GEORGIA     2003

Tbilisi

Arts Management Professional Development Program – April 12-19, 2003

Seminar Leaders: Jerrold Kappel, Christopher Stager

At the invitation of the Georgian Association of Professional Musicians (AISI), The Fund presented its third seminar in Georgia, this one in the capitol city of Tbilisi. From April 15 to 18, 2003 Jerrold Kappel, Director of Development of the American Association of Museums; and Christopher Stager, consultant in marketing and audience development for major orchestras in the U.S. led some 40 managers from Georgia’s performing and visual arts community in exploring ways to develop each participant’s personal performance responsibility within their organization. More than half of the participants had participated in earlier Fund seminars in Georgia.

Under the rubric “Building Partnerships – Building Audience,” topics covered included overviews of the U.S. performing arts, museum, and historic site sectors. The workshop was prominently featured on television and in the Georgian press.

An integral part of the workshop was to establish benchmarks for future progress including advancing final programs through Parliamentary channels. Zviad Mchedlishvili of the Ministry of Culture was designated to galvanize a subcommittee of the Georgia Association of Cultural Managers to implement activities developed and agreed upon during the seminar. A timetable to execute benchmarks and action steps is now in place for the participants goals which are:

1.   To step up the skill level of the staff, create a network of friendly organizations, and establish two groups: within AISI, one for public relations and the other to attract finances.

2.   To analyze and understand the association’s structural weaknesses and to improve them.

3.   To inform and interest the public in the work and problems of the performing arts in Georgia through effective involvement of the mass media.

4.   Upon completion of this phase, The Fund could be expected to return to Tiblisi to encourage and assist in implementation of this cooperative program. Messrs Kappel and Stager will continue to provide professional counsel and assistance in keeping the effort moving.

Maintaining and preserving Georgian culture was a recurring theme of the participants, expressed with great emotion in nearly every discussion and exercise. There is a very real fear that Georgia’s weak economy is driving its finest artists to more lucrative opportunities in Europe and America. One participant equated the exodus of Georgia’s artists as losing the very best soldiers in the battle against the western “pseudo-culture” that is steadily insinuating itself within Georgia. There was concern, too, that Georgia’s very artifacts are in jeopardy of leaving the country via the black market.

The group developed a list of key questions the answers to which they felt were critical to strengthening the cultural environment in Georgia. The top five of these were:

1.   What can cultural organizations do to preserve the cultural living heritage of Georgia?

2.   How do we build financial stability?

3.   How do we build champions for arts and culture among government, industry and general society?

4.   How do we build management capacity to empower our staffs and make our organizations more accountable to the community?

5.   What are our needs in market research and how do we obtain the data we need?

Each of these issues was addressed in detail by the seminar leaders and selected participants who later met with officials from the Ministry of Culture and, separately, with the Chairman of the Committee for Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Parliament. One outgrowth of these discussions concerned funding. The government position was that it was already stretched too thin to provide needed additional financial support for the arts. The participants, mostly managers of Georgia’s arts organizations, responded that they were willing to assume greater personal responsibility to raise it themselves if they had the freedom to set pricing policy and more flexibility in hiring practices. The Chairman, Nodar Amaglobeli, said he would be willing to consider changes in the country’s cultural policy legislation to allow Georgia’s arts organization greater responsibility and accountability.

The participants’ follow-up report to The Fund elucidated the structures and programs that the participants are attempting to develop as they refine in their efforts toward developing collaborations to work towards a common goal. The presenters believe this update on institutional collaborations should send a strong message to cultural ministries about the spirit and determination of the group to build on each other’s strengths and, not incidentally, to rely on the ministries less.

 

Future Activities

At the strong urging of the organizers of the seminar and members of the Confederation, The Fund and Jerold Kappel have agreed to return to Georgia in the first part of 2004 to further guide, assist and encourage the members of this new Confederation.. There is a further possibility that during this visit he can assist in the formation of a group to plan and organize a Festival proposed for the summer of 2005, “From America with Love.” It will be necessary to implement many of the practices The Fund has been reviewing in order for this proposed Festival to be successfully realized. Further, in late 2004 or early 2005 The Fund has been requested to send another person to assist in laying the groundwork for this major event.

These activities will enable The Fund to practice what is outlined in “Rethinking our Mission” – see the Chairman’s message earlier in this report.

Note: It should be noted that, as of the end of the year, it was not yet clear what, if any, effect the political upheaval that began late in the year will have on AISI or other parts of the cultural community in Georgia

“You can not imagine how big your help is and how useful are all the Seminars for our future development" – a seminar participant. Directed to The Fund by an official of the U.S. Embassy