2018 AAAE Conference

Red Pill/Blue Pill: Effective Data Driven Decision Making
Drew McManus
Cece Dadisman
Organizations that successfully cultivate a data-driven culture reap a multitude of benefits, from better stakeholder understanding of decision making application to an ongoing commitment to measuring both static and dynamic outcomes.

Nonprofit performing arts organizations are doing a better job at collecting lots and lots of data. However, creating a culture where decisions move beyond gut instinct are fraught with challenges. Not the least of which is inadvertently fostering mission oriented outcome bias. While this session will help attendees better understand tools and techniques, it also focuses on fostering a healthy transitional environment composed of numerous, influential stakeholders.

Session topics include:
1 )Owning analytics.
2) Proactive (Red Pill) vs. Reactive (Blue Pill) analysis.
3) Empowering your team members with analysis.
4)" Reporting vs. Analysis.
5) Depersonalizing mission driven decision making.
6) Owning outcomes.

Finding relevance – special events and connecting with your community
Tina Newhauser
Connecting to your community is crucial for the survival of any arts organization but finding true relevance with your audience is important not only for the nonprofit arts community but for the local community as a whole.  This research looks at the impact special events have on the midsize, Midwestern, capital city of Lansing, MI.  How do the local Lansing arts and cultural organizations, through hosting special events, connect to their audience, build new audiences, and become an integral part of the fabric of their communities?  Does the execution of special events build deeper relationship between artist and community?  We looked at two case studies to determine the relevance and importance of special events as they relate to artist, the nonprofit arts organization, and the local community. Should the return on investment for these special events be economic or financial impact or community engagement; how do they find relevance with a new audience?