How The Saint John Theatre Company Is Preparing For The Future In A Post-Pandemic Recovery
On National Philanthropy Day, November 15, Stephen Tobias, Executive Director of Saint John Theatre Company, Inc., shares how the organization is weathering the challenges from COVID-19 as it prepares to launch a capital campaign to transform the old County Court House into a new playhouse and performance centre.
How is the Saint John Theatre Company coping these days?
We’re sort of in a position…where it feels a little like survivor’s guilt because I feel we’re doing really well.
There were a couple of key things we did right, off the bat…some early decisions that we made at the start of the COVID crisis. One was we can’t stop. We can’t just sit still. I’m a big believer in no rash actions, but quick and decisive action. In a crisis situation, the only resource that really matters is time.
We make decisions using the best knowledge we have based on sound principles, quickly. So, if we make the decision quickly, and we’ve made a mistake, at least we’ll have time to formulate a new decision and redirect the course.
The first decision was to get the teams moving. Everyone was shell-shocked. When you think about what was happening in the world and on the news on the week of March 16th, everything was shutting down. It felt like the world was coming to an end. For us, it wasn’t like we were just shutting down one theatre production, or two or three.
But there was also a lot of great uncertainty. People were worried about their families, their friends and neighbors. We went from feeling that way to learning how to start-up again and create momentum. We quickly learned how to hold meetings, using Zoom. Something that was unheard of and completely foreign to us eight months ago.
However, we swiftly instituted regular team meetings via Zoom, which were as much about being social as they were work-oriented as a way of keeping the team connected and having people communicating with one another. We also initiated short-term, achievable goals for everyone to build momentum.
Then we set up ourselves with a simple task: find a musician and try to do a live performance at the BMO Theatre with no audience. But live-stream it on Facebook. Because we know how to do that! So, within four weeks, we went from shutting down to programming again.
Truthfully, it was technically primitive – simply put together, but it was programming…and we were learning. One thing I always say is that “the future shows up…whether we are ready for it or not.” The key is to keep planning for the long-term – even while in the midst of a short-term crisis.
Another key decision was we weren’t going to worry if we were right or wrong or failing. We just felt we had to start doing things. And, because everything was so new, the only way we would know if something was going to work or not, was by simply doing it. We weren’t going to know how to do something by just thinking about it.
Theorizing is only useful up to a certain point. Eventually, you have to act. We knew we had to actually do it…and accept that for everything we did, there was going to be an element of risk that could lead to failure. Many things worked but, there were things we did where we would say afterward, “We’re never going to do that again, but now we know.”
It’s easy to be brave when you trust your team. We feel privileged to be a core team of people who have been working together for 10 to 25 years. And, in all of those years, we have faced numerous challenges and crises. We have taken on numerous risks creatively…and organizationally. We’ve always managed, even when things didn’t always work out as planned, to salvage something.
That develops a lot of organizational knowledge and confidence, and trust with one another. Also, it develops shared capacity…and resilience. We’re a good, functioning, working team. So, when we’re faced with a new challenge, we often refer back to something we did in the past that was similar to help us figure things out.
We’re now able to get through tough situations and not wait for a rescue. We have a willingness to manage risks. We’re able to play the hand we’re dealt, instead of the one we wished we had.
I think we’re lucky because we’ve been constantly evolving from day one. Managing change, and the difficulties that sometimes comes with change are now part of what we do. We’re good problem-solvers. Our team literally went from being shell-shocked and paralyzed in mid-March to by July, when our morale was probably the highest I’ve ever seen it!
The team was really taking great joy in tackling some huge challenges and figuring out creative solutions. We revelled in the success every time something worked…and it has been a great boost to the company’s morale. While no one ever wishes for something like a global pandemic, we feel really good about our resilience, clear-sightedness…and ability to address challenges.
It’s been suggested in the nonprofit sector that in spite of the challenges from the pandemic and its fallout, there are also opportunities. Curious to hear your thoughts about this.
The COVID crisis has definitely been a double-edge sword…at least that’s how I’m learning how to see it. If it had happened two years ago, we would’ve probably walked away from the Court House project, as we wouldn’t have been far enough into it. We would’ve looked at all the hurdles created by the pandemic and it would’ve been foolhardy for us to continue. You don’t start climbing the mountain when there’s a blizzard at the top.
If the pandemic had started three years from now, we would’ve probably been just about finished the building, and looking at one another saying “we just completed something that makes absolutely no sense in the world we’re now living.”
Because COVID happened when it did, we were already committed to the project and were into it. The pandemic has forced us to sit down and re-examine the project and determine how we can adapt. This has allowed us to reconfigure the whole project from a design perspective to building with an eye to managing physical distancing, cleaning protocols, and any other things related to a pandemic- and flu-like situation.
