Every organizaton has its own areas of specilization and unique programs it can offer. At the Art Centre, we have a large roster of artists and excellent facilities, allowing us the ability to offer a wide range of programs simultaneously. As a pilot project for this grant, the choices we had to make were challenging - what do we start with, and how do we measure its success? The goal of this section of the report is to offer suggestions on how to answer the first question, and help you answer the second. Although the process I have outlined worked well for me, I suggest that you make it your own, and change it to your own needs and those of your orgaization.

I highly suggest following this basic sequence of steps, as difficult as it might be in the heat of brainstorming. As you shall see, very few of the plans and ideas for programs will come to fruition, fewer will run, and fewer still will be successful in the ways you imagined, although successful in their own way. This program is not like anything else offered in Northern Ontario, so don't expect results similar to anything that already exists. It is common knowledge that most buisnesses do not turn a profit for the first five years.

In this business vagaries abound:

A) the product changes regularily (i.e. the programs),

B) the participants cannot place a monetary value on the product ( the programs are to be offered for free) so they find it hard to beleive anything offered for free can be worthwhile, and

C) if the programs offered are in the area of arts or sports, people find it elitist or not competitive enough!!

In short, if you can get people to walk through the door and have them leave smiling, while not going bankrupt, then you have been successful in your programming.

While facts and figures are the often illused tools of rhetoric, and are on one level indisputable, they provide a good starting point for discussions. Much time can be wasted in the beginning on hearsay, " So-and-so says her neighbour's son has friends interested in archery". How many friends? Are they old enough? When are they available? Who knows about archery? Is this in your mandate? These lists and charts will help provide the information to decide which programs and participants to pursue first.

There are four basic areas which the activities of the program administater fall into. They are:

The first step is to clearly list the physical, intellectual, and media assets which are presently available to your organization. I suggest "presently" because time spent on ideas to do with growth or expansion should happen after a solid base of information is established from which to make decisions. These assets should include the following:

Facilities at the Disposal of the Organization

1) Buildings, Rooms, Playgrounds, Parking Lots, i.e. any space

2) Tools; i.e.sports equipment, instruments, woodworking tools, bicycles, cameras, play dough, flower gardens, anything we can manipulate with our hands

3) Hours of availability for the above. Some buildings close at 5 pm, limiting after school programs, some sports equipment on loan is only after school or on weekdays, etc.

Intellectual Assets - 3 Separate Lists

1) This list should include anyone local who has or could run a program or presentation for your organization. The list should be very long, and include everyone from artists to the Fire Department, to the Police Chief, and sports enthusiasts. Include as much contact information as possible, as it will save time later on.

2) This list should be an updateable file of people from out of town who could run a program or presentation. These could include family members of your participants (one lady’s mother in our experience was a professional flamenco dancer!), summer campers, visiting artists, and colleagues of local artists who have expressed an interest in programming. As much contact information as possible is useful, as it will have to be changed and added to later on. This list should be set aside and reviewed and updated periodically.

3) Media Contact List:

This very important document, which will need regular revision over the year, and should include all of the following: television advertising info, such as CBC and the local channel, radio - again CBC, and ther stations that run community adds, newspapers and their editors, both in your town and out of town, local businesses who support your group by hosting posters, word of mouth groups such as churches who are affilliated with your board members, and anything else that applies. Include as much information about contact names, prices, duration, location, etc as possible, and update it later. In the process of contacting all of these organizations, you'll find that the advertising web is very connected, and most people will help you expand your list if you are polite and kind.

The next step is to create two column categories beside Intellectual Asset List number 1 and 2. One column should be for a number rating of the excellence of the person in their field, and the other a rating of excellence of how they work with youth of different ages. Clearly, this is an act of judgment, and a difficult one, especially with friends and colleagues. However, the success of the program depends upon what the instructors have to offer, and how they interact with youth. Children of all ages are very honest in their opinion of adults, and if they don't like the instructor or program, they won't come back.

It is at this stage that the grant begins to reflect the culture of your organization. These decisions directly reflect who you are as an organization, and where your priorities lie. My suggestion is to do it with other administration members you trust, and to be as honest as possilble. In this way, by beginning with good intentions, and sharing the responsibility, you are more likely to create a list which reflects your organization, rather than personal taste.

Now the time has come to create a list on a separate sheet of paper of all the known programs which have been successful in your community in the recent past. One of the things which proved advantageous for us, was that the Artistic Director had run theatre programs with children over ten years prior. These same children were now of an age where they were expressing interest in revisiting what they knew well from childhood - theatre. And so, the theatre troup was started again with relative ease. Not only does this speak to saving a lot of time by utilizing energy spent by your cultural forebearers, it also indicates the long term impact it can have on children if done properly. I suggest that this list include anything from your organization as well as any community programs from the past. Include columns for attendance, location, and a brief description of why you considered them successful.

