in the same office space and work the same days/shifts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When they do not, it is important to be able to simulate the good synergy effects of proximity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Wiki tools help with this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Meetings, web conferencing, shared Skype calls, and even meeting virtually in online environments can avoid the pitfalls that occur when collaborators feel they are working in a vacuum at some points and are surprised by input from other team members at other points. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Symptoms of failed collaborative grantwriting:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reluctance to contribute in a timely fashion</span>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One of the leading signs of a process that is failing is the hording of information and avoidance of content sharing until the last moment of a grant deadline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>People do this as a defense when they feel that earlier input will be lost or be subject to so many revisions that it will add to the time they will actually be required to spend on grant-writing. "Why contribute now, it will only have to re-done 10 times?"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lost or confused content:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Editors are simultaneously working on the same document making tracking versions difficult to impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>"I'm sure we had something in here about X in an earlier version. Where did it go?" The wrong tools are being used for collaborative writing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Surprises and conflicts:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>"Why are you working on X? I've already done it!" The team and roles were not clearly defined. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Loss of engagement by project and/or writing lead:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You send your lead writer comments and edits galore and they stop responding. There's likely a timeline problem. The editing process needs to have a clear end-point so that final draft can be constructed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Grantwriters who are unsure of when they are needed for final edits may be reluctant to contribute until they are sure the dust has settled to avoid wasting their time.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lack of consistent voice and format in final grant:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>Editing and commenting has not been terminated with enough time for grantwriter to polish and format or grantwriter has not been correctly delegated authority to override edits that are off message. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Lastly take this quiz</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">We always have organizational buy-in for our grant-writing before we begin. Yes/No<br /></li></ol> <p style="margin:0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="2" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">Our grant team all know their own roles and responsibilities. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="3" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">All team members know from the outset who will contributing and how. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="4" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">Our grant process has a defined time-line for key steps. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="5" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">Our tools match the number of collaborators we are involving. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="6" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">We work in close proximity or have plans for meeting/conferencing as needed. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="7" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">We have no difficulty tracking revisions to grants. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="8" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">We are never surprised at the last minute by missing documentation or signatures. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="9" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">Team members contribute on schedule with confidence their input will not be lost. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <ol style="margin-top:0pt" start="10" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l8 level1 lfo11;tab-stops:list 36.0pt">Grant proposals have a unified voice and a coherent argument on completion. Yes/No</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">SCORING:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Give yourself a point for all your “yes” answers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">A perfect 10:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Where do I apply to work for you as a grant-writer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Great going.