ROMANIA     2005  

Sinaia

Managing for Money Seminar
January 14-17, 2005

Consultants: Laura Longley, and Jillian Poole

Laura Longley, arts marketing consultant, and Jillian Poole, president of The Fund, led a four-day seminar in Sinaia, Romania for theatre directors. The purpose of the seminar was to share knowledge of Western theater managing and marketing practices for the purpose of sustaining and growing theater audiences in Romania and, therefore, increasing their earned and contributed income in a market-based economy. The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, which made possible the participation of the Romanian theater directors, and the U.S. State Department, which provided transportation and per diem costs for Fund consultants, provided arrangements and funding for the seminar.

For Romania’s theaters, life has gone on much as it did under the Ceausescu dictatorship, with the government-national, county, or city-covering not only the building and general operating costs of the theaters, but also the salaries of large numbers of entrenched employees. While theatre directors may seem interested in selling more tickets in order to have larger audiences attend their programming, they have no incentive to market or raise private funds: the government picks up the tab for their artistic product.

As the seminar began the majority of attendees indicated they would like a better grasp of marketing, audience building, and grant writing. Based on Ms. Poole and Ms. Longley’s experience with both marketing and fund raising, they believed it was essential that the theater directors learn the fundamental concept of “mission” and how mission shapes and informs all marketing and fund raising.

The seminar’s second day began with a mission-writing exercise. While several theater directors resorted to the historical/anecdotal approach, the majority demonstrated a good grasp of the concept. Each team read their mission statements for the overall group. During the next session entitled “Giving Your Mission Legs and Wings,” ways in which mission shapes management, including administration, operations, programming and production, finance, marketing, and fund raising were explored.

The afternoon session was devoted to exploring the web sites of a number of diverse U.S. theaters, each one stating its mission and demonstrating the connection between mission and marketing/fund raising messages and strategies. The theaters were located in cities of sizes comparable to those of most of the attending Romanian theaters, such as the Pittsburgh Public Theater. After the theater web site session, Ms. Longley talked about marketing festivals, focusing on the promotional materials of Charleston’s Spoleto Festival and the annual reports of the Edinburgh Festival which demonstrate in pie charts the extent to which a major festival (or any major theater enterprise) goes to measure the key factors that contribute to earned income, contributed income, and artistic viability.

On the third day Ms. Poole devoted the morning of the seminar to the fundamentals of fund raising in a session entitled “Creating and Building Partnerships.” She reinforced the message that fund raising is not about money; it is about people and relationships.

During the final session Ms. Longley demonstrated the elements of developing a season campaign for a fictitious entity, “The Neighborhood Theater,” with the mission-based tagline of “The family theater serving our growing community.” Ms. Poole and Ms. Longley emphasized the importance of brand identity and repetition, integrating “earned media” (PR) with “paid media” campaigns, and the use of the Internet as fundamental to today’s communications (if not yet to ticket sales in Romania, although that will come).

As the seminar drew to a close, participants and seminar leaders alike realized that all of the lessons will have real value to these theater directors only when they are no longer able to operate as a purely artistically driven sector of the economy, paid for by a gov- ernment that requires only 40% of capacity audiences. At present a theater director has no need to announce a season in advance because there is no need to ensure the largest number of tickets sold, either in advance, or day of performance. He does not need to develop a “track record” of box office as well as artistic success in order to convince funders that he is meeting the needs of audiences and therefore he has no real reason to “market’ his theater. He might just as well continue to “announce” performances a day or two in advance, put up posters, give out flyers, run the week’s schedule in the newspaper, and hope for at least 40% turnout.

---

 

Bucharest

Do Museums Still Matter? Making the Case, Finding the Ways
Regional Museum Conference
June 22–25, 2005

Consultants: Marc Pachter, Graham Beal, Miguel E. Fernandez Felix, Patrick Gallagher, Dr. Klaus Müller, Paul Elicker, and Jillian Poole

The Fund, the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, the Romanian Ministry of Culture, and the National Village Museum (Bucharest), presented a four-day regional museum conference in Bucharest, Romania from June 22-25. Seventy-two museum representatives from thirteen countries participated in “Do Museums Still Matter? Making the Case, Finding the Ways”.

The regional conference was designed by The Fund and made possible with financial support from the Getty Grant Program, the U.S. Embassy and the Department of State. It was a first and vital step in offering joint help to cultural institutions in the former Yugoslav countries, Albania, and others in the Balkan region develop in ways that will strengthen these institutions in their efforts to serve their civil societies. To meet this goal, the conference was designed to help participants become aware of ways in which international best practices can address their basic needs and to explore as a group what their future possibilities can be and ways in which they can work together to achieve these. It was hoped that the very process of this exploration might also serve to mitigate some of the barriers created by years of war and hatred.

