Three eras

For more than 35 years a vast array of individuals and organizations have looked to NAS to as they create change —in their careers, in their organizations and in their communities. Our focus and our approach have evolved in that time and because of the leaders with whom we’ve worked, creating three distinct eras.

01. 

National arts
stabilization

1983-2003

We began with defining and implementing stabilization strategies and practices in select cities throughout the U.S. We worked with arts and culture institutions and committees of city-based funding partners, rethinking short and long term financial, governance and operational models. We did this through a series of multi-year, intensive consultations.

02. 

National arts strategies

2004-2017

We moved away from consulting and towards tailoring training programs to the needs of arts and culture leaders – board and staff – from around the world. We focused on multi-organization, team-based executive education and individual leadership development. This era was all about putting tools and knowledge into the hands of leaders who wanted to change their approaches and foster learning cultures within organizations.

03. 

 

NAS

Present

We work with current and future leaders in the arts and culture sector to change the status quo. This includes proactively building a far broader, more representative and a deeper leadership pipeline. Then connecting leaders in vibrant and sustainable ways to increase their leadership tools, deepen their cross-sector knowledge and support their well-being and work throughout their careers.

1983
1983

Ford, Andrew W. Mellon and Rockefeller Foundations establish National Arts Stabilization, an independent nonprofit arts management organization Stabilization program launched in Boston

1986
1986

Kansas City stabilization program launched

1987
1987

Arizona stabilization program launched

1988
1988

Seattle stabilization program launched

1990
1990

New York City stabilization program launched

1991
1991

Baltimore stabilization program launched

1995
1995

Columbus stabilization program launched

1996
1996

NAS launches executive education program Strategy seminar developed

1998
1998

Evaluation Research Project launched with national and international partners

1999
1999

NAS financial analysis, New Haven NAS selected to help design and manage the Cleveland Foundation’s BASICs program

2000
2000

New York City Info Tech Project launched

2001
2001

NAS partnered with the Stanford Graduate School of Business to offer executive education programs (Stanford Alliance) New Haven Project launched Oklahoma City Project launched

2002
2002

Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders-Arts – a national residential program for arts leaders – launched at Stanford Graduate School of Business Governance seminar developed Irvine Foundation Project for Human Capitalization and Financial Benchmarking launched for Cornerstone Arts Organizations in California

2004
2004

Managing People seminar developed NAS and the Getty Leadership Institute convening on managing creativity in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors

2005
2005

Creative Alliances seminar developed

2006
2007
2007

Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders-Arts closes NAS and the Getty Leadership Institute convening on cultural organizations and changing leisure trends

2009
2009

Future Leadership – program for next-generation leaders in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit & Minneapolis – launched Talk with an Expert program – online “office hours” with leading university faculty – launches NAS began producing online videos featuring insights from leaders inside and outside of the field

2010
2012
2012

Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Entrepreneurs – a training program for young arts and culture professionals built in partnership with the Salzburg Global Seminar – launched NAS launched Field Notes blog on ArtsJournal

2013
2013

Digital Strategies seminar developed Oman Museum Management Workshop – program partnership with the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution – launched

2014
2014

Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture – six-week online Coursera course developed in partnership with Vanderbilt University – launched Arts and Culture Strategy – six-week online Coursera course developed in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania – launched Leadership Training Programme for Senior Arts and Culture Executives – executive training program developed in partnership with Hong Kong Arts Administrators Associaion – launched Creative Community Fellows program launched Strategy for Cultural Administrators Program – training program developed in partnership with Serviço Social do Comércio (SESC) in Brazil – launched

2015
2015

A three-year partnership with the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) is developed; first AAMD Day of Learning is presented Executive Program in Arts and Culture Strategy – eight-month certificate program developed in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania – launched  

2016
2017

Interested in our new era?