Reshaping Arts Plan NJ (2004-'05)

While we have made much progress towards the goals of Arts Plan NJ, the world has changed greatly in the last seven years. The events of 9/11 have changed consumer behaviors. Technology has advanced far more rapidly than we can keep pace. Resources have shifted. Mergers and acquisitions have altered philanthropic giving. For an "evergreen" plan such as Arts Plan NJ to remain "green", it must be examined periodically in the context of the moment to understand what is still relevant and what must be added or changed in order to know where the new opportunities for advancement are and who else needs to be heard, welcomed and involved in the arts.

The Planning Process

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, along with the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New Jersey Network Foundation, the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, and the ArtPRIDE New Jersey Foundation, has initiated, with the support and endorsement of the Governor, a collaborative statewide strategic planning process for the arts that will produce:

1. 1. A statewide Conference on the Arts, April 7th and 8th, 2005.

1. 2. A refreshed Arts Plan NJ by winter of '06 (the plan for the whole state).

1. 3. A new Arts Council strategic long-range plan by summer 2006.

The goals of the planning process are:

1. 1. Achieve consensus on the goals and objectives of Arts Plan NJ II.

1. 2. Create effective implementation strategies.

1. 3. Reveal new ways for the arts to enhance quality of life.

1. 4. Develop new partnerships between the arts and other sectors.

1. 5. Involve a broad base of New Jerseyans in the planning and implementation processes.

1. 6. Provide a context for the development of strategic plans for all sectors.

1. 7. Develop wider support for the arts.

Five theme areas in which to explore what the arts mean to our lives and how they can improve the quality of life this state have been determined:

1. 1. Arts Education

1. 2. Artists' Services

1. 3. Cultural Participation and Access

1. 4. Economic and Community Development through the Arts

1. 5. Technology and the Arts

Nearly 300 persons from all walks of life have been identified and engaged in Theme Teams for those explorations, each with a working group of 10-12 persons, all of whom had been invited to this process by the Governor. Each working group convened via Spiderphone.com conference calling up to five times before the statewide conference. Each team developed a consensus report that was delivered to the conference built around answering the following questions:

1. 1. Consensus on goals and strategies of Arts Plan NJ - What still holds true? What does not? What is new that needs to be captured?

1. 2. Identify five top objectives and strategies needed to meet the goals as it relates to this theme.

1. 3. What are the resources needed?

1. 4. Who needs to be involved?

1. 5. What partnerships need to be cultivated?

1. 6. What does the arts community need to learn to participate in these strategies?

1. 7. What is the public value created through these goals? How can we create public value, demonstrate it, measure it and effectively speak about it?

1. 8. How do we inform and involve stakeholders?

1. 9. For each strategy, what tools can we give to stakeholders to begin implementation?

The larger Theme Teams served as a resource to the working groups for such things as surveying and gathering opinion, specific areas of expertise needed to answer key questions and as a source for more ideas and examples of effective work.

Because the five teams collectively showed an array of possibilities, and because the non-profit arts industry already faces many distinctive challenges, a sixth theme team was formed and charged with helping us understand what the New Jersey arts community/infrastructure of tomorrow may need to look like if it is to meet both the challenges of today and their current mission, as well as create its maximum public value to the people of New Jersey. What do the boards and staffs of tomorrow need to be? What skills will they need? What about the financial underpinnings and size and sources of operating revenues? What important partnerships will need to be strengthened or forged? What should happen first? Which issue poses the greatest threat to long-term viability or the greatest opportunity for growth? Where are the voids? Where are the connections to be made?

This sixth working group, composed of persons from both within the New Jersey cultural community and those who may have been examining these kinds of issues theoretically or nationally, helped to provide us with a picture of what a healthy, vibrant, powerful, properly resourced arts community/infrastructure might look like and what it might take to begin to achieve it.

All the theme teams, and many other state leaders, were invited to the Governor's Conference on the Arts: Great Things Begin with Vision, where each team presented a report of findings along with other featured presentations. The goal of the conference, held in Trenton April 7 and 8, at NJN Studios and nearby facilities, was to build consensus around a reshaped, overarching plan for the arts and a better New Jersey through the arts. For highlights from the conference, click here

Following the conference, a draft of the refreshed Arts Plan NJ was unveiled to begin the public vetting process at the Arts Alive Conference, sponsored by the NJ Theatre Alliance, on September 23. The Plan will be widely vetted in regional Town Meetings, with an online survey, focus groups, as well as other convenings in the arts community. Arts Plan NJ will accept public comment up until December 1st before finalization and release by the Governor in early 2006.