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The current situation is overwhelming for many cultural organizations –
an all-consuming combination of cash flow challenges; emergency fundraising;
the traumas of furloughs and layoffs; staying in touch with stakeholders;
accelerating digital initiatives, and the need to maintain staff morale in a
virtual world. Meanwhile, the middle- to long-term landscape remains opaque:
the interaction of the course of the disease and medical science; the
ever-shifting governmental responses; the scale and character of the
anticipated recession; and the unpredictable results on different groups’
propensity to engage socially can seem almost unnavigable. But if we remain
trapped between the overwhelming present and the opaque future, then the
organizations that do survive this pandemic will emerge into the new landscape
essentially as enfeebled versions of their former selves. That is the focus of
this edition of Platform.
"Thank You for the Opportunity"
Adrian Ellis
That is, ideally, what we should be able to say when we look back on this dark chapter. Last Thursday, Adrian Ellis spoke on Capacity Interactive's Boot Camp for the Arts Livestream about the need to take a long view, even in the midst of short-term chaos.
Read Adrian's comments here. (Or watch the recorded livestream here.)
Image: Capacity Interactive
Scenario Planning for Arts and Culture
AEA Consulting
Somehow, we need to take the opportunities that this crisis presents for reinvention – of parts or the whole – and we need to find the tools and headspace to do so. One is scenario planning, a way of teasing out alternative futures that provides a context, framework, and stimulus for strategic reinvention.
Read the full article here.
GCDN COVID-19 Zoom Sessions
Over the past few weeks, the Global Cultural Districts Network has hosted a series of Zoom sessions for members to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on cultural districts worldwide. The first phase saw participants from over 40 districts in over 15 countries join four calls facilitated by Tim Jones, of London’s Culture Mile in London. These video calls were intended to be an open space for GCDN members to share their individual experiences and begin to collectively sort through their thinking about the impact of pandemic. Despite different contexts and models of districts, there were some clear commonalities, shared agendas and a desire continue the discussion. GCDN is currently hosting a second phase of sessions, focusing on the main topics that emerged in the first series.
Read
a summary of the sessions here.
Marchesi Antinori
Located in the Tuscany region of Italy, Marchesi Antinori launched its first vintage in 1385. The Antinori family – a member of the Primum Familiae Vini (“First Families of Wine”) – has lived through difficult times, including the Black Plague (trending 1347-1353), which forced them to abandon their main source of income through trading and banking, and to focus on managing their country estates making vineyard growing their only activity. Today, the vintners have expanded their family wine business to preserve, promote, and exhibit the arts related to the Tuscany region of Italy and contemporary art through Accademia Antinori and The Antinori Art Project respectively.
Learn more about Marchesi Antinori here.
Image: Walter Schärer via Flickr
AEA Consulting is a global firm setting the standard in strategy and planning for the cultural and creative industries.
We are known for our candid and impartial advice that draws on deep knowledge of the cultural sector as well as robust research and analytical insight.
Since 1991, we have successfully delivered more than 1,000 assignments in 35 countries, helping clients around the world plan and realize vital and sustainable cultural projects.