Marc Pachter, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., assembled a distinguished faculty, all leaders in their profession, excellent communicators, and with a variety of experience and information to share. Faculty members included Graham Beal, director, Detroit Institute of Arts; Miguel E. Fernandez Felix, director, Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Mexico City, who has been deeply involved in the recent development of Mexico’s museums; Patrick Gallagher, distinguished museum designer and principal of Gallagher Design; Klaus Müller, a museum and web consultant, and Jillian Poole, president, of The Fund. The Fund’s chairman, Paul Elicker, also attended.

Conference participants came from: Albania (seven participants), Bosnia and Herzegovina (three), Bulgaria (two), Croatia (four), Georgia (one), Kosovo (two), Macedonia (one), Moldova (five), Poland (three), Romania (forty-one), Serbia and Montenegro (nine), the Slovak Republic (three), and Slovenia (two).

Funding from the Getty Foundation supported The Fund’s expenses, those of four faculty members and all expenses of six participants. Other participants were selected and supported by U.S. Embassies in their countries and others by their own government sources. Participants stayed at the Hotel Caro and thus interacted during coffee breaks, lunches, dinners, and in four discussion groups that met three times. During the discussion groups, they were asked to consider what they heard in the sessions, what it meant to them, and how they could apply this information. Each participant also received a copy of “Managing for Money” in English or Romanian.

The State Secretary for Culture, Virgil Nitulescu, opened the conference. A keynote address by Marc Pachter “Do Museums Still Matter?” reviewed the historical role of museums and how this has evolved today internationally. He argued that museums today must become more entrepreneurial, pay attention to new audiences, and offer a basic value to the community.

During the afternoon session, Graham Beal discussed effective ways to communicate within the museum and techniques essential to involving the public and the role of volunteers in a presentation entitled “Consulting with Your Community”. Discussion groups followed, each led by a faculty member.

The second day began with “Developing a Museum in a Developing Economy: The Mexican Experience and One Museum’s Story”, a power point presentation by Miguel Fernandez Felix. He discussed his museum’s challenges; the strong role of staff in leadership of the museum; communicating effectively with his staff, with the public, and with the visitor; ways of soliciting public response and weighing how guided you should be by that response; and ways to engage the public on your team.

Klaus Mueller began the afternoon with “Making a Wider Case: Expanding Your Horizons into Cyberspace”. Dr. Mueller discussed national and international options and uses of digitalization and websites. He stressed that databases alone do not advance understanding and described options that museums can use to create informative and useful virtual spaces. The faculty and conference participants then went to the National Village Museum, where they listened to a presentation on documentation by the Montenegro Museum, and one on the Village Museum’s work in this area. Participants then toured the museum preserve and craft shop, and dined at the Village Museum Historic Inn.

The third day began with Patrick Gallagher discussing “Expanding the Case: Creating Exhibitions”. He reviewed ways of getting to know your visitor and understanding their expectations, how a good staff facilitates a good exhibition, the necessity of a mission statement, the process of creating a new exhibition, and how to evaluate the exhibition. The day ended with more discussion groups.

On the fourth day, Jillian Poole discussed fundraising, stressing ways to get started and ways to involve the community in that process.

The conference concluded with reports from the discussion groups and a spontaneous and valuable discussion between two faculty members. Dr. Mueller and Mr. Gallagher treated participants to an informative exchange on developing a proposed exhibition in the Netherlands. Dr. Mueller described his plans as Mr. Gallagher offered critiques and suggestions on its development. Participants were able to observe the genesis of an exhibition and to ask questions about it.

Remarks made during reports of the discussion groups and in post-conference evaluations, indicated participants overwhelmingly found the conference a success in terms of presenting new ideas. Many plan to implement some of the suggestions made over the next few years and would like to see this conference evolve into a regular occurrence. Participants especially enjoyed the group discussions, coffee breaks interchanges, and trip to the local museum. Some would like to foster regional networks in order to continue to share ideas.

Special thanks to the Getty Foundation for making much of this conference possible through their generous financial support, and to our friends at Burson-Marsteller in NYC who made a number of press contacts/enquiries on behalf of The Fund. Conference participants came from: Albania (seven participants), Bosnia and Herzegovina (three), Bulgaria (two), Croatia (four), Georgia (one), Kosovo (two), Macedonia (one), Moldova (five), Poland (three), Romania (forty-one), Serbia and Montenegro (nine), the Slovak Republic (three), and Slovenia (two). Detailed participant list.

