MTC Memories

May 15, 2020

In this mad world of COVID-19, the companies and people that are amongst the most impacted are those working in the performing arts. Their art form requires contact and their workplaces are theatres were people gather to be close and exercise their emotions. And none of that is currently allowed.

For the first time since its started in the 1950s, Melbourne Theatre Company is presenting a play to an audience. And it probably won’t be able to for months to come. While well funded organisations like the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company can afford to record their productions, that hasn’t been possible for most Australian theatre companies. But like many companies, they are staying in contact with their audiences and sharing theatre stories. MTC has just asked if would be happy for them to share some of my favourite MTC moments and here they are: https://www.mtc.com.au/discover-more/mtc-now-2020/ann-tonks-top-10-mtc-experiences/

I do miss the joy of going to the theatre. The intimacy, the craft, the emotion.

I encourage you to support your favourite local arts company or organisations such as the Victorian Actors Benevolent Trust ( https://vabt.com.au/ ) or its equivalent in your state/country because we want the skills of these artists and storytellers to help us rebuild our communities once the fear is over.

New Edition

April 9, 2020

A new edition of The A to Z of Arts Management has been published by Routledge and is now available in ebook, paperback and hardback form. It was a fascinating process to revisit the first version and update it based on new research, new insights and new experiences. Routledge were wonderful to work with and I’m very broad of the result with a beautiful photo by Benajmin Heally of the interior of the Sumner Theatre on the cover.

For more information about how to buy the book: https://www.routledge.com/The-A-to-Z-of-Arts-Management-Reflections-on-Theory-and-Reality-2nd-Edition/Tonks/p/book/9780367351397

For those of you who are new to the book, its subtitle is “Reflections on Theory and Reality” and although designed as a textbook for arts management students, it has turned out to be of interest to arts practitioners as well as board members and so I’m thrilled that the new edition is available.

The A to Z format enabled me to talk about any topic that I thought might be of interest including the obvious ones such as Leadership and Strategic Planning but also ones that don’t usually appear in Management text books such as Coffee and Passion. I’ve added some extracts from the book on the website so feel free to browse. If there’s a particular topic that you’d like me to upload, feel free to drop me a line.

I did an a talk back on the book and management generally on ABC Local Radio in January 2016 and the podcast is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/overnights/stories/s4395499.htm?site=melbourne

A TO Z COVER

March 8, 2020

Here’s the cover of the new edition of The A to Z of Arts Management. It’s the inside of the John Sumner Theatre at Melbourne Theatre Company’s Southbank Theatre in Melbourne.

New Edition of “The A to Z of Arts Management” now available

March 5, 2020

Exciting news from Routledge publishers – the edition of The A to Z of Arts Management will be published this month. You can buy it a copy in hardback, soft back or an e-copy. https://www.routledge.com/The-A-to-Z-of-Arts-Management-Reflections-on-Theory-and-Reality-2nd-Edition/Tonks/p/book/9780367351397

Cultural Leadership

February 26, 2020

ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE

LUNCH ADDRESS

26 February 2020

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which Arts Centre Melbourne stands, the People of the Kulin Nations, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and to come.

To start our conversation today, I’ve been asked to reflect on what sort of arts leadership we need going forward? And my first thought was is it any different from when I got my first leadership role, running a public broadcasting station in the 1980s?

Although you might expect me to say that there’s a big difference, I don’t think there is. Sure, in those days my portable computer was the size of a sewing machine but the challenge that I faced as a leader was the same as I faced as the locum CEO of Australian Dance Theatre at the end of last year  – the tension between art and money. How to find enough money to enable you to keep creating great art and tell important cultural stories as well as ensuring that the people who work for you can live a decent and healthy life.

There’s never been a lack of creativity in this country. What we lack is the financial resources to facilitate its creation. In under 2 months’ time, for example, 60 small to medium sized arts companies across Australia are going to lose their ongoing Australia Council funding.

So I think the real challenge in 2020 is to stand up and be cultural leaders, not just leaders of arts organisations.

What do I mean? I mean that we have to get out and argue the case for the value of what we do. Cultural leadership is about advocacy for as well as facilitation of cultural activity.

I’ll give you an example from those days of my first leadership role. The radio station was owned by two universities and one decided that the station’s existence wasn’t a priority so the Vice Chancellor decided to withdraw funding. This probably would have meant the closure of the station. But before he could do this, he needed approval from the University Senate and there was a window of 10 days between finding out about his decision and the Senate meeting. 10 days (prior to social media) of talking to the community and getting their support: signatures on petitions; postcards and letters to the Chancellor; phone calls to Senate members; editorials in other media forms. I spent 10 days telling the world how valuable we were and why we deserved to continue. And we won. The Senate refused to defund us. I tuned into that radio station when I was in Perth last week and it’s still providing entertainment and information to the Perth community.

