Focused on the Future
The Future Focus Program is a funding collaboration between Calgary Arts Development, the Rozsa Foundation, and the Calgary Foundation. The Canada Council for the Arts, has provided additional funds to support the program in 2024.
The Future Focus Program provides funding to arts organizations to explore a key question or challenge facing their organization and develop directions for their operations that diverge from previous or current practice in response.
BLVE has been engaged by Calgary Arts Development to study and research this program, and provide case studies of select organizations to show the power of the funding and to humanize the stories of change in the arts and culture ecology.
Phase 1 of this project is focused on aggregate data, illuminating the scope of the 26 different organizations that received funding in the Future Focus Granting Program.
Case Studies of Select Grantees of the Future Focus Granting Program
BLVE has worked with the funders to select three projects to highlight by creating video and written case studies to highlight and follow the projects and their journeys. The three organizations selected are BuckingJam Palace, Hispanic Arts Society and a collaborative of three puppet companies, Calgary Animated Objects Society, Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry and Festival of Animated Objects. See below for videos and written case studies.
Previous Research and Case Studies of Future Focus Program
LIVE CASE STUDY - SPRING 2022 UPDATE
Welcome back to our ongoing discussion of lifecycle funding. This update is two-fold. The video above is an interview with Melissa Tuplin from Calgary Arts Development with an update on the future of the granting program and the evolution of their thinking in supporting lifecycle funding for arts and culture organizations. It’s a quick and informative discussion.
We’ve also now spoken with 6 grantees from the Organization Structural Grant program. The document below is a quick update on our thinking and findings after our initial conversations with these organizations, all located in the greater Calgary area.
Live Case Study - Summer 2022 Update
LIVE CASE STUDY - SUMMER 2022 UPDATE
Welcome back to our ongoing discussion of lifecycle funding. The video is a an update on the Beakerhead/Telus Spark merger that recently completed in April 2022. Former Telus Spark CEO and Interim CEO of Beakerhead, Jennifer Martin, gives us insight into what it takes to make a merger like this happen.
In addition, we offer up more perspective from the 8 grantees of the Organization Structural Grant that we have spoken with. We provide context on the different models of transformation each organization has attempted and provided some interesting and engaging information on the resources and ramifications of the work of transforming your organization.
Live Case Study - Fall 2022 Update
LIVE CASE STUDY - FALL 2022 FINAL UPDATE
As we finalize our assessment of the Organization Structural Change Grant, we highlight the ecological impact of the work being done by Calgary Arts Development with this granting opportunity in our final case report.
We discuss the “Future Focus Grant” and accompanying strategies for expansion Calgary Arts Development has implemented in this new granting iteration that allows for wider accessibility and acceptability of change as an inevitable tenant of every organizational lifecycle. We also discuss how Calgary Arts’ Organizational Structural Grant set the example and the standard for funding programs ushering in and supporting change in similar ways across Canada’s arts & culture sector.
Learn More
To learn more about BLVE and their work in supporting organizations that are interested in lifecycle discussions, please read Cultural Triage.
Cultural Triage discusses the issues around the pandemic related closures, mergers and transformations.