Report Title:	Intermediary Profile Report
Report Date:

Organization:	National Arts Strategies	Program ID Number: I-6
Date Profile Created:	December 1, 2005	Date Profile Last Updated: December 13, 2010

Program Summary:
National Arts Strategies (NAS) provides education for leaders of nonprofit arts and culture organizations. It works with faculty from the leading business and graduate schools in the United States to develop and offer courses of varying content and format, specifically for arts and culture audiences. In-person and online programs address the critical challenges facing leaders today, including strategic focus, governance, and managing change in complex environments.

Chief Executive Series™ events are invitation-only residential programs. Each of these executive leadership events targets one critical challenge, and engages top cultural executives with the newest ideas, frameworks, and expertise from across disciplines, industries, and countries. In November 2010, NAS presented Leadership and Convergence: Navigating Radical Change in Arts and Culture in partnership with the Ross School of Business at University of Michigan. This program engaged twenty leaders from the most outstanding arts and culture institutions in the U.S. and abroad to spend three and a half days exploring practical strategies for a world of converging consumer interests, markets and industries.

Seminars in the Business of Arts and Culture™ (BoAC) program take a team-centered approach to learning, filling the classroom with groups of three to six individuals from each organization. Through the support of a national network of funders, NAS currently offers fellowships - covering tuition and travel costs - for all BoAC events. Seminars in this program include themes such as Strategic Marketing, Leading Innovation, and Finance. Using real cases from the arts and the for-profit sector, framework-based analysis and discussion, and immediate applied exercises teams are able to build new organizational capabilities and jump-start important initiatives.

Customized programs addressing a specific community's needs can include peer learning sessions, action learning programs, facilitated leadership retreats, executive coaching, mission and strategy reviews, organizational self-assessment, special topics presentations, and other customized learning opportunities. For example, the Boettcher Cultural Leadership Program, a six-year statewide effort for Colorado's arts and cultural sector, was created in collaboration with the Boettcher Foundation. The foundation invited a select list of arts and cultural leaders from across the state to apply for the latest cohort that began in 2009. The program is designed to create a community of cultural leaders equipped with the knowledge and skills to respond to an ever-changing environment and lead lasting institutions. It includes: (1) events hosted in communities across the state to build relationships among many of Colorado's most effective cultural leaders; (2) a structured curriculum of executive-level seminars designed for the arts that provide the content and challenge of top MBA programs; and (3) coaching, peer learning sessions, and other seminar extensions to help leaders translate new ideas into action.

NAS also offers opportunities for web-based services, through the online program Talk with an Expert. These videoconferences allow participants to ask questions and engage directly with an expert. During the one-hour live discussion, video and audio, text chat, and other features ensure a robust two-way discussion. Each live discussion is anchored by a short recording in which the expert shares concepts, frameworks and strategies relating to a critical organizational issue which teams will have unlimited online access to before the event. The NAS website offers access to video conversations with leaders from the arts and culture field and beyond, as well as a list of articles and publications recommended by NAS staff.

NAS evaluates its own efforts at the end of each service, and annually for the organization as a whole. It uses a combination of methods, including surveys, focus groups, individual interviews, and internal tracking systems.