The reason for telling this story is that as arts leaders we need to spend more time advocating to politicians, to public servants, to corporations, to philanthropist, to community groups, to get more money for artistic creation and distribution. We’ve got great artists who can create innovative art and great staff who can do all the operational work but as CEOs and Board members of arts organisations we need to look outwards and put the case for just how important the arts are for Australia.

Our voices can be lost in the media that’s more interested in entertainment or sport; in politics where the arguments can be about the instrumental rather than the intrinsic value of the arts; in the broader community where arts practice can be seen as an indulgence and arts attendance as a middle class or elite pursuit.

‘Leading’ in the arts is not only providing direction and inspiration for the people in our organisations but actually being out in the public domain expressing a belief in the value and benefits of culture. John Tusa, a great UK arts manager, makes the lovely point that being a leader in the arts and cultural world is all about caring without moderation or qualification. Whether its public speeches or private meetings, facebook posts or a compelling twitter feed, each public action we take is a demonstration of that care.

Of course the voice of artists will be heard more loudly than that of managers which is as it should be. Wesley Enoch, the first indigenous artistic director of a major Australian Festival argues that cultural leadership is about (and I quote)  “creating space for the opposing voices, about imagining a future, exploring the repercussions of our values and promulgating public debate through the work we make and the relationships we create.”

I’ve just come back from Perth where a non-indigenous Festival Director, Iain Grandage, gave voice to the local Noongar people and other First Nations artists by dedicating the first week of his Festival to their creativity. At the same time the WA Returned Services League released a statement saying that they were banning the flying of the Aboriginal flag, the use of indigenous languages and Welcome to Country ceremonies at ANZAC and Remembrance Day services. The community response was outrage and within days, they withdrew their decision. I’m sure that the part of that response was because people in Perth had been hearing about or immersing themselves in indigenous culture – hearing Shakespeare in an  indigenous language for the first time and/or having uproariously good times at Bran Nue Dae and Black Ties. And because artists and direstors and managers were talking about the importance of indigienous culture. Maybe, for the first time, people made a connection with an indigenous storyand recognised its value.

So we have to produce great art and show it in our theatres and galleries and arts centres but we also have to tell stories about why doing what we do is important in the media and the meeting rooms. And to be believed by our community, we have to reflect our community. The leaders of our arts organisations have to be black and white, gay and straight, male and female, artist and manager, and all have to be Cultural Leaders and advocate for increased investment in the arts in Australia.

Chunky Move

October 14, 2018

For a brief period of time, I’m back working in an arts company. I’m acting CEO/Executive Director for Chunky Move, a contemporary dance company based in Melbourne. I was invited to take on this role for a short time to help the company find new artistic leadership and to make sure that it’s in good working order for a new team. This immersion involves all sorts of emotions and outcomes:

  • the pleasure of being surrounded by hard working, creative, passionate people
  • the challenge of helping the company find its way to a new future
  • the interest in finding out more about practice in a different art form
  • the need to tread lightly given that the company already has many good staff
  • the tedium of documenting endless policies
  • the irony of suddenly reporting to people who used to be peers
  • the fear of getting any of it wrong.

The last point is the most worrying one. After all, I’ve written a book on Arts Management. I’ve run companies for years. I should be able to do this with my eyes closed. But every company is different and at a different part of its life cycle and thus needs different skills from its leadership team. It will be interesting to reflect after I’ve finished at Chunky Move to see what I’ve learnt about managing a small to medium sized company in the 21st century.

If you’d like to know more about the company: Chunky Move

Philanthropy – Arts and Universities

I’ve recently written an article about philanthropy for the online magazine NiTRO, a magazine which (in their words) provides a platform for creative artists practicing in academia to contribute to informed discussion about issues and activities relating to practice, research and teaching taking place within the university sector. In the article I explore the challenge of philanthropy, particularly for small to medium sized art companies compared to large non-profit institutions:

Competition, passion and need for diversity in arts funding

V

November 29, 2017

V

 

Values, Volunteers

 

VALUES – extract

 

VALUES

 

Stating one’s values is a way of describing what is important in life. Stating an organisation’s values is a way of helping employees know what behaviours are expected and what principles underlie the policies and actions of the company. They help organisations because they encourage consistency, clarity, decision-making and autonomy (Hewison & Holden 2011). Values provide a shared framework within which people can  make decisions and act. Phills (2005, p.197) gives some simple examples such as intellectual freedom for a university, innovation for a high tech firm, meritocracy for a professional service firm and aggressiveness for a professional hockey team.

 

When the major performing arts companies were learning about strategic planning with some Stanford University academics in the 2000s, the direct question we were asked to help us unpack the values of our organisations was:

 

‘Given our purpose or our mission, what are a couple of things  – philosophies, guiding principles, things we believe in – that we would never compromise?’

