Survey Results Part 1: Executive Summary

The question of who will lead our cultural institutions in the future is being widely discussed in our field. The increasing complexity of these organizations will require confident, highly trained leaders who can respond to a changing environment and who can access ongoing professional development services to continually strengthen their abilities. In considering how National Arts Strategies might be of service to this cadre of future leaders, we elected to take a direct approach to determining their needs: We engaged them in a discussion with us and with established leaders in order to determine what they want and need to prepare for the leadership roles they hope to fill.

Survey Results Part 2: Aspirations

The first part of our survey asked people about their aspirations and goals, and included questions about where they would like to be in five years, what type of professional development planning they undertook, and what detailed elements of professional development were most important to them.

“I would like to remain in the museum field. But I would like to be at a larger institution that is financially more stable and that has the staffing and collection to be more ambitious programmatically. My goals would be to make the museum’s collection more relevant to the communities and audiences we serve – to make art a greater part of our everyday lives.”

Survey Results Part 3: Professional Development

To make their goals a reality, respondents noted that ongoing professional development matters to them. They want to be successful in the jobs they are doing, but also training up for the next opportunity. They want to make sure they “don’t take steps in the wrong direction, or steps that aren’t moving forward.” They would welcome a structured program of professional development, flexible enough to accommodate very busy schedules and heavy workloads, and composed of a mix of services including formal educational opportunities, mentoring, peer networks and the chance to learn more on the job by taking on projects and special programs.

Survey Results Part 4: What Future Leaders Want to Learn

The next wave of top executives in our field are looking to build analytical “hard skills” as well as interpersonal “soft skills.” Finance, fundraising, marketing, and technology were all named often as topics that people want to know more about. Working more effectively in groups, overall strategy, and working with boards were also mentioned more than a few times.

Survey Results Part 5: The Best Method for Learning

Our survey asked people about the style and delivery of professional development programs that they had found particularly helpful in the past, and encouraged them to think about how they want to learn going forward.

Survey Results Part 6: Barriers to Learning

There were three leading barriers to taking part in ongoing professional development and learning: competing demands on individual’s time, the challenge of balancing demands at work and at home, and cost. The time and financial investment required introduce a unique challenge for these professionals. Respondents felt that it was often difficult to assess whether an opportunity would be worth their time and money before taking part in the learning. Designing a solution to these barriers is essential if people are to commit to these programs over the longer term.

Survey Results Part 7: Responses to Questions One through Nine

We do not have permission from the survey respondents to share the raw data, however we hope the following summary will provide additional material for discussion. As you will see, the survey sample is small and the range of responses are therefore only suggestive of the complete picture for the next cohort of leaders in arts and culture. We reviewed the data in light of our experience working with and talking with cultural professionals over the last several years, and took note of data that matched our prior experiences, and also the data that did not. We hope you will add your thoughts to help fill in the picture and help identify critical areas for more comprehensive research.