As ArtsBuild has traveled to different parts of the province and has been engaged in more and more conversations about arts facilities and your needs, we have really begun to recognize how much support is needed to help our organizations manage their facilities.

We have been trying to understand who is responsible for maintaining arts facilities, who is responsible for capital improvements and who pays the bills! In most cases the answer isn’t cut and dry. There is more than one player and at the end of the day it is the organization that needs their facility alive and well for the art.

Most municipalities have a system that monitors the life of their infrastructure and if the municipality owns and takes care of your building then the life of your building is tracked through this type of system.

But what happens if you are responsible for your facility? How do you afford such a system and how do you begin to find one? And, is this the right tool for you? We took these questions and began talking to those in the field of Asset Management to find a system that:

1. Would be affordable to arts organizations and

2. Would provide organizations with training and expertise.

Ameresco, an environmental sustainability company, introduced us to their system and we knew immediately that this could be the solution for our sector. This program provides arts organizations with an affordable solution, that tracks all the components of your arts facility (yes – this includes your lighting grids and temperature control systems and other such unique components).

This asset management program will help you prioritize what needs to be done to your building, when and for how much. It will give you charts, reports and data without you having to click through numerous excel sheets (and it will house all those facility documents you have lying around too).

With support from other arts service organizations Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, Ontario Association of Art Galleries and Ontario Museums Association, we are hosting two demonstrations of this system that we believe will take some of the burden off of our arts facilities managers (whether they be Executive Directors, Artistic Managers or Curators) and help with keeping our arts facilities in good repair. We have invited Ameresco’s VP of Asset Sustainability, to answer all of your questions and give you a walk-through of how you can use this system. These sessions are free and important for anyone that operates an arts facility. Graciously hosted by OMA, OAAG and TAPA – please let Lindsay MacDonald lindsay@artsbuildontario.ca know if you would like to attend.