BA Conversations

Past Conversations Topics

Making Values-Based Decisions, with Jeffrey Golde and Matthew Kennis of Deep Breadth Strategic Consulting – This conversation was about how to use your mission, vision, and values as true decision-making tools; stay anchored in those values while you make shifts in operations; and flex your strategic thinking muscles before entering into something like strategic planning.

Let’s Talk Teaching Artists, with Mara Palma, Performer, Teaching Artist, and Entrepreneur – where we discussed what both individual artists and organizations should know about teaching artists. 

New Visions for Decision-Making, with Liz Dreyer, Independent Consultant and Lead Facilitator for DEI Arts Consulting and EmcArts – who talked with us about RACI, a decision-making tool, which stands for “responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed.”

Building Better Content, with Erika N. Mac Donald of Engaging New Media – who discussed the ins and outs of content creation and how to build trust with your clients and communities through your social media presence. 

Am I Ready for Strategic Planning?, with Pi-Isis Ankhra, Entrepreneur, Strategist, and Humanitarian  – who talked about the importance of strategic planning and how to know when you’re ready to use it for your organization’s development. 

Communications Planning for Beginners, with Claire Pfarr, Senior Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Envision Health – where we discussed how to simplify the way you think of marketing and focus on what is really meaningful and useful to your organization.

Continuing the Conversation on Equity, with Daniel Lim – where we talked about addressing equity in their practices, and advancing a regenerative and liberatory culture.

Avoiding Burnout, with Kit Whelan – who talked about identifying signs of encroaching burnout, techniques for avoiding it, what to do if you’re already in it, and how creative practice, passion projects, and activism can lead to burnout just as surely as other areas in our lives. 

Mastering Meeting Facilitation, with Jackie Miller of Bespoken Partners – where we learned how to own your voice at work, connect to an audience, and how to maintain control when presenting to ensure your organization stays on track.

Reaching Your Audience on Facebook with Dorene Wharton of Travel Life Media – who talked about the best ways to use language to maximize your impact on Facebook marketing.  

Talking Accessibility, with Rachel Lawson of Kinetic Light – where we discussed Kinetic Light’s philosophy around disability aesthetics, some basic starting points around accessibility, and tools and resources.

Researching the Right Grants for You, with Kaitlin Kitzrow of Unbound Philanthropy – where we gained insight on how to navigate through the noise so that you aren’t wasting your time on grants that aren’t right for you.

Standing Out with Artist-Centric Funders with Candace Feldman – where we discusses what it’s like to usher artists through a more hands-on process, selecting the work samples that best highlight your work, and other tidbits around building stronger relationships with funders.

Standing Out as an Indie Artist with Ana Fiore, Director, Grants & Services, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council – who joined us to talk about how indie artists can represent themselves more fully, from demonstrating their capacity through past experience to better planning and budgeting, and more.

Licensing Your Mission with Kathy Damkohler and Rainah Berlowitz of Education Through Music, – where we talked about their journey into licensing, how they manage their relationship with affiliates, and things to consider if you are interested in heading down this path.

The Strange World of Grants Panels, with Rosalind Grush  – who joined us for a chat about the reality of grants panels, both from the perspective of someone who has sat on plenty of them, and as someone who has written many grants judged by panels. 

What Funders Want, with Conrhonda Baker – who shed some light on funding from the other side of the application process. We discussed basic, nonprofit-y things that funders look for and how you can prepare yourself for funder conversations.

A Year of Radical Change, with Randi Berry and the Indie Theater Fund – a year later, almost to the day, after COVID-19 changed our industry indelibly, Founder and Executive Director Randi Berry joins us to talk about this change, what she has learned, and her hopes for the future.

Making Finance Your Friend with Jeanine Hall – who talked about what arts organizations should be doing to make their financial presence easier – no matter how small the budget – while preparing for a more sustainable future in plain language and the minimum amount of pain.