Work Plan
Strategic Assessment and
Development of Cultural and Strategic Plans
Prepared for: Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne, Inc.
November 19, 2014
This work plan outlines a set of services for Strategic Assessment, a Creative Sector Economic Impact Analysis, and
the Development of both a Community Cultural Plan and Strategic Plan for Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne, Inc.
(Arts United).
Project Summary:
1) Phase 1: Internal and External Strategic Assessment – Conduct an Internal and External strategic Assessment
to identify strengths to build on and areas that can be developed. Make recommendations to inform and
enhance leadership, resources, strategy, and overall long-term sustainability and vibrancy of Arts United and
Fort Wayne’s broader cultural sector.
2) Phase 2: Creative Sector Economic Impact Analysis – Facilitate a process to measure the economic value and
impact of Fort Wayne’s creative sector. Having an understanding of the economic value of the creative sector
will significantly inform both the Community Cultural Plan and Arts United’s Strategic Plan, as well as provide
an economic baseline for regional economic planning discussions.
3) Phase 3: External Community Cultural Planning – Facilitate a process to develop an external Community
Cultural Plan that considers the impact of the broader cultural sector as well as community priorities and
identifies key goals and strategies to be executed collectively over the next five years.
4) Phase 4: Internal Strategic Planning – Facilitate a planning process to assist the Arts United Board and staff in
confirming strategic direction, vision, mission, strategic goals, and action items over the next five years. This
Strategic Plan will be developed in direct connection to the external Community Cultural Plan.
Introduction:
The Fort Wayne region has been undergoing considerable transition as it integrates its regional resources and
actualizes its Vision 2020. As the new Greater Fort Wayne, Inc.’s website states ‘Today is the start of something
greater.’ Arts United desires to continue its strategic development to support and help lead initiatives that will
ensure a vibrant, attractive and sustainable greater Fort Wayne. Given Arts United’s effective delivery of arts and
culture resources and services, and its strong relationship with city and regional entities, the organization is well
positioned to align its focus with Greater Fort Wayne’s drive for economic prosperity and community vibrancy.
Based on our conversations with leadership, Arts United is interested in ensuring that it understands what greater
Fort Wayne needs and desires from the arts and culture sector to achieve long term regional goals and
expectations; what the arts and culture sector needs to do in order to facilitate the community moving forward;
and what and how Arts United needs to align its mission and strategic direction to best serve the community.
Raven Consulting Group | PO Box 4404, Greensboro, NC 27404 | 336.509.4177 | RavenConsultingGroup.com
Phase 1 – Project Launch and Strategic Assessment
 Ensure mutual understanding of the approach and process for the Strategic Assessment, the Creative
Sector Economic Impact Analysis, Community Cultural Plan, and Arts United Strategic Plan, and that the
client and consultants are aligned about major activities, deliverables, and timeline.
 Conduct an internal and external Strategic Assessment. The Assessment will form a shared understanding
between Arts United, the arts and culture community, and community leadership to inform the external
Community Cultural Plan and internal Arts United Strategic Plan.
Action Steps Include:
1) Conduct a project launch and orientation meeting with the President and the Steering Committee to review
our approach to Assessment and planning, confirming project goals, roles (Board, staff, consultant),
outcomes, and preliminary timeline. Agreeing on the geographic scope will be critically important to the
process and outcome.
2) With the President, Board Chair, and Steering Committee clarify important questions to be explored in the
Internal and External Assessment.
3) Conduct both an Internal and External Assessment.
Internal Assessment
A. The Assessment will identify:
1. Perceptions of Arts United current and future roles and responsibilities;
2. Perceptions of broader cultural sector on its current needs and future sustainability;
3. Arts and culture community challenges, needs, priorities and opportunities; and
4. Possible action steps to address those.
B. The Assessment will:
1. Review key organizational documents to become familiar with Arts United (provided by
staff), including but not limited to: existing strategic plan, financial audits, most recent
balance sheet and income/expense statements, current resource development plan,
collateral materials, current marketing and communications plan, samples of internal
and external communications, relevant organization or management assessment
reports, Board composition, staffing and volunteer/intern structure, personnel policy,
mission statement, and by-laws.
2. Review all current programs and activities of Arts United.
3. Review programs and activities of the broader arts and culture sector.
4. Connect with Arts United’s identified stakeholders from Arts United Board, Arts United
staff, Arts United donors, Arts United patrons, principal partners, regional arts
advocates, the Cultural District Advisory Council and Task Forces, economic
development collaborators, and potential future donors and patrons.
5. Design and execute a research process that includes a combination of individual
interviews, focus groups, and electronic survey. (Instrument will be determined in
consultation with Arts United and will be based on the available budget. The objective is
to obtain as much in-depth information as possible with the most stakeholders within
an agreed budget.)
