Michael Kaiser's 10 Commandments

Michael Kaiser, CEO of the Kennedy Center and author of The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations, has been travelling the country, speaking in all 50 states about how non-profit arts organizations can weather the current economic downturn. On June 10 he came to Connecticut; I attended his New Haven session at the Yale Art Gallery. About 150 people from area arts organizations attended – he gave another session in Hartford in the afternoon. Both sessions were moderated by Diane Smith, a well-known CT television and radio journalist.
Michael presented his ten commandments of how to create and maintain a healthy arts organization. I have written a detailed account of his presentation, including questions posed by Diane Smith and by audience members; you can access this article on the Polyphonic home page or click here.
To summarize, the 10 commandments are:

1. The organization must have a leader – one person needs to be in charge.
2. The leader must have a plan, and the plan must relate to the cycle of healthy arts organizations.
3. You can’t save your way to health; you can’t get healthy by cutting programs.
4. Focus on today and tomorrow, not yesterday. Don’t relive past problems.
5. Extend the artistic planning calendar from 6 to 18 months to 3, 4, or 5 years.
6. Marketing is more than brochures, ads, and email blasts. Institutional marketing is essential.
7. The organization must have one spokesperson and the message must be positive.
8. When you’re about to go bankrupt, you can’t focus on the $50 donor.
9. The board must be willing to restructure itself.
10. You must have the discipline to do the first 9 rules, and keep doing them.

He also has an 11^th rule – seek joint ventures with other organizations. His website, artsmanager.org, has a wide variety of information, including several videos and a free book on strategic planning.