Turning Uncertainty into Understanding

by Jennifer DeDominicis

As part of the Future Focus program guidelines, we talk about organizations being “curious about how to anticipate, or encounter challenges they face”. 

Truthfully, anticipating and encountering are somewhat gentler terms than many organizations use to share the circumstances they are facing. In conversations I have with arts managers, we often speak of urgency or a need to respond to a new or persistent challenge that is demanding of their time and attention.  

Curiosity in these circumstances can easily be supplanted by anxiety, and I am interested in how we can better attend to supporting organizations towards agency to anticipate and adapt so that curiosity is possible, even when change happens “at us”. 

Sometimes, change is signalled clearly and in advance. Take the municipal election - we knew it was coming, and have the results. Other times, we are called to respond to change - without the same signal to prepare - as with the ongoing teachers’ strike. We knew it might happen, but for arts organizations who work with K-12 students and teachers, or parents who are part of these organizations, these circumstances are nonetheless demanding a different and more dynamic response. 

Other times, change arrives at our door in the form of an opportunity. How can we challenge ourselves to respond in ways that afford us more agency and alignment to purpose? 

This past summer, Salingpusa Creatives, whose work centers on supporting and showcasing Filipino-identifying artists in Calgary, were offered a short-term lease for a few months. The opportunity for space was unexpected and came with limitations related to duration, configuration and access.

With the support of Future Focus Investigation funding, Salingpusa Creatives made time to consider if a space was something their community wanted, and how they might want to use the space, to inform them whether to pursue longer-term occupancy if available. “In listening to the community members give their suggestions on how to use the space, I was struck by how we, as community organizers/leaders, can sometimes make assumptions on what the community wants, and that sometimes those assumptions can be off the mark. I now know that part of serving a community is listening to the members of that community,” shares Cecilia Alcaraz, Executive Director of Salingpusa Creatives. 

By intentionally pausing to look at this opportunity differently, curiosity led Salingpusa to reconnect with their purpose. 

 “The consultant that we engaged did a great job leading members of our board through the process of taking a pause, then going back to the time when we first came up with the idea of Salingpusa Creatives and then listening to each other and more importantly, to ourselves say out loud and with complete candor the goals, both abstract and concrete, sometimes lofty, sometimes naive, that we set for ourselves. We were able to assess the opportunities, responsibilities, obstacles and the fiscal discipline that come with maintaining a space, and in the process were forced to reckon with what we truly value as an organization.” 

The Investigation Phase, by design, is meant to support organizations with time, space, and resources to understand how to approach a significant circumstance or challenge they are facing, in a different way. I often describe this phase as a longer runway for organizations to understand what a more comprehensive exploration could look like, or even if one is needed. While it's not always possible to anticipate challenges, pausing on purpose and with curiosity, can bring new perspective, insight, and direction.

There are two remaining deadlines for the Future Focus Investigation Phase in 2025: 

-Friday, October 31, 2025

-Friday, November 28, 2025

 Is your project a fit? Let’s talk. 

 ~ Jennifer

---

Introduced in April 2025, the Investigation Phase of the Future Focus Program has separate deadlines and application questions from the Exploration and Investigation Phases. Please visit the Future Focus - Explore + Implement webpage for more details on deadlines and application requirements for those program phases. If you would like to discuss the key question, challenge, or opportunity your organization is facing, you can book a meeting with Jennifer DeDominicis, Organizational Strategy Advisor. Jennifer is available as a confidential resource for organizations to consider their options and develop strategies to support their work.