This is the PowerPoint presentation used during the April 18, 2013 Bright Spots Workshop by Helicon Collaborative and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

1. Bright Spots Workshop
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture
April 18, 2013
Paul G. Allen Foundation
Bright Spots
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

2. CAC’s Funding Criteria
Public Benefit – how do you engage the community in
the work that you’re doing?
Artistic & Cultural Vibrancy – what is that work that
you’re doing, and how do you keep it fresh?
Organizational Capacity – do you have the ability to
carry out your plans, looking at both human and
financial resources?
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

3. Five Bright Spot Principles
ADEPT: Bright Spot Principles CAC’s Funding Criteria
Animating Purpose Artistic & Cultural Vibrancy
Deeply Engaged with Community Public Benefit
Evaluation & Analysis Organizational Capacity
Plasticity All three criteria
Transparent Leaders Organizational Capacity
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

4. Bright Spots Workshop
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture
April 18, 2013
Paul G. Allen Foundation
Bright Spots
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

5. Today’s Agenda
Welcome and Introductions
Bright Spots Framework
Small Group work – Strengths/Weaknesses
Lunch
Full Group – Three “cases”
Working an Issue at your organization
Brainstorming the Critical Next Moves
Adjourn
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

6. Inspiration for Bright Spots
• Which cultural organizations are achieving
exceptional results without exceptional
resources?
• Do these organizations share
characteristics or strategies that can be
replicated by others?
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

7. Research
• Interviews with more than 100 cultural
leaders across the country
• Review of resources on leadership and
change
• Focus groups and workshops with cultural
leaders
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

8. “Bright Spots” definition
• Observable exceptions to the norm
• Same resources as others
• Locally relevant practices
• Peer-selected
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

9. Five Bright Spot Principles
Animating purpose
Deeply engaged with community
Evaluation and analysis
Plasticity
Transparent leadership
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

10. Animating Purpose
• “Why should we exist now?”
• Clear, distinctive purpose and vision
• Clear about desired impact and on whom
• High quality work that connect artists and
audiences
• “Stop doing” list
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

11. Deeply Engaged with Community
• Exercise civic leadership
• See themselves as part of larger systems
• Invested in community goals
• Partner within and outside the arts
• Other arts organizations are partners, not
competitors
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

12. Evaluation and Analysis
• Tell the truth to themselves
• Seek and use multiple perspectives
• Realistic, especially about finances
• Willing to make hard choices
• See opportunities, not obstacles
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

13. Plasticity
• Nothing too sacred to change
• Continually adjusting to changing
circumstances
• Growth doesn’t equal success
• Comfortable with uncertainty
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

14. Transparent Leadership
• Not ego-driven
• Build trust internally and externally
• Define clear roles
• Transparent decision-making
• Willing to make unpopular decisions
• Share leadership among staff and board
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

15. Feedback from the Field
• Cross-sector applicability
• Explains positive results
• Sparks conversation among staff and
board
• Blueprint for “ethical organization”
• Non-judgmental self-analysis
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

16. Am I a Bright Spot?
• Brightness is a practice, not a destination.
• Brightness is a spectrum.
• The number of potentially bright
organizations is unlimited.
• Brightness is uneven within an organization.
• The specifics of bright behavior has local
variations.
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

17. Questions for Discussion
• Questions about the research or about
elements of the framework?
• Does this framework resonate for your
organization?
• Does this framework explain the success of
organizations you admire most?

18. We’d love to hear from you
Helicon Collaborative
Marcy Hinand mhinand@heliconcollab.net
Holly Sidford hsidford@heliconcollab.net
Blog: www.brightspotsculture.wordpress.com
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture
www.cacgrants.org or 216.515.8303