At this point, it will prove useful to create a phone list of parents and youth who might be interested in programming. This list should be alphabetical by name, and not by interest, as many students will have a variety of interests. It should include everyone who has walked through your doors in the past two years. This list will prove to be your main database for information, and will be refered to several times per day. I suggest that it be saved as a computer file as well, and updated as needed, with printouts in multiple places. Be sure to include space for phone numbers, addresses, and interests.

It is essential to not call anyone however, until you know exactly what to say, and how to say it. We have all experienced the sputtering telemarketer, the unclear salesperson, and the rude waitress. None of that needs to be a part of your marketing campaign if you are well prepared. In my experience, it is best to write out a short speech to read over the phone, with different options in case they are A) not interested, B) don't have time presently, C) are interested and want more info, or D) choose to treat you rudely, even if they know you. Practice this with friends and relatives, and get used to feeling relaxed, opening the conversation clearly, and most of all listening to the other person. Telemarketing is a skill, and a good salesperson is one who can understand the customer’s needs and be sympathetic to how they feel and what they want. After all, it is you who are calling them.

This catagory includes suggestions on how to organize your budget, prepare different media for advertising, and create a clear standard for all participants to follow during the program.

The budget can be broken down in many ways. I found it most useful to break it down by program session (usually a 2 hour section), rather than by program or month. In our experience, the duration of the programs often depended on school schedules, instructor availability, and what was reasonable for the subject matter. For example, we were fortunate to have a flamenco instructor for two sessions, a painter for eleven, and a Self-Defense Course for three months. The best way to achieve the flexibility needed to accommodate each of these wonderful programs was to organize the budget by session, with a clear idea before starting, of how many sessions each program would be. As a number of the programs might not run, this flexibility is essential to keep a clear perspective on the whole picture, rather than worrying about how much is left for this month.

A note on posters: clarity is of the utmost importance. Kipling's Five Serving Men will serve you well. Who, What, When, Where, and How (much) should be attractively displayed on a white background, with the title taking precedence over everything else. Any funding bodies should be displayed tastefully on the bottom, with thanks abounding for their generosity. Choose fonts that can be easily enlarged so that, as needed, letters can be up to 2" high, and readable from a distance of at least five feet. I found that posters of 11 and 1/2 by 16 were most effective, as they grabbed much more attention than smaller versions, and allowed more room for graphic detailing when needed. Keep the colours simple, and do not use clip art. A good organization logo and a clear title with bullet points below, is simple enough, and if possible add some simple color designs on the side.

For media handouts, or interviews, be sure to stress, either verbally or in bold font, Kipling's Five Serving Men. Use positive language only, eliminating "don't", "can't", "wouldn't", and other such negative words. As well, use one tense only to avoid mixing the past, present, future. "The class is on Tuesdays, from 6:00 - 8:00pm", is much more direct than , "The class will be held on Tuesdays, beginning at 6:00 and going until 8:00pm". Simple changes like this will reduce the numbers of words per article, reducing advertising costs, and imparting the neccessary information quickly.

Without any question, word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising in the small communities of Northern Ontario. Taking the time once per week to go out for an afternoon and speak in person with everyone you meet about the exciting things going on at your location will bring success in the long run. Here it is important to express excitement about the programs, and not recruit for them. If you try to recruit, people will learn to run from you as they do from the door to door vacuum salesperson. People naturally follow those who beleive in something worthwhile, are happy, and are excited about what they do. If you can manifest this energy in public, while not expecting anything in return, you will do more for your program than any poster could hope to achieve.

The next step is to create a "Letter of Agreement" for each of the parties involved in the different programs. We had a great deal of challenge in this area, and eventually created documents that, while not binding to any party, expressed certain parameters for communication, and stated expectations, both of, and for each other. Often students thought it was a drop in program, when it was not, or after committing to being part of team, would promptly not show up again, nor call to express that decision. Similar breakdowns of communication happened between high school teachers, administrators, instructors, and students. As one of my associates said afterwords "Get it right the first time!!". Hence, put it clearly in writing, sign it together, and shake on it. As awkward as this may seem, much negativity can come about surrounding misunderstood concepts, quickly made decisions, and the unintentional crossing of professional boundries. After we developed this idea into a working document we found that, with a good presentation, most people were happy to know what was expected of them and of the program.

