This book offers some outlines, ideas, and starting points as tools for putting together and maintaining a local arts agency. For mayors, planning committees, or cultural task forces getting ready to plan or finalize the structure of a new local arts agency, the book is filled with step-by-step start-up information. For organizations about to change focus, the book is a sampler of new possibilities. For older, established local arts agencies, the book is an index of alternative approaches and refresher techniques. [p. ix].

CONTENTS

Foreward, by Robert L. Lynch.
Preface, by David C. Speedie.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction, by Richard E. Huff.

Chapter 1: Roots of the Vision.

• The Local Arts Agency in America.
• History of the Movement.
• A Movement of Surges and Setbacks, by Robert L. Lynch.
• The Search for Roots, by Maryo Ewell.

Chapter 2: Community Contexts.

• Rural and Small Communities.
• Midsized Communities.
• Midsized City Syndrome, by Kathleen Daniels.
• Large Urban Communities.

Chapter 3: Structures of Local Art Agencies.

• Establishing a Mission Statement.
• ;Criteria for Determining a Structure.
• Private Not-for-Profit Organizations.
• Public Arts Agencies.
• Other Structures.

Chapter 4: Developing Leadership: The Board of Directors.

• The Role of the LAA Board.
• The Local Arts Agency Board: A Changing Challenge, by Chris Bruhl.
• The Public Arts Commission as the Board of Directors.
• The Board of Directors as Policy Maker.
• Policy Analysis and the Effective Board, by June Spencer.

Chapter 5: Planning.

• Agency Planning.
• Community Cultural Planning.
• Reflecting on Community Livability, by Louise K. Stevens.

Chapter 6: Staffing.

• Determining the First Staff Position.
• Hiring an Executive Director.
• Making the Transition.
• Building a Staff.Volunteers.

Chapter 7: Fundraising.

• Obstacles to Raising Funds.
• Building the Fund Development Plan.
• Charitable Giving: An Overview.
• Earned Income.
• Individual Giving.
• Government Support.
• Corporate Support.
• Foundation Support.
• The Grant Seeking Process.

Chapter 8: Grantmaking.

• LAAs as Grantmakers.
• Designing a Grantmaking Program.
• Mechanics of a Grantmaking Program.

Chapter 9: Providing Access to the Arts.

• Participatory Activities.
• Audience as Consumer
• Festivals.
• Designing an Arts Festi val, by Pam Korza
• Arts Education.

Chapter 10: Preserving Cultural Pluralism.

• American Culture in Transition.
• Strategies for Local Art Agencies.
• Defining Quality.
• Quality: Who Defines It and How, by John Scott.

Chapter 11: Nurturing the Environment.

• Building Visibility for the Arts.
• The LAA and the Local Arts Community.
• Technical Assistance.
• Coordinated Services.
• Facilities for the Arts.
• Facilities Management and Development, by June Spencer and
• Mary Berryman Agard.
• Facilities Development: Making the Decision.
• Advocating for the Arts.

Chapter 12: The Arts as Contributor to Community Development.

• The LAA and Economic Development.
• Influencing the Aesthetics of the Built Environment.
• Art in Public Places.
• The Artists as Catalyst for Local Action.

Chapter 13: Visions from the Field.

• Our Vision for the Future, by Robert L. Lynch.
• Maximizing the Local Art Agency's Future Success, by Chris
• van Antwerp.
• Possible Futures, by Libby Maynard.
• Turning Forty, by Maryo Ewell.
• Local Arts Agency Success and Future Challenges, by Richard E. Huff.

General Resource List.
Appendix: Profiles of Local Arts Agencies.
Organizations: National, State, and Regional Arts Agencies, and Statewide Assemblies.

This book offers some outlines, ideas, and starting points as tools for putting together and maintaining a local arts agency.