ArtsBuild receives OTF Grow Grant!

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OTFVERTcolourWe are very excited to announce that ArtsBuild has received an Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) Grow Grant! This grant will allow ArtsBuild to continue to offer three key programs that assist our artistic leaders in the area of facility management.

Funding from the OTF Grow Grant, will support the continuation of the Arts Facilities Mentoring Network, Asset Planner for the Arts and the expansion of SpaceFinder in more Ontario communities. All three programs will be accompanied by a Learning Series to further support our organizations.

Arts Facilities Mentoring Network
ArtsBuild is excited to again partner with WorkInCulture for the third iteration of the Arts Facilities Mentoring Network. This iteration offers arts organizations engaged in capital related issues/projects one on one support from experienced professionals. Over the course of a year, mentors and mentorees will participate in multiple in-person learning opportunities including workshops, webinars and check-ins, in addition to their one on one meetings. More details on this program will be released tomorrow on May 17!

Asset Planner for the Arts
Asset Planner for the Arts enables organizations take a proactive approach to managing your facility. It is an online program that captures facility assets in a cloud-based software, allowing organizations to access real time data, provide capital forecasts and up to date reports on the condition of the facility. This easy to use program helps arts organizations plan ahead for building repairs and upgrades. Through the OTF Grow Grant,  ArtsBuild will be able to provide a subsidy for this two year software, to make it more affordable for our arts organizations.

ArtsBuild is pleased to partner with Ameresco and WalterFedy on this program. More details on this program will be released on June 7!

SpaceFinder expansion in Ontario
Following the success of SpaceFinder Toronto and SpaceFinder Hamilton, ArtsBuild will be expanding the tool to Waterloo Region and three additional communities in the province. This incredible online tool allows artists to search for creatives spaces, while venues and spaces can market their spaces to new and potential users! Check out www.spacefindertoronto.org! More information to be released on May 31!

The Learning Series
The OTF Grow Grant will provide additional support through ArtsBuild’s inaugural Learning Series designed to complement these three core programs. The series includes in-person workshops, webinars and other resources to assist our arts organizations in leveraging ArtsBuild’s programs and maintaining more sustainable facilities.

We look forward to sharing more information about all of these programs in our newsletters and eBlasts in the coming weeks!

If you are interested in knowing more about any of our programs, please email Alex Glass, Program Manager at alex@artsbuildontario.ca.

RECAP| LEARN IT BUILD IT MANAGE IT comes to a close

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After two years and ten communities, ArtsBuild has wrapped up our province-wide LEARN IT | BUILD IT | MANAGE IT workshop series, finishing in Pickering last month! The workshops were a huge success, with 234 participating arts administrators who learned more about building, financing, managing and engaging their community with their creative spaces. Participants came from different sectors across the non-profit landscape in Ontario, including social services, sacred spaces and community services.

What participants had to say about the workshop:

  • “Amazing ground work for starting this journey. Each element was very helpful, especially the Community Engagement.”
  • “Many lessons learned here, great session on Alternative Financing!”
  • “The most important aspect is going into a major project armed with new knowledge.”
  • “I will use the knowledge gained from this workshop to build critical relationships and ultimately take ‘ownership’ of the project.”
Pictures of 10 comms

 

Every workshop produced new ideas and fresh collaborations for the organizations who attended the two day session. Thanks to all our community hosts and participants who joined us for the workshop! This workshop series acknowledged organizations province-wide needing additional expertise and knowledge especially during special projects such as renovations, new builds and capital campaigns. The interest in the workshop series demonstrated the need for ongoing professional development in the area of facilities for our arts organizations.

One year of SpaceFinder Toronto!

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Anniversary

It has already been one year since the launch of SpaceFinder Toronto and we are thrilled to see Toronto’s creative sector benefiting from this valuable tool. To celebrate SpaceFinder Toronto’s one year anniversary, we thought we would share the site’s exciting progress over the past year.

SpaceFinder Toronto has generated over $24,000+ in rental referrals for venues using the online booking request form!
That means the 32 venues who have adopted the online booking request form have collectively received over $24,000+ in rental requests.

More venues are taking advantage of booking features:

SpaceFinder Toronto currently has 427 spaces listed! Here is how many spaces we have listed in each arts discipline:

  • 270 Dance spaces
  • 283 Music spaces
  • 308 Theatre spaces
  • 264 Film spaces
  • 227 Visual Arts spaces

Other neat facts about SpaceFinder Toronto users:

  • Over the last year, SpaceFinder Toronto had 170, 000 pageviews
  • The site has been visited by 15,663 users
  • Users spend an average of 5 minutes on SpaceFinder Toronto

Thank you for making SpaceFinder Toronto’s first year so great – we look forward to many more years working with you!

Presenter Profile: Derek Ballantyne

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Derek-Ballantyne-April-2013-300x300Finding alternative financing options for nonprofits is always a challenge. Derek Ballantyne, CEO at Community Forward Fund, offers new ways of funding your building projects and managing your facility in the Alternative Financing Options for Creative Spaces module of the LEARN IT | BUILD IT | MANAGE IT workshop. Derek will present and discuss financial review and assessment tools to help your organization understand alternatives for financing facility projects.

With a solid financial background in managing real estate investments and working with mutual funds, Derek brings deep knowledge of the nonprofit, charitable, social entrepreneurship, cooperative and foundation sectors at the local, provincial and federal levels.

Derek was Chief Operating Officer of Build Toronto, where he assisted in the establishment of the corporation, development of the first business plan, and execution of several large transactions and development initiatives. Prior to this, Derek was Chief Executive Officer of Toronto Community Housing, a large rental housing provider, with over $6 billion in real estate assets in Toronto. He led organizational and financial restructuring of the company, and the recapitalization and redevelopment of a significant portion of the portfolio (including the Regent Park community) as well as the commercialization of non-core functions.

Derek was a founding Director of a $430 M mutual fund and continues to participate in two investment committees for nonprofit organizations. Mr. Ballantyne sits on the board of the Laidlaw Foundation.

Watch Derek’s take on alternative financing options for nonprofits:

Derek will be presenting on Alternative Financing Options for Creative Spaces in London and Pickering at our LEARN IT | BUILD IT | MANAGE IT workshops.

Presenter Profile: Jeremy Freiburger

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Jeremy Freiburger for Arts Feature.Having your community behind your facility project is essential and there are a number of ways to get them engaged. Jeremy Freiburger, Chief Connector at CoBalt Connects, explores innovative ways to get the conversation going in Engaging Your Community In Your Creative Space, the fourth module of LEARN IT | BUILD IT | MANAGE IT.

CoBalt Connects is a nonprofit organization based in Hamilton, Ontario. CoBalt acts as the connecting element for creative communities and helps organizations interact successfully with their municipalities.

Jeremy has been a leader in Hamilton’s creative community for almost 15 years. After studying theatre and music at McMaster University and the American Music and Dramatic Academy (NYC), Jeremy returned to Hamilton and has worked at a number of the community’s major arts institutions. His experience ranges from touring the country as a musician to producing international calibre ballet, to developing studio facilities, to writing policy, plans and funding applications for municipalities and organizations. At CoBalt Connects, Jeremy focuses primarily on regional and municipal partnership development and creative sector development.

In the workshop, Jeremy will present new ways to engage your community before, during and after your facility project so that community support and involvement is built in from the ground up.

Jeremy explains a few ways creative spaces can engage their community:

You can hear Jeremy’s presentation at the LEARN IT | BUILD IT | MANAGE IT workshops in Town of Blue The Blue Mountains, Orillia, London and Pickering.

For workshop dates, registration and information, visit us here.