The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Pew Trusts came to WolfBrown with the idea of launching a program to develop leaders in the performing arts presenting field. What the Trusts needed was documentation of the need for such an initiative, as well as research that could inform the program’s structure, assuring that the Trusts’ efforts to help would be successful. The consultants proposed a research program of four phases. In the first stage, the consultants developed a portrait of the presenting industry, reviewing the available literature and analyzing the environment in which presenters work. In the second stage, they looked at other funders’ attempts to support presenter leadership and considered the attributes of successful performing arts CEOs. The consultants visited 11 organizations and conducted more than 100 interviews with staff, board members, artists, and community members. In the third stage, they convened a group of advisors with expertise in specialty areas to review their initial findings. And in the fourth stage, they added statistical analyses of the responses they had garnered in their fieldwork. The consultants’ final report enumerated the critical factors that shape a leader, other foundations’ perspectives on a potential program design, and finally, approaches the Trusts could take to assist the field.
Go to www.pewtrusts.com