Raven Consulting Group | PO Box 4404, Greensboro, NC 27404 | 336.509.4177 | RavenConsultingGroup.com
External Assessment
A. The Assessment will identify:
1. Perceptions of the broader community leadership on what contributions the arts and
culture sector can make to the identified community agenda and priorities;
2. Community challenges, needs, priorities, and opportunities;
3. Benchmark data from mutually agreed communities and united arts funds/urban arts
federations; and
4. Potential action steps to address challenges, needs, priorities, and opportunities.
B. The Assessment will:
1. Connect with Arts United’s identified leading community organizations through
personal interviews, including: Greater Fort Wayne, Inc., Northeast Indiana Regional
Partnership, Visit Fort Wayne, Downtown Improvement District, City of Fort Wayne
Blueprint Plus, City of Fort Wayne Riverfront Development, and Indiana Arts
Commission.
2. Conduct either survey and/or individual interviews with agreed benchmark cities and
united arts funds/urban arts federations. Scope and instrument will be determined with
Arts United within budget considerations.
3. Review demographic trends of core stakeholders and identify current or anticipated
changes in these demographics that could impact the needs, interests, and expectations
from the arts and cultural community. An example of these changes is the impact an
aging audience has on accessibility to arts and culture.
4. Design and execute a research process that includes a combination of individual
interviews, focus groups, and electronic survey. (Instrument will be determined in
consultation with Arts United and will be based on budget. The objective is to obtain as
much in-depth information as possible with the most stakeholders within the agreed
budget.)
Phase I Results/Deliverables:
 Awareness among the leadership of our approach to, and benefits of, Assessment, Arts Economic Impact
Analysis, Cultural Planning, and Strategic Planning.
 Agreement on goals, roles, and process for completing the project.
 Combined Internal and External Strategic Assessment written report (one draft and one final).
 Presentation of Internal and External Strategic Assessment findings and recommendations to the Arts
United board, staff, and community leadership as identified by Arts United.
Timeframe: Months 1 – 4 (projected December 2014 – March 2015)
Raven Consulting Group | PO Box 4404, Greensboro, NC 27404 | 336.509.4177 | RavenConsultingGroup.com
Phase 2: Creative Sector Economic Impact Analysis
This analysis will provide three items; 1) a review of creative sector economic impact resources available for
Greater Fort Wayne, 2) baseline economic impact data derived from Americans for the Arts’ (AFTA) publicly
available research, and 3) a listing of potential creative economy businesses and occupations that could be used
to develop a wider creative sector economic profile. We believe that understanding the economic contribution of
the arts and culture as well as the broader creative sector is a critical component to developing well-informed and
sustainable planning for the future.
Action Steps include:
1) Assign the Steering Committee to oversee this Creative Sector Economic Impact Analysis.
2) Provide a written review of the resources available to measure Fort Wayne’s creative sector economic value
and impact. Resources include:
a. Americans for the Arts’ Economic Prosperity Report (measuring the economic impact of nonprofit arts
and culture businesses based on actual spending patterns) and their Creative Industries Reports
(measuring the scope of nonprofit and for profit arts related industries based on Dun and Bradstreet
data) - full details of these reports can be found at americansforthearts.org.
b. The Creative Vitality Index, a more recently developed national measurement tool that measures the
economic health of a community’s creative nonprofit and for-profit businesses. This Index was
developed by WESTAF and full details can be found at cvi.westaf.org.
c. The nationally recognized creative economy profile research methodology that uses the US
Government’s NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) and SOC (Standard Occupation
Classification) coding. A national methodology review can be found at nationalcreativitynetwork.org.
3) Conduct an analysis of Fort Wayne’s creative community with available Americans for the Arts’ research.
a. Provide arts economic impact data for Fort Wayne based on AFTA’s Economic Prosperity Calculator.
This will estimate the economic impact of Fort Wayne’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations and
their audiences using the variables full time equivalent employment, resident household income and
revenue to both local and state governments. Arts United will need to provide at least ballpark total
expenses of the area’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations as well as total attendance to these
organizations.
b. Provide a calculation of Fort Wayne’s Creative Industries data based on AFTA’s Creative Industries
Report.
4) Meet with a local economic planning specialist familiar with the US Government’s NAICS and SOC databases
to develop a list of potential creative economy business and occupation codes for the Fort Wayne area.
Depending on how easily accessible this data is, it may be possible to run some numbers on the larger creative
sector economic impact.
Phase 2 Results/Deliverables:
• Written report detailing the review of resources available to calculate economic impact data, providing
baseline impact data from Americans for the Arts’ research, and providing a recommendation on data to
be used to measure the broader creative economy cluster.
