Enhancing Arts Leadership: The Foundations of Arts Leadership Program

Rozsa Foundation
Jul 25
3 min read

Updated: Sep 26

For thirteen years, the Rozsa Foundation has provided arts managers in Alberta with a platform to challenge their assumptions, ask questions, and learn from exceptional faculty and each other. This training was known as the Rozsa Arts Management Program, or RAMP for short. In April of this year, the final RAMP cohort celebrated the conclusion of their training and the program's end as it was known.

There’s an old adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” RAMP was definitely not broken. So, when I was hired as the Director of Training, my task was to determine how we could enhance the program. How could we better serve the needs of arts managers and leaders?

From the Ground Up

In the spring of 2023, the Rozsa Foundation commissioned Rose Brow to conduct community research to inform the future delivery of our training programs. Over 40 participants from various disciplines across the country were consulted. When I arrived in October 2024, I delved into that report. I spent the next several weeks engaging in nearly 70 meetings, coffee dates, and conversations to explore all possible options for the Foundation's training programs.

I also connected with the Banff Centre for the Arts, the National Arts Centre, MacEwan University, and the University of Calgary. This helped me understand their offerings and identify how we might complement them or fill any gaps. Our goal was to create a responsive and relevant program that supports the leaders of tomorrow. Hopefully, Foundations of Arts Leadership achieves that.

Introducing Foundations of Arts Leadership

Foundations of Arts Leadership offers developing arts leaders an exploration of leadership capacities, team development, organizational relationships, and community connections. It moves from the context of the individual to the collective. The program investigates leadership theories and strategic frameworks while developing practical skills. These skills include building an organizational brand, financial literacy, advocacy, governance, and more.

Program facilitation features a mix of arts industry professionals and university faculty. We are fortunate to partner with the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business Executive Education team on Foundations. They bring a wealth of experience and knowledge, along with some truly wonderful facilitators. With faculty like Peggy Hedges, Scott Radford, and Terry Clark, alongside arts professionals such as Alexandra Hatcher, Jacquelyn Cardinal, Karen Ball, and Andrea McManus, Foundations will be in excellent hands.

Building Connections

In re-envisioning the program, we aimed to offer more opportunities for arts managers and leaders to meet, collaborate, and learn from each other. To achieve this, we created Intersections—four sessions that will operate as electives for the Foundations program. These sessions will also be accessible to our other leadership cohorts and the arts community at large. Each session lasts four hours and is conducted in-person. We hope Intersections will foster collaborative learning, problem-solving, and knowledge exchange within the community. For the Foundations program, participants will be invited to select a minimum of two Intersections.

Foundations culminates in a Capstone Project designed by the participant in consultation with a program advisor. This project builds on program learnings with practical applications. It aims to address a meaningful challenge or opportunity within the participant's organizational or individual context. Over the years, Capstone Projects have generated significant value for arts organizations—ranging from strategic plans to new volunteer training programs and complete overhauls of costume inventories for large local singing organizations.

The Foundations program builds on the work initiated in our Essentials of Arts Administration program and will scaffold up to a third, new program we will announce soon. Along with other ancillary offerings, we hope to create a safety net of professional training for Alberta arts leaders.

I am thrilled to roll out these new programs. I anticipate great feedback from the first iteration, and I relish the opportunity to keep adjusting, reframing, and building!