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">7 to 9:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You are like most organizations, doing most things correctly but there’s probably just one area where you could avoid conflict and time wasting if you planned a little better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">4 to 6</span>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You are probably experiencing some staff stress or even conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You may be wasting time and energy due to duplication of work by people not understanding their roles and/or doing intensive last-minute grant-writing due to lack of pacing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Less than 4:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Grant-writing collaboratively is either very new to your organization or has become a huge trial that your staff members view with dread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They react with either avoidance/delay strategies or by jockeying for position when a grant-writing task is announced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The process is likely always contentious and the results are worse than if one person completes the grant leading you to feel it is better you do it yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> (Most of us have been there.) </span>Consider, if you feel this way, whether your team really lacks the skills or whether the process is at fault. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-83989625806377569202011-11-18T14:24:00.005-05:002011-11-18T14:46:50.205-05:00December 1 & 2 Creative Works Studio Annual Exhibition<p><span style="font-family:arial;">If you care deeply about access to the arts as I do and also support diversity of voices in the arts you'll want to come out and support a community of artists that are finding healing through art--even as they share their vision of our city with anyone who is able to make time and come out to view the art and meet the artists.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"> It will make you feel great!</span><br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDv5cd5Wckkx6tYmOHQUrO68PSv749XtMBXWCf8SIQDxb5sqY2xa5R7mCMt1suBGbDGLDvcXUXE4qSChzUqzzqKK_GpRhsdWpkIxgr2HOjDzbIQMZ328yugGG_ZSSdD16B52Zd/s1600/Invitation+Card.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDv5cd5Wckkx6tYmOHQUrO68PSv749XtMBXWCf8SIQDxb5sqY2xa5R7mCMt1suBGbDGLDvcXUXE4qSChzUqzzqKK_GpRhsdWpkIxgr2HOjDzbIQMZ328yugGG_ZSSdD16B52Zd/s400/Invitation+Card.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676419435192709426" border="0" /></a><br /></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;">TORONTO TREASURES</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Creative Works Studio features new works at our <span style="font-weight: bold;">Toronto Treasures Art Exhibit</span>. We will also launch our 2012 art calendar, <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">The Blues</span>, which will be available for sale at the gallery. <a href="http://www.creativeworks-studio.ca/">www.creativeworks-studio.ca</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Creative Works Studio, is an occupational therapy arts based community program that helps individuals living with mental health challenges heal and cope through the power of artistic expression. It is part of St. Michael Hospital's Inner City Health Program and operates in partnership with the Good Shepherd.The studio believes in public education to reduce stigmatization.</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">THANKS TO OUR PATRONS</span>:<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Al Green Gallery, Boome Canadian Graphics, CIHR-Canadian Istitute of Health Research, TD Canada Trust, The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, Lundbeck, Ontario Arts Council, ShaRna Foundation, Toronto Arts Council, Long and McQuade, Dimensions Custom Framing & Gallery. </span></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-59936786482381647672011-11-13T13:40:00.002-05:002011-11-13T13:43:59.029-05:00Silverberg Art Showing at Sage Cafe on McCaul<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYSoKQyxPtq0kQb_D6KYiJxiz1_Rf1a0PnmapyP9EbO772dconk29R0rI2qZmQAoRZ7kVmk1L7ehMF_DUpmg2EfXrA50zgVBGet8g7ZHbzYkOj6WyX-gckx4pmxZEbWHZs9Jc/s1600/Silverberg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 346px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYSoKQyxPtq0kQb_D6KYiJxiz1_Rf1a0PnmapyP9EbO772dconk29R0rI2qZmQAoRZ7kVmk1L7ehMF_DUpmg2EfXrA50zgVBGet8g7ZHbzYkOj6WyX-gckx4pmxZEbWHZs9Jc/s400/Silverberg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674552415083320930" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jerry Silverberg</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">SAGE CAFE - 166 McCaul (north of Dundas - just around the corner from the AGO)</span> <div><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">So after seeing Chagall as the main course come and have some desert of art and cakes at Sage.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;">The show runs until the end of December.</span></div> <div><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sage hours </span>- 9am - 5pm , 7 days a week.- Best viewing times 9 - 12 and 1:30 - 5.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-40405912072559322102011-11-09T10:53:00.002-05:002011-11-09T10:58:06.078-05:00Happy Birthday, Dorothy Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXFP8AzKVhWF8e1y-eOWS6nm-Up8sQsph3iMquKUsQ3cTxIQt7j_JZDqHes_sPCMPsTUeufAq-kHvIWYwaPTn-Hp6ndDXbb8f-dPe6HQldemtGgol8_ZJNiuus27TiOxe-b_9/s1600/Dorothy+Day.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXFP8AzKVhWF8e1y-eOWS6nm-Up8sQsph3iMquKUsQ3cTxIQt7j_JZDqHes_sPCMPsTUeufAq-kHvIWYwaPTn-Hp6ndDXbb8f-dPe6HQldemtGgol8_ZJNiuus27TiOxe-b_9/s400/Dorothy+Day.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673025830377784194" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">"Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul."</span><br /></div><span class="caption"><br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-15961974720880438442011-11-06T10:45:00.008-05:002011-11-06T12:41:09.688-05:00Clay and Paper Theatre's "Night of Dread"<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Flindarog%2Falbumid%2F5669393155568231969%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="400" width="600"></embed><br /><br />"Oh look, we can PARTICIPATE", exclaimed a young mom to her partner and children as they arrived at the launch point of <span style="font-weight:bold;">Clay and Paper's</span> annual "<span style="font-style: italic;">Night of Dread</span>" event that began and ended at Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto. Volunteers helped the family outfit themselves with masks from the theatre's assembled accessories available for sign out. Participation proved to be but one of the extraordinary components of this community arts event.