A new book by Lidia Varbanova

Efficient management and leadership of any cultural organisation are immensely connected with the strategic planning process. Setting up the mission and vision, diagnosing and analysing the current situation within a constantly changing environment, elaborating the right set of strategies, functional plans and actions to achieve a desired future state and making them happen, actually cover the whole spectrum of functions that a successful manager needs. Creating tomorrow today is not an easy process but, if we do not envisage where we want to be, why and how to get there, ’tomorrow’ may not be the one we dreamt about. The concept of a “learning organisation” has become increasingly popular for modern organisations in all sectors, including arts and culture. It refers to the ability of an organisation to transform itself within a constantly changing context and escalating complexity by using unlimited mental capacity of its members, their ability to think critically and creatively.

Why this book is unique

 

• Strategic planning tools in the book are adapted well to the uniqueness of a cultural organisation and creative processes. The author understands well how cultural and artistic organisations operate in a constantly changing environment and financial pressure.

• The book proposes a well elaborated set of strategies (main organisational strategies, marketing and product strategies, as well as functional strategies) and provides plenty of examples on how these strategies could be elaborated and implemented in the cultural sector.
• The book offers a set of elements of the human resource management system in a cultural organisation and deals with diverse strategies related to human resources, especially the one which stimulate motivation, education and development.
• The author discusses complicated marketing concepts and terminology in a digested and simple language, with examples on using marketing-mix concept, developing audiences, elaborating communication plans in the arts.
• The book provides a clear practical orientation on the main elements in financial planning process in a close relation with fundraising techniques and practices, as well as sponsorship and alternative methods of support.
• The value of the book is also that each chapter ends with a clear guidelines and examples on how a concrete part of a strategic plan might look like. It is a well elaborated “guidebook” providing step-by-step practical help in elaboration of a strategic plan for any type of cultural organisation.

This book is a useful resource for cultural managers, directors of cultural organisations, cultural mediators, Board members, policy-makers, or project leaders who need a step-by-step approach in understanding the theoretical framework, the process of developing and the application of a strategic plan for a concrete organisation in the cultural sector (be it state subsidized, business-orientated or non-profit). The book is also useful for cultural researchers, consultants, students and academia as it provides a bridge between theory and practice, between methodology and its use in the management planning process. Artists could also benefit from the handbook, as it would help them to shift their mind from creative processes into the pragmatic language of management and economy in order to learn how to handle their organisations or projects in the long-term and within today’s world of money and markets.

The book is supported by the European Cultural Organisation and MATRA Programme of the Dutch Government, published in Russian and Romanian by Soros Foundation Moldova. The English edition will be published in 2011.

See photos from the launch of the book in Chisinau, Moldova: https://www.lidiavarbanova.ca/main/gallery/book-launch-moldova/

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“This excellent handbook offers valuable theoretical background and practical help to cultural organisations to develop a coherent strategic approach to their work. I encourage cultural practitioners as well as students to consider the book’s helpful advice, and to put into practice the principles, processes and techniques that will improve their effectiveness and impact.”

Robert Palmer

Director of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage

Council of Europe

 

“Ms Varbanova has had the courage to present cultural organizations with a handbook on strategic planning. I honestly think that she should be congratulated for having done so. Her work is very clear, structured and thorough but, above all, this book contributes to breaking – hopefully! – the ill conceived belief, and the myths that follow from it, that management techniques, innovative or classical, cannot be applied to the cultural sector and to cultural organizations. Indeed every profession each has its specificities.”

Mercedes Giovinazzo

Director, Interarts, Barcelona

President, Culture Action Europe

 

“A central goal of this publication is to provide its readers with a solid sourcebook for writing their strategic documents. However, an even more important goal is to inspire managers operating in the arts and culture and to enable them to realize new ways of learning, working, thinking and creating strategies for change. In times of ongoing transition and a critical need for systemic innovation not only in post-socialist countries but all over the world, tools for realizing new strategic approaches are more important than ever before.”

Philipp Dietachmair and  Dilia Ham

European Cultural Foundation

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 

“The contemporary practice of management is going through changes and challenges. New conditions engendered by the crisis and the ongoing instability make constant revision and update essential. The culture sector, by its very nature, requires such flexible strategic approaches as essential. Lidia Varbanova’s book responds exactly to such complexities and requirements, as well as reveals itself as a perfect reference book for the professionals and managers in the culture sector, as well as for academia and students. The book illustrated with examples, assures convenience for creative solutions.”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serhan Ada

Head, Cultural Management Department

Istanbul Bilgi University

 

 

Turkey

 

“Lidia Varbanova has an outstanding career as a professor and international consultant in issues related to strategies and management in the cultural sector and beyond. The modern cultural manager, administrator and thinker finds in Varbanova’s handbook a nurturing and useful read for the day to day work, but also for the medium and long term visionary attitude one has to entertain in this specific domain. Being precise and fully documented, filtered by both academic thinking and hands-on practice, this is a book that artists, intellectuals, students and cultural operators alike must read.”

Corina Suteu

Director

Romanian Cultural Institute

New York

“I think Lidia Varbanova’s book would indeed be a welcome addition to the cultural management field here in Canada. I would have welcomed such a resource back in 1999, when the NAC embarked on its first Strategic Plan: despite having been in the arts management business for many years, I had gained no experience in this area.  It is indeed needed and very helpful.”

Heather Moore

Producer and Executive Director

National Arts Centre/Centre national des Arts

Ottawa, Canada

 

“I believe this publication will provide valuable tools and perspectives for many cultural organizations.I think it will be very useful as a tool for boards and executives working on their planning processes and it will also be a wonderful textbook for arts administration university programs.”

Trudy Schroeder

Executive Director

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

 

Canada

 

“While the cultural sector as a whole has become a valuable part of both the Canadian identity and the country’s economy, cultural organizations are often fragile and quick to feel the effects of political changes or a downturn in the overall economy.  Lidia Varbanova proposes a well-elaborated set of strategies that, if followed, will be of lasting benefit in sustaining artistic excellence and service to the community. She provides plenty of examples on how these strategies can be chosen and used. In particular she places emphasis on strategies related to: building and engaging audiences; partnerships; innovation; networking; co-productions of all kinds; as well as the critical importance of ongoing advocacy”

John Hobday

Former Director of the Canada Council for the Arts and

Executive Director of the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation

Canada