Timeframe: Months 3 – 4 (projected February – March 2015)
Raven Consulting Group | PO Box 4404, Greensboro, NC 27404 | 336.509.4177 | RavenConsultingGroup.com
Phase 3: Community Cultural Plan for the Arts and Culture Sector
• Facilitate a planning process that will develop a vision, mission, and strategies that align the arts and
culture sector with the broader community’s initiatives, and ensure continued vibrancy and sustainability
within the sector over the next five years.
• Connect the arts and culture sector with the broader community agenda and key community leadership
priorities.
Action Steps Include:
1) Determine an invitation list with Arts United of individuals to participate in the Cultural Planning Task Force,
including:
a. Broad representation of the arts and culture community across the 12 counties (organizations as well
as individual artists),
b. City and regional economic development leadership,
c. Selected donors (individual, corporate, and foundation), and
d. Other stakeholders whose opinions and perspectives are important to ownership of the strategic
direction.
2) Utilize all of the background materials from the Strategic Assessment and the Creative Sector Economic
Impact Analysis.
3) Facilitate a retreat of the Cultural Planning Task Force in 2, 4-hour sessions to determine vision, mission,
strategic goals, and action items, assignment of responsibilities, and success measurements.
4) Conduct a public online survey to gather input on their arts and culture sector experience as well as their
desired arts and culture community offerings.
5) Facilitate an open, public town hall session to present the draft mission, vision, goals, and action items. Seek
participant input on content, prioritization, and resources.
6) Produce a draft Community Cultural Plan for final review by the Cultural Planning Task Force. In this
document, recommend where this Community Cultural Plan for the Arts and Culture Sector will be housed –
who will have ownership of and oversight for this plan.
Results/Deliverables:
 Alignment on arts and culture sector direction, vision, mission, goals, and strategies for the next five
years.
 Five-year Community Cultural Plan document (one draft and one final).
Timeframe: Months 5 – 6 (projected April – May 2015)
Raven Consulting Group | PO Box 4404, Greensboro, NC 27404 | 336.509.4177 | RavenConsultingGroup.com
Phase 4: Strategic Plan for Arts United
• Facilitate a Board and staff process that gains alignment around Arts United’s strategic direction and
develops a five-year Strategic Plan for Arts United that calibrates its resources, activities, and evaluation
methods to the direction of the Community Cultural Plan.
• Ensure congruency between the vision and deliverables of the Community Cultural Plan and Arts United’s
strategic direction.
Action Steps include:
1) Assign the Steering Committee to oversee the Arts United Strategic Planning process.
2) Provide a summary to the Steering Committee of all of the findings and recommendations from the Internal
and External Strategic Assessment, the Creative Sector Economic Impact Analysis, and Community Cultural
Plan as the core background document for Strategic Planning.
3) Facilitate a Steering Committee retreat in 2, 4-hour sessions to determine vision, mission, strategic goals, and
action items.
4) Given the focus on more integrated regional economic planning, the broad range of Arts United activities and
a new Community Cultural Plan, a key outcome of this Strategic Planning process is the development of
criteria for Arts United to determine when they facilitate, convene, direct, or own a strategy or task.
5) Produce a written Strategic Plan document (one draft and one final).
6) Produce a document (addendum to the Strategic Plan) showing the alignment of Strategic Plan action items
and responsibility assignments to the Community Cultural Plan.
Results/Deliverables:
 Alignment on organization direction, vision, mission, strategic goals, and action items for the next five
years.
 Five-year Arts United Strategic Plan document (one draft and one final).
 Presentation of the Strategic Plan to Arts United board, staff, and community leadership as determined by
Arts United.
Timeframe: Months 7 – 9 (projected June – August 2015)
Final Deliverables:
 A final combined report will be produced, along with a list of all participants, and will include:
 Internal and External Assessment Report
 Creative Sector Economic Impact Analysis Report
 Community Cultural Plan
 Arts United Strategic Plan
 A final presentation of both the Community Cultural Plan and Arts United Strategic Plan to the Arts United
Board and invited community leadership.
Engagement Responsibilities of Arts United:
 Provide one main staff contact person and one Board support person.
 Manage inviting and scheduling of all research participants.
 Provide an itinerary with all contact information (including emergency information) in advance of each
site visit.
 Manage all physical space and meeting needs, including refreshments as necessary.
 Distribute electronic surveys and provide access to all reports and analyses.
 Provide support as needed for meeting note taking.
Raven Consulting Group | PO Box 4404, Greensboro, NC 27404 | 336.509.4177 | RavenConsultingGroup.com