<br /><br />Halloween has always seemed to me a bit of a difficult holiday in modern times. Most of us no longer believe in ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night. We feel guilty as parents about scaring our kids with superstition. Besides, aren't there enough horrors in the world? When we think "okay, let's dress up in more fanciful, happy clothes" we run into another set of dilemmas.<br /><br />"A fairy princess?"<br /><br />"No, no, too sexist! Gender stereo-typing, that will never do!"<br /><br />"A belly-dancer? An Indian brave?"<br /><br />"No, no! Cultural appropriation! What will the neighbours think!"<br /><br />And what about the whole thing of "trick or treating"? In a time when so many children are overweight, we know the dangers of high carbohydrate loads on the whole system, not to mention tooth decay, do we want our kids super sugar-loaded. We fear for their safety on dark streets at night. It's just hard to celebrate the tradition anymore.<br /><br />How do we update this late autumn holiday in a way that is meaningful to modern times without causing the wincing feeling that we are going against our core values or exposing our children to harms of various sorts? <a href="http://www.clayandpapertheatre.org/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Clay and Paper Theatre</span></a> has crafted an annual event that keeps the core components of Halloween, while avoiding all of the baggage. Their creativity has resulted in a new celebration in harmony with the season and our actual lives.<br /><br />Halloween is a festival for a time when the days are becoming darker and primitive people might have worried that the sun was dying. It is a time of fears and shadows. Some of the oldest civilizations had traditions of building fires on hillsides to feed the sun and wearing disguises to fool malevolent spirits.<br /><br />In our modern world there are shadows of fears that haunt all of us in our dark moments. Near the gardens in Dufferin Grove Park, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Clay and Paper Theatre</span> had set up a garden of fears. Economically (and humorously) using pizza boxes on sticks, they had emblazoned the boxes with modern fears: nuclear annihilation, global warming, bio-hazards, isolation, losing a home, bankruptcy, financial ruin, war... and so on. What a fantastic opportunity for family dialogue as people moved about the garden of fears and chose which fear to pluck from the garden and carry in the parade as representative of that individuals worst fear this year.<br /><br />Masks were black and white papier mache creations that, to me, symbolized the dark and light in all of us, in the changing seasons and our world. Walking about among us as we selected our fears to carry and our black & white masks to wear (if we chose to wear a mask) were a collection of giant puppets representing some of our fears. I was struck in the gut by the representation of pollution. She was a giant blue puppet with a serenely beautiful appearing face and flowing blue silken fabric, horrendously littered with bits of plastic garbage bags and excretions of fast food containers, drink cups, plastic water bottles and straws. Some of the huge puppets were a bit more mysterious and we didn't quite know what they were representing until the end of the event.<br /><br />A bugle call and drum roll signaled the assembly of the march and about 1,000 people or more set out following as we paraded our fears through the streets of Toronto. It was interesting to watch the faces of the people who came out of houses and stores to watch the passing march. Some were delighted and seemed to know what to expect. Others were extremely puzzled, even a little worried. It was a long enough route that children were wanting to be carried by the end of the journey so families with young kids are advised that a stroller or wagon will likely be required at some point in the trek.<br /><br />Back at the Dufferin Grove Park we walked along a path of shrines. This lacked any explanation but it seemed to me that they were shrines erected to things lost in the past, a loved pet, a farm. Made from the simplest of materials they were reminiscent of Day of the Dead shrines built on grave sites.<br /><br />We walked towards a bonfire in the middle of a circle of people. Here the fears we had carried through the dark night streets were burnt in a warming sacrificial fire. The crowd cheered the burning of the fears. The giant puppets representing major fears like "Corruption & Greed" "Nuclear Annihilation" were introduced as they did their final macabre dance around the fire. With a fanfare of humorously discordant circus music, the "Fear of the Year" was introduced. In this year's case that was "The fear of selfish leadership" represented here in Toronto appropriately by a giant gravy boat. The artistic reference was to our hapless Mayor Ford who promised to save billions from the city budget by cutting the "gravy" and then his hired consultants couldn't find any such gravy. His attempts to instead define libraries and culture as gravy have met strong citizen opposition. The gravy boat was taken on a last lurching voyage. The responsive creativity of the team at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Clay and Paper Theatre </span>added a last minute touch drawn from the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/10/27/rob-ford-911-call.html">latest headlines</a> as a Margaret Delahunty lookalike pursued the gravy boat on it's final voyage to the fire. A great cheer rose up from the crowd as the final great fear went up in a tower of flame.