Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Most arts institutions operate using constantly stretched resources and consequently struggle to implement truly new ideas. At the same time, however, the capacity of American arts organizations to innovate—to find new pathways to mission fulfillment that are discontinuous from previous practice and that result from shifts in underlying organizational assumptions—is and will be a leading indicator of sustained marketplace success and viability.
Generously supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF), the Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts was created by EmcArts in 2008 with producing and presenting organizations in theatre, dance, and jazz in mind, to help them design and prototype innovative strategies that address major opportunities and challenges.
"The program provides a needed antidote to the general trend of throwing resources, time and energy toward flavor-of-the-month initiatives that seem attractive in turbulent times."
|
The Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts was designed to serve as a catalyst for the journey to these new pathways: to help arts organizations challenge core operating assumptions, engage in intense planning on a practical innovation project, create a sense of organization-wide investment in change, and test innovative strategies with grants that help organizations prototype new practices.
Originally launched in 2008 with a DDCF grant of $1.5 million, the Lab helps teams from eligible organizations design and prototype new ideas and to launch real-life projects that address major challenges facing the arts and culture sector today. Delivered in three phases over a 12-month period, the Innovation Lab provides a strong framework within which new strategies can be explored and prototyped in relatively low-stakes environments before a full launch:
In Phase 1, EmcArts works with participating Lab organizations identify a cross-constituent Innovation Team to plan, experiment, and implement their innovation within one year’s time
In Phase 2, these teams participate in a five-day Intensive retreat designed to accelerate their projects and network with other organizations working on their own innovation projects.
In Phase 3, EmcArts provides participating organizations with ongoing facilitation support throughout the program and seed grant money to prototype and evaluate their innovative strategy before the final roll-out.
Organizations are selected to participate in the Innovation Lab via a competitive Request-for-Proposals process. To date, 12 organizations have participated in Rounds 1-3 of the Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts. These organizations represent a range of disciplines and launching a variety of innovative initiatives in community engagement, uses of technology, collaborative programming and strategic alliances, among others.
Round 1
The Civilians, New York
Creating an interactive performance series, with continuous input from community members
MAPP International Productions, New York
The Cultural Investor Program: Building cultural investors through direct on/off-line artist engagement as a new process oriented patronage system
Roadside Theater (Appalshop), Whitesburg, KY
Developing an interactive web presence to expand participation in Thousand Kites and other programs
STREB Lab for Action Mechanics, Brooklyn, NY
New participation program aimed at area teens, with re-alignment of organizational structure
Round 2
Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis, MN
Kidcentricity: Piloting an observer-to-participant initiative that shifts artistic and administrative practice toward putting kids at the center of the organization and its actions
HERE Arts Center, New York
HERE On-Demand: A public engagement strategy with resident artists, including artist training
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR
Online production integration and archiving via interactive workspaces accessible worldwide
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
The Immersive Visitor Experience: Reconfiguring programs, spaces and work norms to enable new forms of participation
Round 3
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, with Dance Theater Workshop, New York, NY
Organizational restructuring of these two leading organizations in dance, to create a new model
COCA—Center of Creative Arts, St. Louis, MO
COCAbiz: Artist-led professional development courses for business professionals using COCA’s teaching/learning practice
Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Silver Spring, MD
Developing new structures to ensure the legacy of Liz Lerman’s work while allowing her company to make work after she departs
University Musical Society (UMS), Ann Arbor, MI
The Lobby Project (People Are Talking): A comprehensive public engagement strategy linking physical spaces, programs, and a living archive with online participation
Round 4 (starting in Summer 2010)
Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver, CO
Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington, D.C.
The Wooster Group, New York, NY
