REIMAGINING THE ‘TRINITY’!

An informed relationship between a community

museum, library and arts centre that employs a

‘design-thinking’ framework to create a potential

‘programming powerhouse’.

Presentation by Anna Grega (Australia)

THE CURRENT POSITION: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS & THEIR FACILITIES

• Competing internal agendas, priorities, budgets (versus holistic vision)

• Collaborators versus Competitors (internal ‘Silos, Handbrakes, Gatekeepers’)

• Needing to design rich experiences (diminishing resources & multiple stakeholders)

• Working with Proactive v Reactive approaches (short term versus long term)

• Increasing focus on ‘working smarter not harder’ (time constraints)

• Finding ways to ‘survive & thrive’ (trends, measuring impact, data-sharing)

• Staying on course with a Vision during ‘life-cycles’ (Council & Venues)

THE DESIGN-THINKING PROCESS

“Design thinking isn’t just for product developers anymore. The approach is being used to

support change management, strategic reinvention, and complex problem solving at the

highest levels.”

The Evolution of Design Thinking, Executive Summaries, Harvard Business Review (September 2015)

So, a ‘Programming’ Design-Thinking approach could be adapted and become central to the

organisational culture, strategies, sustainability and innovation of Local Government

Community Arts and Cultural Facilities.

WITH A FOCUS ON STAFF WORKING WITHIN COMMUNITY FACILITIES,

‘PROGRAMMING’ DESIGN-THINKING COULD -

• offer the potential of integrated teams of programmers with a capacity for

enhanced strategic thinking, delivery and evaluation;

• build drive to overcome resistance using tools that include empathy, visualisation,

experimentation, data-sharing;

• offer opportunities to revive existing, and build new, in-house partnerships, capacity,

competency and effective practice to create an innovative, flexible, sustainable

‘programming design-thinking’ organisation with ‘reimagined’ facilities.

A SUITE OF 3 PROGRAMMING TOOLS:

1. PROGRAMMING DESIGN-THINKING (D-T) FRAMEWORK

Assists staff (up/down/across) and

Councillors with program changes,

development, management, evaluation

and professional achievements through an

integrated mind-set and delivery (360⁰

focus + harnessing the ‘Power of 3’ i.e. 1

staff ‘driver’ + 2 support staff for

programs)

2. PROGRAM / PROJECT SCOPING TOOL

360° focus, ‘chewable chunks’ of key

components; developmental ‘building

blocks’ with critical timelines & resources

needed; budget / reporting & evaluation

consistency / data-sharing; identification

of diverse sources of funding / capacity

building & good practice.

3. PLACEMAKING FRAMEWORK

11 Principles for Creating Great

Community Places (especially principles of

‘Partnerships’, ‘Observation’ and

‘Triangulation’);

10 Strategies (Harnessing the ‘Power of

10’ i.e. identifying 10 great places & 10

great ideas)

THE ‘D-T’ FRAMEWORK COULD HELP BUILD IN-HOUSE PROGRAMMING CAPACITY, COMPETENCY AND EFFECTIVE

PRACTICES BY:

• nurturing internal programmers who can focus on long-term interests rather than just individual

projects;

• bringing in expert trainers from local art colleges & universities to create specialised learning

programs for programming staff; facilitating external courses; offering internship initiatives;

designing & presenting ‘user-friendly’ aesthetic education program for all non-programming

staff, including Councillors;

• building a strengthened internal Programming ‘Community of Practice’ that contributes to a

global professional ‘CoP’ in innovative programming, audience development & community

engagement for Local Government facilities.

THE ‘D-T’ FRAMEWORK COULD HELP WITH EMPATHY & ENGAGEMENT ACROSS THE WHOLE ORGANISATION.

ISSUES ALERT!

• Process of change management and innovation must survive many ‘down-stream’ decisions e.g. programmers,

audience / community experience experts, team leaders, managers, art workers, artists and suppliers;

• Each decision creates an opportunity for an idea to be hijacked by other functions & priorities;

• Strong tendency to navigate the process between safe incremental change rather than risk-taking & radical

innovation;

• Typical thinking: use existing programs & processes to make such programs a little improved and faster/easier to

implement;

• Programmers who want their ideas to remain as originally conceived need to consistently empathise and engage with

key drivers / decision-makers from other areas throughout process;

• Programming design-thinkers need to also win support of art workers, artists, suppliers – in order for new

programming, however convincing, to survive and thrive.

THE ‘D-T FRAMEWORK’ COULD HELP VISUALISE THE FUTURE – ‘REFRAME’ THE PROBLEM AND THE CONVERSATION:

• Managers are trained to draw on the past (& present) to forecast the future, especially

budgets;

• Programming Design-Thinkers need to embrace more of a managerial mind-set to persuade

decision-makers to take a chance on more innovative visions of the future;

• Visualisation is a powerful tool for bridging the two ways of thinking and getting doubters to

support new ideas;

• Innovation – all seem interested but resist change when getting down to details;

• Reframe the conversation e.g. develop ‘pilot programs’ to test & evaluate to shift perceptions

– find common arts and culture language (internally).

THE ‘D-T’ FRAMEWORK HELPS FACILITATE EXPERIMENTATION IN THE ‘COMMUNITY’ MARKETPLACE:

• Programmers need to also experiment and refine their ideas in the community ‘marketplace’,

evaluate, share and use ‘market’ data to build support;

• Programmers’ priorities includes high quality, broad and deep engagement, delivery on

Corporate Vision, Mission and Goals & Program / Project Plan;

• Experimentation, evaluation, data-sharing supports forward-looking programming research &

development = easier to secure funding for long-term programming initiatives (internal and

external);

• Need substantial investment by organisation in ‘deep-future thinking’;

• Identification of ‘Measures of Success’ (accountability, standard and unique).