<br /><br />Death dancers waltzed around the bonfire as our fears burned. Only the fear of death which can never totally leave us remained alive. The figures of death beckoned to the crowd to come and dance with death. The message to my understanding was that only when we learn to dance with death are we truly alive. The circle of dark and light, yin and yang came into focus in this conclusion, sombre, meditative and graceful. Then exploded into light with fire twirlers and jugglers harking back to a primitive time where warmth and light drove away the terrors of winter and darkness.<br /><br />What a wonderful achievement and gift to the people of Toronto. My one and only suggestion to the creative team is that they lost people at the conclusion due to the length of the march. It was a very cold night, so that was also a factor. Some great entertainment was available at the end and I would have liked to stay and dance but like many others I was freezing and very tired so we packed up at the conclusion of the fire twirlers.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0l7Ia462NOM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-72583332612525410162011-10-26T10:10:00.004-04:002011-10-26T10:30:31.460-04:00Clay & Paper's Night of Dread Oct. 29<h2 style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER"><em>Night of Dread</em></h2> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER"><strong>Dufferin Grove Park<br />Saturday, October 29, 2011<br /></strong></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER"><strong>4-6PM: Gathering<br /></strong> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER"><strong>6PM: Parade<br /></strong> </p> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER"><strong>7:15PM - Fire Circle </strong></p> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER">Learn the fire circle chant: </p> <blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER">"We laugh at fear, And we laugh at death, And we'll laugh at you, 'Til our very last breath, Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"<strong><br /></strong></p> <blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote> </blockquote></blockquote> </blockquote> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER"><strong>8:30PM: Celebration with Lemon Bucket Orkestra</strong></p> <blockquote> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> <p style="margin-bottom:0cm" align="CENTER">Dress Code: Black & White & Dreadful<br /><br />Pay-What-You-Can/ $10 Suggested Donation</p> <p align="CENTER"><strong><a href="http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/Redirect.aspx?u=48775&q=373211692&lm=28516186&r=309747&qz=eb1426448557c043798c0d22f9d5142b" target="_blank">www.clayandpapertheatre.org</a></strong></p> <p> </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/Redirect.aspx?u=48775&q=373211692&lm=28516186&r=309747&qz=eb1426448557c043798c0d22f9d5142b" target="_blank"> </a></p> <p align="center"> </p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMrnVfnZuXGBsuvZEMZsIviotXtXhzBrvNV46Oe_F6qJlyr2-m9y7M_tbbDrqXkChxZujc5vMuJmraGypzGRycWphkWQR9hd2ilZ1ef8nF3AIRwmO2L3qTTcqz58pe2uzx9GcE/s1600/NOD+Map-sm.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 287px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMrnVfnZuXGBsuvZEMZsIviotXtXhzBrvNV46Oe_F6qJlyr2-m9y7M_tbbDrqXkChxZujc5vMuJmraGypzGRycWphkWQR9hd2ilZ1ef8nF3AIRwmO2L3qTTcqz58pe2uzx9GcE/s400/NOD+Map-sm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667804074096980562" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-22848327907087118612011-10-24T13:57:00.002-04:002011-10-24T14:18:23.741-04:00Speaking up on behalf of aboriginal children<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXQ0q4-PLFY_OHp0Hsi0zQxH9Q5ODRW6jmeReXtE4GwjY0TLPminVARyhLyqI05Adg3ep9lBura7XRiiflzjK4W3CmqAOBKeq2AvsJT-X7TqD31dG0H8-M6PwkJvSQyMpfNxX/s1600/GirlsandLinda.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXQ0q4-PLFY_OHp0Hsi0zQxH9Q5ODRW6jmeReXtE4GwjY0TLPminVARyhLyqI05Adg3ep9lBura7XRiiflzjK4W3CmqAOBKeq2AvsJT-X7TqD31dG0H8-M6PwkJvSQyMpfNxX/s400/GirlsandLinda.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667119929288629602" border="0" /></a>Today the <a href="http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/advocates-take-complaints-about-aboriginal-children-to-united-nations-132455223.html">Winnepeg Free Press reported</a> that "<span style="font-style: italic;">Child rights' advocates are hoping to shame the federal government into improving the treatment of aboriginal children.The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and the ecumenical group KAIROS are asking the United Nations to ensure that Ottawa gives the same services to aboriginal children as it does to other Canadians. </span><p style="font-style: italic;">In a report prepared for the United Nations committee on the rights of the child, the groups say government funding for health, education and child welfare is much lower on reserves than off.</p><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><p style="font-style: italic;">As a result, they say native kids often lack the basic necessities of life.</p><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><p><span style="font-style: italic;">They point out that Canada signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its performance is under review right now.</span>"<br /></p>When I served on the Lieutenant Governor's Steering Committee on Aboriginal literacy, I saw first hand the problems faced by Canada's First Nations children. One of the first things I learned was that money was only a part of the problem. The fact that funding lags behind educational and social welfare funding for children in the rest of the province is a crime that must be addressed but in order for those dollars to be targeted and used accountably, there has to be an untangling of bureaucratic snarls and more transparency.