Michael Ibrahim, Program Manager
In the Fall of 2020, the Cultural Investment Portfolio team conducted approximately 300 conversations with operating support grantees to better understand their current strategies, exciting innovations, and sometimes, extremely difficult decisions in operating during COVID-19. Based on these candid conversations, a nation-wide RFP process was completed to provide the nonprofit cultural field the highest-quality, most critical intellectual capital necessary to recover, rebuild, and renew our sector post-pandemic.
Now we are excited to launch the Recover, Rebuild, Renew Series, which will include some 42 webinars and countless hours of one-on-one consulting. Alongside Mass Cultural Council’s ongoing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, we believe these services represent the most critical areas of need to help plan a post-COVID operating environment for cultural nonprofits and creative workers.
This series will be delivered in wide ranging formats, including multi-session webinars, single-topic webinars and meetings, small group and panel conversations, and on-on-one coaching. These offerings are open to all cultural organizations across the Commonwealth, regardless of their funding relationship with Mass Cultural Council. This series is provided at no cost to participants. Finally, we have also designed the series to include opportunities to connect with other cultural organizations who have addressed similar challenges and can speak to their own experiences in a non-evaluative, judgment-free zone.
We’ve organized the series into several tracks. Cultural organizations can register for all tracks, all sessions in an individual track, or mix-and-match any individual session. All sessions will be recorded and will be made available for viewing afterwards. In planning for a renewed operating environment post COVID-19, our focus areas will be:
Human Resources
Legal Issues for Arts Administrators
Board and Governance
Leadership and Management
Financial Management
Advocacy
To help us deliver this series, 12 Massachusetts and national-based consulting firms have been selected through the RFP process, giving us a local and macro-level perspective:
- Arts Extension Service, Amherst, MA
- Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston, Boston, MA
- BroadBand Collaborative, Arlington, MA
- Claire West Consulting, Tucson, AZ
- EA Strategic Partners, Boston, MA
- MASSCreative, Boston, MA
- NMBL Strategies, Saint Louis, MO
- Nonprofit Finance Fund, New York, NY & Boston, MA
- Paper Crane Associates, Westford, MA
- Penn Creative Strategy, New York, NY
- SectorWind, Belmont, MA
- SMU DataArts, Dallas, TX
Mass Cultural Council’s Recover, Rebuild, and Renew Series begins February 2, 2021. Two workshops will be offered weekly through June 29, 2021. We are excited to help the cultural sector recover from the staggering losses resulting from COVID-19 and help build a more resilient future.