 

Autry (2001, p. 32) says that you find out what values people want by asking people to finish the following sentences:

 

“We want to work in an organization that values ___________”

“ We want to work with people who value___________”

 

And then use the same sentences to check congruity:

 

“This organization values ___________”

“ These people value___________”

 

A more indirect way of finding out about the company’s values is to ask people about inspirational moments they’ve experienced in the company. It’s in the heart of stories about how people interact with or experience an organisation that you’ll find the enacted values. Because that’s what you’re looking for – not just words but words that are turned into action in the day-to-day operations of the company. For example, a value such as ‘concern for others’ needs to be turned into a series of policies and actions that ensure a workplace where people are treated with respect and allowed to fulfil their potential (George et al, 2011).

 

One of the best stories about values in an arts organisation can be found in Hewison, Holden & Jones’ (2013) story about a change of leadership at the Royal Shakespeare company. The RSC has traditionally been an ensemble company of actors but the new leadership team of Michael Boyd and Vikki Heywood used the idea of ‘ensemble’ to guide their decisions. The company understood the qualities of an ensemble as it was experienced in the rehearsal room and on stage and so it was a transparent metaphor standing for the values of trust and mutual respect, transparency and collaboration. What Boyd and Heywood did was apply these qualities to the new organisational structure and culture. They streamlined processes, opened up silos, broke down hierarchies and got people on board for the change in collaborative and participative ways. There was no dissonance between values and actions.

 

REFERENCES

 

Autry, JA 2001 The Servant Leader, Three Rivers Press, New York

 

Covey, SR 1992, Principle-Centred Leadership, Pocket Books, London

 

George, B, Sims, P, McLean, AN & Mayer, D 2007,’Discovering your authentic leadership, Harvard Business Review, 85(2):129-138

 

Hewison, R & Holden, J, 2011 The Cultural Leadership Handbook, F Gower, Farnham

 

Hewison, R, Holden, J & Jones, S 2013, ‘Leadership and transformation at the Royal Shakespeare Company’  in Caust, J (ed) Arts Leadership, Tilde University Press, Melbourne, 144-158

 

Phills, JA 2005, Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations, Oxford University Press, New York

 

 

WXYZ

W, X, Y, Z

 

Work, X, You, Z

 

WORK – extract

 

Adams (2007, p.xiv) says, ““…we are at our most effective, psychologically and physiologically, when stimulated by productive activity”. But he goes on to say that even though most people would continue to work even if they didn’t have to, “most people dislike the work that they do, and cannot wait to leave their workplace at the end of each day.”  It’s useful to be reminded that work can be boring, one can be underappreciated, one can certainly be underpaid. No work place is the perfect vehicle for self-esteem, growth and happiness (Rosner & Halcrow, 2010) and not everyone, even in an arts organisation, is going to be happy or productive or cheerful every day. As a manager, you have to create a good workplace but also to enable the balance between work and the rest of life.  In a book called Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense based on evidence-based knowledge about organisations ,  Pfeffer & Sutton (2006)  discuss a number of assumptions that are held by managers about work life. In a chapter called “Is Work Fundamentally Different from the Rest of Life and Should It Be?” the rules they say reflect the workplace include:

 

  • Your time is our time, even when you work all the time
  • Clothes make the person
  • Don’t think, you’ll weaken the team – just do what you’re told
  • Display prescribed feelings, not your real feelings – check your emotions at the door
  • Love – babe, even friendship – is a dirty word
  • Conflict and competition are desirable in the workplace
  • Rules of polite, civilized behaviour don’t apply at work
  • Meaning and fulfilment come elsewhere – work is just about the job.

 

It’s terrifying to think that a majority of organisations might be managed this way; that leaders believe this is what a workplace should be like. It may be just me (and may explain why I’ve never worked in the for-profit world) but I’ve never followed any of those ‘rules’. I’ve brought  a child into work when there was not alternative. Power dressing has never suited my style. I think therefore I am. I have tried to avoid abusive emotions at work but I’ve felt happy and sad and laughed and cried. I confess I even had a work affair. Politeness is a virtue which I’ve tried to express. And I’ve been lucky enough to have worked in organisations where the output was of value to the community.

 

REFERENCES

 

Adams, J 2007, Managing People in Organizations: contemporary theory and practice, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

 

Pfeffer, J & Sutton, RI 2006, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense, Harvard Business School Press, Boston MA

 

Rosner, B & Halcrow, A 2010 The Boss’s Survival Guide (2nd ed), McGraw Hill, New York

 

Award

In 2017, I was given an Order of Australia Membership (AM) for my contribution to the arts through management, teaching and writing. I received this award because my sister, members of Live Performance Australia and generous referees nominated me. On the day of the award presentation at Government House in Melbourne , the number of women made up about 25% of the group. I actively encourage you to nominate people working in the arts, particularly women, for an Award.

At Government House Melbourne on 20 October 2017 with my sister Susan and my nephew Sebastian.