Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship for Museum Leaders

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“Too many nonprofit organizations are financially stagnant, raising and distributing funds the same way they have for decades .... A nonprofit that is run for profit sounds like a contradiction in terms. But it doesn’t have to be.”
- Bill Shore (from Revolution of the Heart)

“To foster innovation and transformation, leaders should focus on impact, not inputs.”
      - Rosabeth Moss Kanter (from “Think Outside
        the Building”, Harvard Business Review,
        March 2010)

Cost of Institute

The 4th annual Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICE)

June 2-5, 2013 at the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, in Mount Pleasant, N.Y.

ICE 2013

Apply now to be one of 30 eligible participants selected for this pioneering program.

A generous start up grant allows us to offer you lodging at the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, most meals and a liberally discounted tuition of $500.

Sample Institute Schedule

Basic Overview of the Institute

Day 1: Sunday - Pocantico Conference Center
3:00 PM	Welcome and Introductions: Gretchen Sorin, Director, Cooperstown Graduate Program
3:30 PM	Pre-Institute Evaluation Activity: Joanne Curran, SUNY-Oneonta
3:45 PM	Breaking Out of Habitual Thinking: Philip Morris, CEO, Proctors Theater, Schenectady
5:30 PM	Cocktails and Participant Introductions
6:30 PM	Dinner and Keynote Address: Barnaby Evans, creator and founder of WaterFire in Providence, RI http://www.waterfire.org. Barnaby’s creative impetus for WaterFire is all about building community and making an art experience relevant to all. WaterFire is credited to have contributed, in a major way, to the renaissance of the City of Providence. The economic impact of WaterFire in the region continues throughout the year. Barnaby will speak about how the state and municipality, corporations and merchants, the scholar and the pauper are all involved and engaged in this performance art event. Follow this link to hear his address at IdeasBoston on his innovative creation: http://forum-network.org/lecture/barnaby-evans-waterfire-and-other-defying-sculptures

Day 2: Monday - Pocantico Conference Center
7:30 AM	Breakfast and Creativity Warm-up: Dutch treat breakfast buffet.
9:00 AM	Session I: The Entrepreneurial Leader. Presented by Dorothy Chen-Courtin, MBA, PhD, President, Marketing and Management Associates for Nonprofits, MA This session will enhance your awareness of the differences between managers and an entrepreneurial leader, familiarize you with the characteristics common to entrepreneurial leaders, help you to assess your own entrepreneurial leadership qualities, and define what entrepreneurial leaders do and how they think.
11:00 AM	Break
11:15 AM	Discussion: Led by Anne Ackerson, Director, Museum Association of New York How to develop a more entrepreneurial Board? How to prepare co-workers to be part of the entrepreneurial leadership process?
12:00 PM	Lunch
1:00 PM	Session II: Creative Tools & Processes. Presented by Dorothy Chen-Courtin In this session, participants will be introduced to the four steps of the creative process and have the opportunity to acquire creative idea sourcing tools, including structured analysis, solution creation and creative decision-making tools.
3:00 PM	Break
3:15 PM	Problem Solving/Decision Making Practicum: Divided into groups, participants will have the opportunity to test some of the creative problem solving/decision making tools on their own museum projects and challenges.
5:15 PM	Break
6:30 PM	Informal Dinner and Discussion Issues to discuss, led by Anne Ackerson: 1) Making space for failure: Risk taking, failure and life-long learning as an entrepreneurial leader’s modus operandi 2) Addressing relevance of mission/program to community 3) Creative thinking and problem solving in constrained economic times

Day 3: Tuesday - Pocantico Conference Center
8:00 AM	Breakfast and Creativity Warm-up: Philip Morris
9:00 AM	Case Study: Past/Forward: Weeksville Heritage Center. Led by Pamela E. Green, Executive Director Weeksville Heritage Center is both a historic preservation organization and a community cultural center located in Central Brooklyn. Established in 1968 under the leadership of a founder-director whose tenure lasted thirty years, Weeksville was on the brink of closing its doors in the late 1990’s. This situation gave rise to several questions about the mission and vision of the organization, its ability to be a sustainable cultural institution, and more importantly, how could it be a relevant institution able to meet the needs of its community civically and culturally. What happens next?
12:00 PM	Lunch and an Energizing Creativity Activity
1:30 PM	Session III: From Entrepreneurial Thinking to Project Planning. Presented by Dorothy Chen-Courtin This session explores the critical importance of business/project planning as a decision-making tool that helps to evaluate project alternatives and risks, and bring projects to fruition. Participants will review a good business plan.
2:30 PM	Break
2:45 PM	Group Breakout: Developing Project-Based Solutions. Facilitators on hand for each group. Participants will work in small groups with facilitators to apply creative approaches and decision-making tools to the projects they have chosen to work on during the Institute.
6:30 PM	Break
7:30 PM	Dinner: Dutch Treat Evaluation of Institute by participants, led by Gretchen Sorin and Joanne Curran. Half hour follow-up to Pre-Institute Evaluation Activity.

Day 4: Wednesday - Pocantico Conference Center
8:00 AM	Breakfast and Project Presentation. Each participant will have approximately 5 minutes to share where they intend to take their project upon returning home. Q&A and additional suggestions from participants and facilitators following.
12:30 PM	Lunch and Awards

Check out this link to see if you are eligible!