Arts Planning

Strategic plans are often viewed as an endpoint or a final product, but the real value of an effective plan is when it ignites change and becomes a living document, allowing an organization to fully realize its mission.  A well-designed plan is shaped by the perspectives of organizational constituents and provides actionable steps towards a more compelling and sustainable future.

Maren Brown Associates offers a number of planning services, including:

• Strategic and business planning
• Arts education research and planning
• Program design and planning
• Creative community planning
• Implementation planning

As part of these planning processes, you may choose from a variety of services:  designing and facilitating retreats to clarify mission, vision, and values; reviewing internal organizational data to inform the planning process; conducting staff and board assessments; gathering input from key stakeholders through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and public forums; mapping community assets; conducting literature reviews; benchmarking the organization or program against comparable entities; reviewing, analyzing, and reporting on all research conducted; coaching staff on how to gather research to support the planning process; designing and facilitating retreats to clarify strategy and goals for the plan; drafting and refining the final plan.

After a plan has been developed, we also coach organizational and program leaders on implementation strategies and are available to facilitate “post-plan” retreats.

Sample clients (click below for a full list of projects):

New England Foundation for the Arts, Delaware Division of the Arts, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Vermont Arts Council, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, UMass Fine Arts Center’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Global Arts Program, New England Presenters, New England Consortium of Artist-Educator Professionals