By this point, it should be relatively clear which programs are possible to pursue, which ones should be set aside for another time, and which ones should be discarded altogether. In order to be efficient in these next steps, I suggest following this order exactly. In my experience, this order works best and if all the neccessary information is gathered, everything should come together nicely. Write all the information down, and revise it later for your files, as it will become useful when you want to repeat the project in the future.

Facilities Manager: Check to see when the required space is open for use, its parameters (doors lock at 9 p.m. etc) and if the equipment has any special needs or instructions (costumes must be signed out by the instructor, not children, etc)

Instructor: Find out when she/he is available, the exact content of the program, time, duration, and resources needed, as well as any special needs for the instructor (allergies to peanut butter so only fruit snacks, etc). This may take more than one call, and could happen over a series of days. Take the time to get all the information first.

Youth: Call youth to get a basic number of who might be interested. Indicate, as per the consultation with the instructor, two or three possible meeting times, and ask them to indicate the order of preference, making sure to get all three in some order. I suggest calling only those you know have interest, and then calling those whom they suggest, noting on a separate sheet of paper who wasn't home, busy signals, not interested, and interested. This is very important, as after fifty calls, it is easy to forget exactly who said what. Do not try to fit everyone's schedule - make it work for the organization, and let them decide. The program cannot be all things to all people, and if it is important to them, they will find a way to work it into their lives.

Following the organization of all of the above information into a cohernt document, it is time to advertise. Depending on your community, you may use all or part of your media list. My experience is that the best marketing involves communication between two parties, either by phone, in person, or personal mail. At this point, it is best to clarify the basic tennents of telemarketing, as you will be involved in this for the remainder of the grant program. As mentioned above, a short written speech is essential, as is practicing it. Listening to the needs of the person you are speaking with is also of the highest priority. These call should be very clear and concise, and your speaking voice should be clear and friendly. Often you'll need to repeat information as it is written down, so make sure to have an abundance of patience for other people’s lives. The best way I have found to document these calls, is on a separate sheet of paper to put down the name, or intiials, of the party called, the date in numbers, and their response. It is essential to revise this sheet immediately after you have finished, so that you will rememmber anything that might not have been written down. If you are advertising more than one program at a time, be sure to call with all the information and limit the number of calls per household. In general, very often adults, as well as children, do not know how to respond to this type of phone call. Remain polite, calm, and friendly throughout. Many people will share their emotions regarding your call afterwards when meeting you. This will help you gage your success at telemarketing more than the number of participants.

Monitering Programs

Without any hesitation, I can say that you must keep careful records of your data, ideas, observations, and people involved. Try keeping a business journal. At the end of everyday, write down what you did, your challenges, and your observations of the process. Although time consuming, it will prove to be invaluable for your own sense of progress, and give a sense of relativity in difficult times. You can use these numbers to look at your challenges and make projections for the future. These numbers and facts you record will be put to use later in your regular reports, as well as in your final report. They will show how you did what you did, and the results that were achieved. But it is essential that you have the numbers to begin with. Emotions are the stuff of Art, Knowledge the base of Education, and Numbers the foundation of Business. Make no mistake - you have engaged in a business about art and education, and at the end of the day, it is to the bank and the granting bodies you must report. Keep all posters, lists, any records of transactions, and all financial statements. Take photos every week, and make sure to clip any newspaper articles. I suggest setting aside a couple of hours every week to organize this material into a cohesive collection, thus saving time and frustration later on. As with all other parts of this grant, proper planning and efficiency in this area saves precious time and energy which can be put to better use elsewhere.

Which programs are run, and how they address your mandate, will be a result of many discussions with your administration, programming comittee, instructors and participants. Ultimatley, from this experieince I have learned that the success of the program is dependant on three factors - the right people, in the right place, at the right time. As trite as it may sound, it is very true. Often there is only one time in a child's life when they are ready for a certain experience. Sometimes there are a group of children ready to take on a project. Finding these children who are ready, connecting them together with a excellent instructor, and creating a safe space for them to grow, is the ultimate goal. Beyond this, the rest is detail work, and serves only to reach this end. The chances of creating this special place will be increased if the primary decisions made are good ones: 1) is this a highly qualified instructor and is he or she excellent with kids, 2) can we stand behind this program in our mandate, and 3) is this something that these kids will be truly excited about and want to be a part of? If you can stay true to yourself while organizing all of the information, and keep these three questions foremost in your mind while keeping an eye on the ultimate goal, then you will already be on the road to success in the year ahead.

 Ivan Arion Karst© , Program Coordinator

Gabrielle Marohnic, Program Administrator

Alanna Marohnic, Editor

Joseph G. Marohnic, Editor 

For more information about my experience, please click on one of the links below.