Funding from the Getty Foundation supported The Fund’s expenses, those of four faculty members and all expenses of six of these participants. Other participants were selected and supported by U.S. Embassies in their countries and others by their own government sources. Participants all stayed at the Hotel Caro and thus interacted during coffee breaks, lunches, dinners, and in four discussion groups that met three times. During the discussion groups, they were asked to consider what they heard in the sessions, what it meant to them, and how they could apply this information. Each participant also received a copy of “Managing for Money” in English or Romanian.

The conference began on June 22 with introductory remarks and a keynote address given by Marc Pachter entitled “Do Museums Still Matter?” Dr. Pachter discussed the historical role of museums and how this has evolved today internationally. He argued that museums today must become more entrepreneurial, pay attention to new audiences, and offer a basic value to the community.

During the afternoon session, Graham Beal discussed effective ways to communicate within the museum and techniques essential to involving the public and the role of volunteers in a presentation entitled “Consulting with Your Community”. Discussion groups followed, each led by a faculty member

The second day began with “Developing a Museum in a Developing Economy: The Mexican Experience and One Museum’s Story”, a power point presentation by Miguel Fernandez Felix. He discussed his museum's challenges; the strong role of staff in leadership of the museum; communicating effectively with his staff, with the public, and with the visitor; ways of soliciting public response and weighing how guided you should be by that response; and how the public is a team member from the outset.

Klaus Mueller began the afternoon with “Making a Wider Case: Expanding Your Horizons into Cyberspace”. Dr. Mueller discussed national and international options and uses of digitalization and websites. He stressed that data bases do not advance understanding and described options that museums can use to create informative and useful virtual spaces. The faculty and conference participants then went to the National Village Museum, where they listened to a presentation on documentation by the Montenegro Museum on their documentation work, and one on the Village Museum’s work in this area. Participants then toured the museum preserve and craft shop, and dined at the Village Museum Historic Inn.

The third day of the conference began with an extensive talk led by Patrick Gallagher entitled “Expanding the Case: Creating Exhibitions”. He discussed getting to know your visitor and their expectations, how a good staff facilitates a good exhibition, the necessity of a mission statement, the process of creating a new exhibition, and how to evaluate the exhibition. The day ended with more discussion groups.

On the fourth day, Jillian Poole discussed fundraising, stressing ways to get started and ways to involve the community in that process.

The conference concluded with reports from the discussion groups and a spontaneous and valuable discussion between two faculty members. Dr. Mueller and Mr. Gallagher treated participants to an informative exchange in which they discussed developing an exhibition in the Netherlands. Dr. Mueller described his plans as Mr. Gallagher offered critiques and suggestions on its development. Participants were able to observe the genesis of an exhibition and to ask questions about it.

Remarks made during reports of the discussion groups and in post-conference evaluations, indicated participants overwhelmingly found the conference a success. Many plan to implement some of the suggestions made during the conference over the next few years and would like to see this conference evolve into a regular occurrence. Participants especially enjoyed the group discussions, coffee breaks interchanges, and trip to the local museum. Some would like to foster regional networks in order to continue to share ideas.

Special thanks to the Getty Foundation who made much of this conference possible through their generous financial support and to our friends at Burson-Marsteller in NYC who made a number of press contacts/enquiries on behalf of The Fund.

---

 

Bucharest

Second Annual Regional Museum Conference Planning Meeting
November 13-16, 2005

Consultant: Jillian Poole

Jillian Poole met with Virgil Nitulescu, State Secretary for Culture; Mircea Victor Angelescu, director at the Ministry of Culture; Mark Wentworth, political affairs officer oft the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, and Kathleen Kavalec, cultural affairs officer, to plan for the Second Annual Regional Museum Conference 2006. It will be held September 13 and 14 in Bucharest and September 15 and 16 in Brosov. The working title of the conference is “Our Museum, Our Community: Our Partnership”; it will be organized by The Ministry of Culture of Romania, and The Fund and The National Village Museum, Bucharest. The Embassy of the United States of America, Romania will be a sponsor.

Participants will be invited from medium-size regional museums in Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Georgia, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia. Participants’ travel expenses to the conference will be covered by their institutions, their ministry, the U.S Embassy in their country, or other local or Romanian sources.

The faculty will be selected and their expenses paid by The Fund. Faculty will be supplemented by one-hour presentation and discussion sessions to be led by four Romanian museum experts.