<br /><br />One of the truths that I came to understand while meeting with representatives of band councils while developing the first summer literacy day camps, and spending last season working with Equay-wuk (Women's Circle) is that liberal white guilt about children's welfare in First Nations colludes with right-wing priorities to result in a "do-nothing" outcome. Well-meaning child welfare advocates too often allow themselves to be silenced because they feel that as white people, they cannot address First Nations issues, even when they know that education or child welfare dollars are not being used effectively in a community. There is not one set of problems with children's welfare in First Nations communities. Because these communities are self-governing, the picture differs from community from community and it is important for decision-makers and social justice advocates to understand that it is not a "one-size fits all" solution. It is messy and complex and if we care about justice for these children we have to be prepared to listen and also be prepared to speak out. <br /><br />Sometimes it takes more than a village to raise a child when that village is failing the child. Sometimes it takes a nation to care and not to be silenced because of some ancient mistakes made by some of our ancestors.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-74119345718793154642011-10-21T13:26:00.002-04:002011-10-21T13:30:26.836-04:00Virtual Beading CircleFantastic use of the internet to share craft knowledge across distances.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDo0MbaMAB0_6i8oo1KK4TT8HhqJwwl9NsFmkxjlzEsEm32HZM7cr1yu2Al-biJIu3xNf6RXBnvrkY4KIFi7YrI0y0ZiqWM4WP2y4NhlT3_IdB6mb-RX_YQIy0fcIEnlCQBP5O/s1600/Beading+Circle.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 550px; height: 359px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDo0MbaMAB0_6i8oo1KK4TT8HhqJwwl9NsFmkxjlzEsEm32HZM7cr1yu2Al-biJIu3xNf6RXBnvrkY4KIFi7YrI0y0ZiqWM4WP2y4NhlT3_IdB6mb-RX_YQIy0fcIEnlCQBP5O/s400/Beading+Circle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665998503763464786" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-81864650478273950192011-10-20T14:06:00.000-04:002011-10-20T14:09:07.252-04:00Ottawa Days of Action to End Canadian Involvement in Torture, October 24-26Join the CSI: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ottawa Days of Action to End Canadian Involvement in </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Torture, October 24-26</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">We Cannot Let Canadian Individuals and Institutions Get Away With </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Torture</span><br /><br />In addition to many reasons already listed (see <a href="http://%20homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/2011/09/csi-ottawa-ending-canadian-%20involvement.html">http://<br />homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/2011/09/csi-ottawa-ending-canadian-<br />involvement.html</a> ), here's three more good reasons to join us:<br /><br />1. CSIS and the RCMP, which were found to be complicit in the torture<br />of Canadians Abdullah Almalki, Maher Arar, Ahmad El Maati, and<br />Muayyed Nureddin while all were detained in Syria, have been silent<br />on their ongoing relationship with Syrian Military Intelligence,<br />which regularly engages in torture and is complicit in the mass<br />detentions and horrific acts of torture and murder that have been<br />taking place for years and which have intensified during 2011 in<br />response to demands for democracy.<br /><br />Leading up to CSI Ottawa and during those three days, we will seek a<br />public statement from both agencies that they have (or will<br />immediately) break all ties with Syrian Military Intelligence and<br />that they will apologize for their past relationship with such a<br />blood-stained agency (as well as to those tortured with Canadian<br />complicity).<br /><br />2. A Libyan-Canadian citizen who was imprisoned and tortured for<br />eight years by the Gaddafi regime says that agents from the Canadian<br />Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) were among foreign agents who<br />interrogated him. Documents confirming this were found by members of<br />Human Rights Watch. See http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/28/canada-<br />intelligence-service-accused-libya-interrogations<br /><br />This is of course a common practice that CSIS will partner with<br />brutal, torturing regimes such as Syria, Egypt, and Libya and then<br />claim that they "did not know" or "did not have available to them"<br />publicly available reports of systematic torture.<br /><br />3. On 18 October 2008, Ivan Apaolaza Sancho was deported from Canada<br />by special charter flight, manacled hand and foot, and handed over to<br />authorities in Spain. The deportation was a bitter ending to a<br />fifteen month campaign in which the Basque man was imprisoned in<br />Montreal, denied the right to apply for refugee status, and<br />eventually deported - all on the basis of information that a Canadian<br />tribunal recognized was obtained under torture.<br /><br />Members of the Caravan to End Canadian Involvement in Torture raised<br />Ivan's case across the province in 2008. Now, he faces a trial after<br />three years of detention in Spain, and could be jailed for 30 years.<br />More at http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/sancho/<br /><br />A CULTURE OF IMPUNITY<br />The culture of impunity around Canadian involvement in torture is<br />widespread. Officials in numerous government agencies complicit in<br />the torture of Canadian citizens, refugees and permanent residents<br />continue to proceed with the dangerous assumption that when it comes<br />to torture, whether "direct or indirect," they can get away with it.