Leading Roles: 50 Questions Every Arts Board Should Ask - Hardcover

Kaiser, Michael M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1584659068 ISBN 13: 9781584659068

Publisher: Brandeis University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Not-for-profit arts organizations struggled to survive the recent economic recession. In this increasingly hardscrabble environment, it is absolutely imperative that the boards of these organizations function as energetically, creatively, and efficiently as possible. Michael M. Kaiser’s personal history with boards of arts organizations began when he served on the board of the Washington Opera (now the Washington National Opera) in 1983. Today, in his capacity as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kaiser recently completed a 50-state, 69-city Arts in Crisis tour. Board issues came up repeatedly as central to the success or failure of the organization. Drawing on these and many other conversations, nationally and internationally, Kaiser’s book offers members of boards and staffs the information they need to create the healthy atmosphere necessary to thriving arts organizations. Organized in a clear, readable, question-and-answer format, Leading Roles covers every aspect of board participation in the life of the organization, including mission and governance; fundraising and marketing responsibilities; the relationship of the board to the artistic director, executive director, and staff; and its responsibilities for planning and budgeting. Kaiser addresses boards in crisis, international boards, and boards of arts organizations of color. Throughout, he emphasizes the importance of transparency and clarity in the board’s dealings with its own members and those of the arts community of which it is a part, showing how anything less results in contentiousness that can immobilize an arts organization, or even tear it apart.

About this title

About the Author

MICHAEL M. KAISER is the author of The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations. He is a graduate of Brandeis University, class of 1975.

Review

"The musicians of ICSOM must continue to be our own positive advocates in a managerial climate that is resistant to a positive message. Mr. Kaiser's new book is a powerful tool that can assist us in articulating our vision."--Senza Sordino "International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians newsletter"

"Leading Roles is a rich yet tidy cornucopia of solutions for the challenges facing the American arts scene . . . The author is compelling as he scopes the horizon, sizing up a future in which global cooperation will loom large for the arts."-- "Washington Post"

"Although aimed at associations in the arts - dance, opera, theatre - the book Kaiser has written should be must-reading for every board member and staff executive of every association. Leading Roles addresses every aspect of board participation in the life of an association, including mission and governance; fundraising and marketing; the relationship of the board to the artistic director, executive director, and staff; and board responsibilities for planning and budgeting."--Senza Sordino "The Examiner, Washington, DC"

Edition details

• Publisher: Brandeis University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1584659068
• ISBN 13: 9781584659068
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192