Project management and strategy development for artists – workshop led by Marc Markowski, 6-7-8/08/2008

1. prelude:

 

The role of the artist changed. In their daily work and especially in art projects in social / crosscultural environments or with experts from other disciplines the artist more often has to be or to act as a manager or entrepreneur. Management and entrepreneur skills, methods and best practices for strategy development and projectmanagement are usually not taught to artist.

The workshops will bridge this gap and deliver projectmanagement and strategy development skills in a nutshell by working with the participants on their specific projects, questions or challenges. It is more a coaching with the purpose of individual learning than scientific education,

 2. form

Workshops means that it will not be a lecture although basic concepts will be introduced at the beginning. Participants are asked to prepare a “case study” individually or in a team about their art project and use some management tools while creating the case study (reverse case study style). The team presents the case study as a presentation (powerpoint or form of their choice).

We will work and reflect together about the different case studies, the tools used, the process of preparation and presentation. A presentation should not be longer than 45 minutes.  Any participant will get individual feedback and advices on specific topics and their projects. After the workshop the participants will have developed new insights, which will give them – hands on – a greater variety of models for their work and on their individual competences ans strenghts.

The workshop language is in English. Critical discourse and the courage to attempt playful new thoughts and methods will be encouraged. The seminar will be facilitated, which includes feedback loops and evaluations.

 3. assumptions

There is nothing like right or wrong. There are many ways of organising and developing a concept / strategy or the project. Any person involved in the process has its strenghts and interests, which have to be identified and combined for the success of the project. Success can mean whatever the people involved (stakeholder) expected it to be or even exactly the opposite (unexpected). It is recommended to watch out for consistency in development and presentation of the case / the project and work on creating a sustainable competitive advantage fpr the project(value proposal by differentiation). A combination of gut feeling, critical reflection and use of methods / concepts will be appreciated and demanded from the participants.

 4. preparation

Participants are asked to sign in for the workshop and name their nationality, languages spoken, education and art disciplines or profession. If they have a homepage it would be helpful to state the link.

To ensure a common understanding we will have a telefon conference of 2-3 hours  eight weeks before the workshops and answer first questions (e.g. what does it mean to pepare a case study?). The participants have the chance to prepare their cases for eight weeks. Two weeks before the workshop there will be a second telefon conference for last questions / short presentation of first results if wanted.

For the preparation of their case the participants are recommended to

 a) write one a4 page with the substance of their project – goal: focusing the idea

 b) ask themselves  the core questions (see 5 core questions) – goal: redefinition and identifikation of open questions

 c) read some management concepts (wikipedia links – see 6 readings) – not all! – goal: getting new inspiration for the use of methods

 d) focus on the production of results for different modules necessary for the     case study (see proposal for modules) – step by step finishing tasks – goal: complexity reduction

If it is difficult to define in the team process the final results it can be helpful to define the opposite of what is intended.

 5. core questions 

Usually it is helpful to adress some questions in order to define the project and the modules (see 7).

• What is our strategy?
• What is a consistent form for the project and the products?
• How do we organise the realisation of the strategy?
• Who are our stakeholder? what are their interests?
• How do I set up a project plan? What has top priority?
• Which scenarios are plausible?
• How do I calculate the business plan?
• How do we measure success?
• Which are interdependencies, critical paths and potentials for the setup?
• What is our goal (qualitative and quantitative)? Our mission and vision? What do we want and why?
• What is the cultural environment? value proposal?
• What is senseful communication / packaging? How do we do agenda setting?
• What are our strenght and weak points? How can we make improvements?
• What do we absolutely not want?

6. readings

Attached are some wikis which give insight into management concepts and tools. It is recommended to be selective in the choice of tools used for the preparation of the case.

one pager / fact sheet

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact_sheet

 concept development / strategy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_competitive_advantage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_Strategy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scenario_planning

building an argument / logic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_%28semiotics%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_map

value

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_theory

sustainabilty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability

 marketing

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_setting

economics

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_case

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_on_Investment

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_sheet

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_flow#

organisation & project management

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisational_studies

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_planning

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart

 individuals

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selbstverantwortung 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_responsibility

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter

management

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management

learning

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking

 aesthetics

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthetics

 judgement of the concept

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swot_analysis

 7. proposal for modules of the case

It is  recommended to focus on the production of results (e.g. one page each) for different modules necessary for the  case study. The modules could be:

• 20 words / one chart: our vision, mission and targets

• stakeholder analysis

• strategy map

• scenarios

• sustainable competitive advantage / benefits

• final product and project definition

• value proposal / benefits

• organisation

• marketing

• hard facts  (cash flow, rights, ressources)

• projectplan (milestones and critical path)

• swot analysis

For more information on Marc Markowski:

www.culturalvalue.com