<br />While Canadians were rightly upset that the government did not arrest<br />visiting individuals who are proudly complicit in torture (such as<br />Dick Cheney and George W. Bush), we also need to focus on the fact<br />that officials here in Canada continue to engage in policies and<br />decisions which result in the most unimaginable of human rights abuses.<br /><br />CSI Ottawa is an attempt to remind the public, and the government,<br />that they cannot get away with their involvement in torture, and that<br />our exercise of direct democracy and seeking accountability will not<br />end until permanent changes are made.<br /><br />Join CSI Ottawa: Ending Canadian Involvement in Torture<br />Organized by Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, a wholly realized<br />subsidiary of the Homes not Bombs network, tasc@web.ca<br /><br /><br />_______________________________________________<br />TASC mailing list<br />TASC@list.web.net<br />http://list.web.net/lists/listinfo/tasc<div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20962313.post-75292404837716994102011-10-18T14:34:00.008-04:002013-01-27T11:42:45.255-05:00Commonsense Social Media for Small Arts Orgs<span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">A few Do's and Don't's about Social Media for artists and small arts orgs</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do remember to include in your plan all your skills that are relevant to a successful social media campaign</span><br />
You've been talking to your supporters, colleagues and audience for a long time and you know them and their interests better than anyone. You also are skilled at reaching out to them creatively and inexpensively. For pete's sake, you are artists! Those skills will be key in making your social media campaign a success!<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't be phony in your social media voice</span><br />
Social media is ... well... social. It's got a tone like talking to your neighbours about your work today. Your neighbours and friends will be delighted to hear your voice saying "here's what we've been working at in the studio today" in your own voice. Having that voice delegated to someone outside your company will feel phony and insulting to them. If it feels like a trick in social media, people turn off.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do have the confidence to run your own social media campaign</span><br />
The best social media campaign is grass-roots, just like you started your arts organization.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't feel you have to spend big bucks on a social marketing professional</span><br />
No social media "guru" knows your art and your audience like you and your staff do. So what if they have 2,000 Twitter followers, are they relevant to you, or just other social media gurus all jabbering to each other with re-cycled tweets and links?<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do take the time to blog yourself</span><br />
I know you don't have the time, but you know the best blog-posts are short ones. Here's some good tricks. A photo is worth 1,000 words. Snap photos with your cellphone or digital camera and post to your blog with a small comment. Tumblr is a great platform for quickie bloggers. If you are more of a talker than a writer, make brief voice recordings and ask someone to transpose them as blog posts. Or, make a time to sit down once a week with someone in your organization who does like to write and give him or her a list of things to interview you on. Or just have a chat and record it. A 30-60 minute meeting about what's going on with the company right now should yield a week's worth of blog posts that can be timed for daily release.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't let a staff member turn the Artistic Director into a sock puppet</span><br />
If a post is listed as being from the Music Director or AD, it really should be that person's words. To charge a staff person to write on your behalf without input or approval isn't fair to them or you.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Do make meaningful connections with colleagues and organizations with common-cause</span>.</span><br />
Guest write for your colleague's blog and share your posts with organizations that will be interested for example your post on set-construction with an umbrella theatre organization or your post on financial planning with an arts administration website. Ask your colleagues to post to your sites. Include the news from other organizations in your tweets and Facebook updates.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't be territorial in social media</span><br />
If all you tout in your blog, facebook page or twitter stream is your own news, you will be preaching to the choir instead of reaching new audiences.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do listen to your followers and engage with them</span><br />
Social media is social, so a part of every social media campaign should be to spend a little time reading what your followers are saying: about you, about other arts organizations, and about things in general. Comment, re-tweet, and thank them for their favorable mentions of your organization.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't be a broken record</span><br />
You wouldn't invite your neighbour to a party and then invite them again, and again, and again, using the same message, would you? So invite and follow-up in social media much as you would in other media.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do use more than one social media that is relevant to your company</span><br />
