These are troubling times for arts organizations. On May 18, the Arsht Center & the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation partnered to tackle the issue head-on in a one-day seminar Boldly Go. Arsht Center membership director Esther Park reports from the field…

To boldly go … where no arts organization has gone before. And off they went.

On Tuesday, May 18th, more than 200 arts professionals from various non-profits throughout South Florida came to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County for an intense one-day seminar entitled Boldly Go.  The seminar, which was generously sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, boasted a heavyweight line-up of speakers that faithfully answered the question, “How does an arts organization be bold in the new era of non profits?” With the current climate of recession, cut-backs and general doom-and-gloom, arts organizations everywhere have been faced with the inevitable struggle of survival.  Yet in a time of intimidation and fear, Boldly Go‘s mission was to ease the tension a bit, provide some practical tools for success, all the while instill a dash of boldness to everyone in attendance.

The morning roster included featured keynote speaker legendary Broadway producer Margo Lion, marketing guru Neill Roan of The Roan Group, digital maven Richard Mintz of Blue State Digital, University of Miami President Donna Shalala, University of Miami’s VP of advancement Sergio Gonzalez and the Knight Foundation’s vice president of the arts Dennis Scholl.

“Stop trying to survive, rather strive for success!” stated Margo Lion – an idea that essentially rang throughout her morning keynote address. “Life is nothing without taking risks,” she claimed, openly sharing some of her risky examples from her 30 plus year career and why being bold was not a luxury but a necessity in her world of theater. Bold was definitely the zeitgeist of the day, if not the year … being bold in fundraising, in programming, in outreach.

A highlight of the seminar came from the last session conducted by Dennis Scholl. Titled This is Miami: A Community Conversation, the seminar was a heartfelt hard-look at how arts and culture are experienced by regular people in their everyday lives.  The session was started with a man-on-the-street video featuring a collection of clips from random Miami residents that answered the simple question, “What did you do last week?”  Some answers were right on, others weren’t but all of them were honest.  The conclusion to this video experiment was that not many Miamians are exposed to the arts on a day-to-day but most, if not all, value the arts and whatever form of arts activity they did experience, it left a lasting impression.  Regardless if John Doe knows how to even pronounce “Arsht Center”, we were proud to note that he did come and see Carmen there.  And it was these examples that triggered a true community conversation within the 200+ audience.  Finally, a meaningful dialogue amongst the various Miami arts organization was sparked as they shared their frustrations and their achievements amongst one another.  It was a conversation worth noting and continuing for days to come.

In all, Boldy Go was just the beginning.  This one-day seminar became a starting point for the incredible future and its potential in the Miami arts community.   With everyone’s participation, it’s obvious that we all need to work together in furthering the cultural landscape of this city.  Everyone left the Arsht Center fully equipped with more confidence, more knowledge and definitely more boldness.   Until next year, we’ll keep striving for success in the year two-thousand and bold.