THE ‘D-T’ FRAMEWORK HELPS TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE, FLEXIBLE ORGANISATION (& VENUES):

• Programming design philosophy & principles must be visualised through clear organisational structure &

processes - and importantly, a new personnel policy;

• Programming design collective should include people who understand not only arts & culture but also

from other sectors e.g. social sciences, ethnography, engineering, urban planning and management;

• A strategic review can establish a overarching programming group, known as a ‘Corporate Design

Centre’ that plans for the organisation’s future & leads the way in maintaining emphasis on programming

design thinking – this includes Senior Executives & Councillors;

• Programming design-thinking will need to constantly review a) programming processes; b) internal

cultures; c) decision-making processes; d) communications tools; e) strategies.

‘PROGRAMMING’ DESIGN-THINKING FRAMEWORK? HOW DOES IT WORK?

IT COMPRISES 3 ‘IN TANDEM’ ELEMENTS: ‘CREATIVE SUITE’; ‘COMBINATION’ (PARTS A & B);

‘CORPORATE PROGRAMMING CENTRE’(CPC)

‘CREATIVE SUITE (C-SUITE)’

PROGRAMMERS IN BUSINESS UNITS

(Community Facilities)

LINE-UP PROGRAMMING

(12 months out)

Programmers in business units

creatively shape the organisation’s

offerings linked to Vision

‘COMBINATION’ (PART A)

BUSINESS UNITS + CORPORATE

PROGRAMMERS

ARCHETYPE PROGRAMMING

(18-24 months out)

Programmers in Business Units, with

help of the CPC, create program and

engagement platform archetypes

“COMBINATION” (PART B)

NEXT GENERATION PROGRAMMING

(2-5 years out)

Programmers in CPC, in collaboration

with C-Suite Business Units’

programmers, help Senior Managers

shape the organisation’s near-term

future

‘PROGRAMMING DESIGN-THINKING’ FRAMEWORK CONTD

CORPORATE PROGRAMMING CENTRE

(CPC)

FUTURE PROGRAMMING

(5-10 years out)

Programmers in the CPC (Senior Executives

/CEO/Councillors) help the ‘C-Suite’ visualise the

organisation’s distant future

← 4 DISTINCT TIME HORIZONS EXIST

SIMULTANEOUSLY FOR PROGRAMMING i.e. 12 months;

18-24 months; 2-5 yrs; 5-10 yrs.→

• This Programming Design-Thinking

Framework has been adapted from ‘Exhibit:

Design for the near and distant future

outlined by Youngjin Yoo & Kyungmook Kim

in How Samsung Became a Design

Powerhouse in Harvard Business Review

September 2015 pp73-78

THE REIMAGINED ‘TRINITY’ RELATIONSHIP OF ‘COMMUNITY’ MUSEUM, LIBRARY & ARTS CENTRE

(A POTENTIAL ‘C-SUITE’ OF BUSINESS UNITS)

“People will support what they have helped to create” (Te Papa Museum NZ)

MUSEUM: Signature Events & Staff ‘drivers’ identified: International Museum Day / Heritage Week + Heritage &

Contemporary Exhibitions / Living Museum events / Public Programs – research, evaluation, trends, data share and support

roles for Library and Arts Centre programs as agreed;

LIBRARY: Signature Events & Staff ‘drivers’ identified: Literature Festival / Children’s Book Week + Oral Histories People &

Places (development of program & project ideas) / Boutique Exhibitions / Public Programs / Satellite events – research,

evaluation, trends, data share and support roles for Museum and Arts Centre with their programs as agreed;

ARTS CENTRE: Signature Events & Staff ‘drivers’ identified: Annual Children’s Festival / Annual Multicultural Festival + Artist

Community Consultations (Ethical Practice) / Project Development – Theatre; Cinema Screenings (contemporary & historical);

Public Programs – research, evaluation, trends, data share and support roles for Library and Museum with their programs as

agreed;

Other Internal Partnerships: Community Centres / Recreation & Leisure Centres / Child Care Centres / Tourism / Marketing &

Promotion – trends, data share and work with Library, Museum and Arts Centre.

IN SUMMATION, AN INFORMED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY MUSEUM,

LIBRARY AND ARTS CENTRE MUST CONSIDER:

•PERSONNEL RECRUITMENT (FUTURE) + EXISTING STAFF (CHANGE

MANAGEMENT / TRAINING)

•SUITE OF 3 PROGRAMMING TOOLS: 1) Programming Design-Thinking

Framework (360⁰ / Power of 3); 2) Project Scoping Template (before, during, after); 3) Placemaking

Framework (Power of 10; 11 Principles)

• PARTNERSHIPS (Internal + Integrated / Refresh + Build)

A REIMAGINED ‘TRINITY’ RELATIONSHIP = A ‘PROGRAMMING POWERHOUSE’!

“What makes a successful organisation?

Organisations that have repositioned to attract

a broader (& deeper) audience are exciting to

engage with – as a staff member, as an

audience member, as whoever. Your experience

is that your product gains new life, vibrancy and

meaning.” Morton & Smythe, Not For The Likes of You

Report, Arts Council of England 2004

A Design-Thinking process offers

Local Government and its facilities, a

potential repositioning framework

for innovative, effective and

sustainable programming!

41ST STPA CONFERENCE (AUSTRALIA) SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER 2015 - PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 5:

“PARTICIPATION, AUDIENCE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT”

REIMAGINING THE ‘TRINITY’!

Presentation by Anna Grega

MA (UNSW) BA (UQ) ADCA (QUT)

Arts Researcher / Consultant / Creative Broker

(Australia / Slovakia / USA / Scotland)

e: annagrega@yahoo.com.au

t: @annagregarious