Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre 2019-2020 Business Strategy Plan
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Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre 2019-2020 Business Strategy Plan “There is a big difference between being undecided and indecisive. The essence of a strategy is choosing what not to do” – Michael Porter, Harvard Business School KOAC 2019-2020 BUSINESS PLAN 1 Executive Summary The beginning of 2019 finds us on an exciting trajectory, assertively advancing in the development of The Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre Society of Calgary (KOAC) after a period of internal reorganization, board and management restructuring, and financial and legal reforms. Although critical for the organizational well-being and to our continued success, the restructuring period forced us to postpone many initiatives during 2018 which the KOAC Board had identified as essential strategic programs and priorities. However, this pause also provided us with the chance to diagnose the Society’s current needs and the goals and objectives to achieve greater effectiveness. To that end, we diligently gained input from past and present Board members, volunteers, external advisors, and subject matter experts, potential donors and, especially, from the Springbank community. Their valuable feedback helped us understand how we can improve "en route" to the development of a clearer and more tactical three-year strategic vision of the future to meet our next challenges with a strong, unified, and focused KOAC. This year, in the short term, we plan to embark on a more aggressive implementation of specific programmatic interventions. KOAC is fully committed to supporting artists and stewarding its landscape, to nurturing and celebrating the relationship between art, nature, and people, and to operating a centre of contemplation and learning, focused on contemporary art. We have begun preparing the staging ground, - created studio space and procured funds -, for supporting talented emerging artists through residency programs. In the coming weeks, after a carefully designed selection process, our first pilot artist will be working on a sculpture project in a private studio next to where founder Katie Ohe will be working for her upcoming retrospective in January 2020. We are taking our sculpture park to a new level by accepting significant (and seeking to acquire) large-scale pieces from donors (See CBC’s donation, left). We will be commissioning landscaping studies and GIS plans that will make our expansive landscape and Aspen forest more attractive and accessible to enjoy the sculptures. We also expect to begin building KOAC’s art pavilion, as we have obtained from Rocky View County a re-designation to our land use permits and a development permit for the construction of the project’s central building. Katie Ohe surveying Roy Leadbeater’s massive "Waves"metal sculpture, recently added to the KOAC Sculpture Park grounds, courtesy of CBC. KOAC 2019-2020 BUSINESS PLAN 2 Concomitantly, we are well-positioned to procure more funds after receiving a generous and substantial donation to apply for matching grants. We are all about listening to and learning from the community we serve. Over the last two years, we organized open houses and small group visits, held workshops and launched pilot programs and spoken and interviewed community members. To build upon those efforts, we will be implementing an inclusive public engagement strategy that encompasses communications and branding campaigns, and community relations, donor and fundraising initiatives. We have redesigned and refurbished the functionality of our website to fit our more agile communications needs as we will be holding a third fundraising art auction Gala in the fall. This year we also plan to strengthen our organizational capacities to continue working with financial, accountability and transparency best practices and metrics, and to implement our programmatic areas with a clear set of budgetary mechanisms and stages. With the help from expert lawyers, we have put together our corporate governance framework. We have also rewritten our strategic financial and accounting policies and included them in our bylaws and governance documents. Moreover, we are working on enlisting expert advice to assemble strategies for fund development and donor initiatives. Many stakeholders have come together to add their support to the Vision of Harry and Katie and the KOAC Board. We firmly believe KOAC will contribute to the cultural enrichment, pride, and quality of life enhancement of the Springbank community. The rest of Rocky View County and the Calgary region will experience this cultural enrichment too, as the activities of KOAC will help recognize the role of culture as an economic driver and will put Calgary on the map as a cultural destination. The continued monitoring of our community members and their priorities will allow us to include their opinions and understand how to better engage them in the identification, selection, design, and execution of our programs. For our part, we will ensure our commitment to uphold KOAC’s Fundamental Principles, and Values remains firm and undeterred. Purpose The purpose of this document is to help us define KOAC’s near-term transition strategy or roadmap towards full-fledged operations as an Arts Centre. This year we will be working towards a viable long-term critical path and method expressed in sequences of tasks and timelines to align our actions and decisions with defined measurable goals. The goal of this document is to gain clarity of that end goal. With a clearly defined sense of direction and specific, concrete objectives articulated in terms of numbers and time, KOAC can devote itself to the planning (and start executing) of a more comprehensive and ambitious three-year strategic business plan. That is KOAC’s next endeavor, to have a feasible plan every three years that will keep validating the life and fiscal responsibility of the Society. KOAC 2019-2020 BUSINESS PLAN 3 KOAC 2019-2020 BUSINESS PLAN 4 BACKGROUND Harry Kiyooka and Katie Ohe, renowned Alberta contemporary artists, have made their home and their studios on 20 acres of parkland located in the Springbank community, Rocky View County, since 1978. The original 4,500 square foot home featured two studios and a library. A separate studio to house Katie’s sculpture work was constructed in 1988. An independent studio for Harry was built in 1998 when Harry embarked on a series of large-scale paintings that were too large for his residence studio. Harry and Katie both believe in giving back to the community that has enabled and supported their long careers as teachers and artists. To this end, they established Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre Society of Calgary (KOAC) and incorporated it as a CRA-approved charitable organization in 2007. They have donated their property, residence, studios and endowment funds for the operations and construction of infrastructure to KOAC and have worked tirelessly to articulate and enable their vision for KOAC since that time. The KOAC Board of Directors oversees these assets and has moved the Vision for KOAC forward since 2007. Many sincerely committed individuals have over a period of approximately ten years endeavored to structure a workable concept to meet the founders’ vision. To develop and establish a world-class, visual arts centre and sculpture park that encourages and inspires creativity in a natural forest and wetlands habitat. To make KOAC a permanent cultural legacy for the communities of Rocky View County, the City of Calgary and the Province of Alberta. To offer a tranquil environment for research, workshops, lectures for the promotion and exhibition of the best in Canadian and international contemporary art. The KOAC vision is to preserve the site as a dedicated public sculpture park and to create an art-in-nature experience with contemporary art. It will include an art pavilion, a sculpture / botanic garden, preserved wetlands and a wild nature sanctuary, two artists’ studios, a library of art books and reference material, as well as offices and accommodation in the house. Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre (KOAC): An Updated Vision In April 2018, the KOAC Board held a strategy workshop aimed at reviewing and achieving clarity on the Society’s mission and purpose, in a way that genuinely aligns with its key stakeholders. Board members and advisors exchanged opinions and led to the below-revised mission, vision, and values, which build upon the original concept of the founders of giving back to the community by establishing an arts facility dedicated to the artist and the aesthetic experience of contemporary art. These statements were officially updated in the Society’s Bylaws. The Centre will operate as a creative art laboratory in a natural environment that fosters experiential and interdisciplinary learning for all communities KOAC 2019-2020 BUSINESS PLAN 5 Mission Katie Ohe, in her own words, says it like this: “What we seek is to bring a lifestyle, a fusion of the experience of what art is…where people can come and mingle with the art, but also, for artists to sit and contemplate life, retreat and find inspiration in our future botanic sculpture garden, wetlands, and woods sanctuary.” KOAC’s Mission: The KO Arts Centre Society of Calgary will create a contemporary visual arts centre in a natural environment Key Values KOAC will realize its vision by protecting its heritage and site, by hosting artists and visitors to experience contemporary art in a natural environment, and by educating about contemporary art: . Preserve the land . Engage the local community . Engage arts groups and working artists . Maintain