In 2022, the Rozsa Foundation, Calgary Arts Development, and the Calgary Foundation jointly developed the Future Focus funding program to support organizations as they tackle big foundational questions and develop forward-focused strategies. In 2024, to help facilitate these often challenging conversations, the funding group engaged Jennifer DeDominicis of Distill Consulting as Organizational Strategy Advisor and offered her expertise to arts organizations at no cost.
Jennifer has been meeting with many organizations over the last seven months and has developed a unique perspective on the hurdles faced by arts organizations in this moment. In this article, written as we launch the 2025 application deadlines for the Future Focus funding program, Jennifer shares her thoughts on the 'resilience' of the arts as well as some advice in beginning these strategic conversations.
by Jennifer DeDominicis,
At this time of year, there’s a lot of noise and pressure about resolutions and committing to how we do things differently for the year ahead. The pervasive narrative of ‘developing resilience’ to overcome or get through the present is abundant. I’m not against resilience per se, but I am tired of talking about it as a solution; as something to be applied in order to overcome, instead of an ability to be developed that gives you the capacity to encounter and adapt.
Our enduring discourse of resilience shifts the temporary circumstance it is meant to address, so we are left with a constant hum of inadequacy in encountering the genuinely difficult ongoing realities that are not, in fact, temporary. Dwindling government funding, governance and organizational capacity, space precarity, fluctuating audience engagement – these challenges cannot be addressed through resilience alone. More than that, they can’t be tackled ALONE. Another burden of the resilience narrative for me is that the implication is that it is an individual pursuit.
If I have met with you, chances are you have heard me ask the following: What does your future organization need?
I admit this can be a frustrating question. An answer signals you have had time or space to reflect or think about the future. Much of my work over the past several months has been tough. As an organizational strategy advisor supporting arts organizations in Treaty 7, I often see the absence of resources. It has meant that the good folks doing the heavy lifting inside our organizations have their hands full and are not able to formulate the question or think about their challenge until it is URGENT in some way.
I have also witnessed and celebrated deep learning with examples of curiosity, resourcefulness, tenacity, adaptation and innovation amidst the immediate and urgent work that eats up time with abandon. Every month, when I meet with CADA, the Calgary Foundation and the Rozsa Foundation, I share themes about what I hear. I’ve heard people ask really important questions about the work they are doing or seeking to do. I’ve witnessed the beginning of an idea take shape in their work and been lucky enough to see that idea emerge into something more, and better than that, watch their project receive support to give them the time to explore their idea differently.
The reason that I signed up to work with the Future Focus program as a consultant, and the reason I am still excited, and more than excited, the reason I am hopeful, is because Future Focus funding is a leverage point. It offers an opportunity for organizations to step out of the everyday, complicated work and access a space to think about their challenges differently. It is an invitation to the complex work that we are navigating.
With that in mind, I want to offer some alternative resolutions to arts organizations in 2025.
Connect
Talk to each other! Please! Share your challenges, share your ideas with each other. Ask for advice, and offer your insight and experience. Our ecosystem can only benefit by the people doing the work learning from one another. When you connect, what other opportunities emerge? How can you partner to find different solutions to shared challenges?
Locate
What is the work your organization is here to do? Is that what you are spending your energy on? How does that fit within the arts ecosystem? What makes sense or doesn’t? Where can you make small shifts to re-align to your purpose?
Embrace “scruffy hospitality” (this one is my favourite)
Oliver Burkeman talks about Anglican priest Jack King of Tennessee’s concept of ‘scruffy hospitality’ from 2014 in his new book, Meditations for Mortals. Scruffy hospitality according to King is about letting go of the trappings of perfection that hold us back from connecting - like cleaning our houses and making gourmet meals before we can invite people into our homes. ‘Scruffy hospitality’ is about authenticity over excellence and making room for “others to see your life as it really is” (Burkeman 2024). When I think of all my alternative resolutions the year ahead, my biggest ask is to let down your guard. Be honest and upfront about what it is that you are finding really hard. When that happens, I can learn about you and your work in a way that gives me a different view in, and we have our best shot at figuring out a way forward.
So for 2025, here is my invitation: don’t clean up for me. I don’t need a gourmet meal of perfectly constructed ideas and a fully formed proposal. When I ask you what your future organization needs, I promise that you don’t need a comprehensive idea - we can work on that together. In 2025, let me be your thinking partner, and let’s start where you are.
Future Focus funding applications open January 20 with a deadline of February 28, 2025. Applicants must (1) read the full guidelines on the Rozsa Foundation website and (2) book a conversation with Jennifer or Ayla Stephen to determine if the organization and project are eligible. This should be done well in advance of the deadline, and these conversation bookings will close on February 14, 2025. To book with Jennifer, you can access her calendar HERE. To book with Ayla, access her calendar HERE. Applications will also be open at the end of April and the beginning of September, and meetings can also be booked for future intakes.
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