Reflections and Lingering Questions
Metcalf’s Creative Strategies Incubator (CrSI) supports performing arts companies over a three-year period as they explore new strategies to address an intractable issue facing the sector.
Each cohort of CrSI participants convenes throughout the year to share their learning and build upon each other’s solutions. Metcalf hopes that these Learning Network meetings inspire a sense of community around the process of adaptive change.
On April 4, Metcalf brought together all three CrSI cohorts for the first joint Learning Network meeting. The cohorts’ respective focus issues are unique — engaging audiences and building communities; exploring new approaches to, or alternative sources of, revenue; and providing greater opportunities for artistic work to achieve its potential — but each requires companies to navigate the essential relationship between art, people, and resources.
We hoped that the event would provide new opportunities for inspiration, connection, and collaboration among the diverse organizations tackling these enduring challenges. We understood that convening so large a group would necessitate the prioritizing of breadth over depth in some respects, and so we chose to structure the day with conversational prompts and group activities to ensure that participants had a variety of entry points into the discussion.