As a suggestion, pick one blog platform to share your news in greater length than a twitter post or Facebook update allows. Create a Facebook group for your followers to publicize events. Use a photo site like Flickr or Picasa to host photos & slideshows and a video site like YouTube for video snippets. You may or may not find the social aspect of the photo & video sites useful. But embedding photos in blogs and Facebook posts enlivens them. Finally use Twitter to connect followers in short news bursts to your content in blogs and Facebook. As you develop your social media campaign you will find other tools to use, but no one tool will make effective use of your social media time or effectively distribute your news.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't get too enthusiastic about linking and automating your social media messages</span><br />
As we've seen different social media platforms have different uses and formats. A 140 character twitter post sounds brief and possibly rude when repeated on Facebook, so be thoughtful about linking media. Auto welcoming followers used to be recommended but has become so prevalent that many people regard this as spam and will unfollow anyone who uses the tools. Services that spam followers with auto quotes are fairly universally despised and will lose you followers.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do use buffer apps to time distribute your posts.</span><br />
You may want to do all your social media posts at one time of day and all your blog posts one day a week, but many posts at one time will bore your audience and also not reach some potential followers. Twitter streams are one place where people only are likely to see the posts made in the last hour, so use a buffer to send your tweets over the day (twitter is probably the only social media where you can repeat a key message like an event reminder). Facebook posts can also be spaced through the day. (I use <a href="http://bufferapp.com/">http://bufferapp.com</a> ) and you can choose whether blog posts will be published now or at a future date.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do remember that the message of your company is important</span><br />
Probably only the artistic director and/or senior management can really articulate key messages about projects, mission and artistic direction of the company. Identify the person or people within your company who will craft the social media messages. Make sure everyone is comfortable with the plan and will follow-through.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't give the social media job to the intern</span><br />
The intern may be able to Facebook up a storm about their keg stand at the party last night but that doesn't mean they know how to tell your story to your key audience. Interns can help but don't leave them in charge of the process or be prepared to accept the results.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do use your grassroots skills in building up your number of followers</span><br />
Hey you built your mailing list & email list from 0 to thousands, right? How? By asking people who visited your website to join the mailing list right? By capturing Box Office data, by asking people to enter contests and by asking people to save money, save the trees by signing onto your email list instead. When you have events, that's the time to ask people to join your Facebook group or follow you on twitter. Make it easy with slips of paper they can take away, inserted in programs or available in the lobby on info tables.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't get greedy</span><br />
Don't try to build followers by following hundreds of random individuals. They won't stay and aren't relevant to your success. In the worst case scenario you could lose your account through being listed as a spammer. Having 100 followers who actually come to your events is better than having 3000 followers with only 25 actually coming to your events.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do give incentives</span><br />
You know how to do this! Give potential social media contacts incentives by running contests for free tickets or other goodies available only to Twitter followers or Facebook Friends (but don't make these goodies valuable enough to annoy other contacts).<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do evaluate your social media plan</span><br />
How are you doing? Did you sell out a show using just Facebook? Are you getting more re-tweets of your news? How many lists is your twitter stream on? How many mentions did you get on Twitter last month? How many blog visitors have you logged (Google analytics or site-tracker have good tools).<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away</span><br />
A good social media campaign is not going to happen over-night for most of us. It is slogging work like building a mailing list. If you are not seeing results after a few months you may need to fine-tune your plan, discover why your blog posts and updates are not engaging & growing your audience.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">Do remember the goal</span><br />
You want to deepen the engagement of your existing audience with your company so that they will be more likely to support you by increased attendance and financial contribution. Plus, you want to reach new audiences-- while spending less money on advertising and postage. You also want to be able to brag about how efficient and green your company is in achieving these goals. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />That's pretty hot stuff so it's worth some work, right?</span>
<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16203383" width="476" height="400" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">Bread and Roses Life, L. Rogers</div>Linda Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638897185947547067noreply@blogger.com1