As well, we’re making allowances for greater use of video technology, broadcasting live performances, and editing. If anything, the pandemic has given us the opportunity to create a really unique, forward-thinking, performing arts facility…and future proof it.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare a lot of society’s inequalities, worn health and social services, and revealed systematic racism, it has also shown us that the culture of philanthropy is a real thing. The pandemic has revealed those nonprofit organizations that have a strong philanthropic culture ─ which ones are able to cope and still fundraise, and which ones aren’t. Can you comment on your organization’s culture of philanthropy, and its ability to match the company’s needs with the donor’s desire to give and make a difference?
A couple of things strike me within the arts and cultural world: there are two key concepts that appear to be at odds with one another. There are a lot of arts organizations that are inward-looking. All of their thinking and work they do is focused on how they can support and nurture artists…how are they serving their artists? And, that’s all valid!
However, our approach from day one, thirty years ago was very outward-looking. What is the impact we are having on our community? And not simply, are we putting on a production that is entertaining people (which we always hope will be the case!). How can we use that activity and our skills to be of greater benefit to the community?
That’s how our education and training programs, and community outreach evolved. All of these things that we do when we look at a project and ask “Who might the stakeholders be in the community?”
For instance, when we produced Tuesdays with Morrie, ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a subject of importance in that story. So, let’s sit down with the ALS Society and see how we can use this production to help them do what they do. Because of this outlook, it has allowed us to build a lot of connections throughout all areas in the community…and not just the cultural areas.
My second thought is that what we’re now learning how to do, in the context of our capital campaign, is how do we leverage all this goodwill so that things will work both ways?
Frankly, for many years we’ve become very good at a transactional form of fundraising. Meaning, if you give us a certain amount of money, these are the things we’re willing to do in return. Whatever it is…in the form of recognition, tickets, t-shirts, etc. We were very good at selling things to our donors. It was retail fundraising. Very transactional.
We’ve been working over the last couple of years on making the shift in our thinking to saying: This is the impact we’re having on the community ─ will you help us in making that impact? So, we’re now viewing ourselves as…and the public is also viewing us as…more of a conduit for the good work we do. In the end, they’re not contributing money to the Saint John Theatre Company or the Atlantic Repertory Company, or the BMO Studio or Stephen Tobias, they’re investing in the community, using the SJTC as a conduit to make those things happen.
That’s been a real shift in mindset for us because that’s not where we started from. We did very well over the last twenty years in transactional, retail fund development…and we grew the company a lot through that way of thinking. But, there’s a limit as to how far that will get us. And, now that we’re moving into a whole different world, we have to learn how to do things differently.
This has all been very organic. It’s not like we sat down and had a focus group, and said, “Okay. We’re now changing direction.” It just became a gradual shift in thinking. The success of our first capital campaign for the Princess Street location twelve years ago created a big change in our thinking…and that elevated our sights a lot. Because until then, we didn’t know what was possible. The success of that project gave us confidence and started to change our thinking.
Over the years, we’ve had more-and-more feedback from the community about the value of the organization in the community. The perceived value and our impact in the community, has really changed my thinking personally. We had people on the team in the past who would ask, “If someone buys a subscription to our series, what can we give them to thank them for subscribing?” I would reply, “What about three great nights in the theatre? What about showcasing our regional theatre-makers? What about making our community a better place?”
This mindset has also come into our fund development. We’ve learned how to elevate the conversation by looking at some of the organizations we partner with and seeing how they engage their community. I started to realize that there were other leading organizations out there that had a level of engagement and support different from ours. They were communicating with their community differently than we were…and I could see they were achieving a degree of success in their growth plans by behaving in this way.
That really motivated me to learn more about philanthropy and fundraising…and think more about how we can behave as an organization to create a culture of philanthropy from within. When you look at all the other things the company now does, we have greater relevance. This comes from having cultivated donors and funders beyond just ticket buyers. Our fundraising is a result of community engagement and development, working with our community stakeholders, partnerships and collaborations…and always communicating with them.
National Philanthropy Day
Philanthropy means “the love of humankind” and National Philanthropy Day® (NPD) is a special day on November 15th set aside for people to come together, recognize and pay tribute to the great contributions that philanthropy – and those people active in the philanthropic community – have made in our lives, our communities and our world. It reminds us of what we can all achieve. As we celebrate NPD and our achievements, we embrace the promise of a better and hopeful tomorrow for all.
AFP New Brunswick Chapter
Formed in 2015, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) – New Brunswick Chapter advances philanthropy by providing its members and the nonprofit community with valuable professional development and career advancement opportunities for fundraisers at all levels. Its members are committed to upholding AFP’s Code of Ethical Standards, the Donor’s Bill of Rights, culture of philanthropy and donor-centred fundraising when serving their organizations, and the donors and funders who support them.
AFP’s mandate is to foster the development and growth of fundraising professionals by promoting philanthropy and high ethical standards in fundraising and nonprofit management through advocacy, research, education, professional development and certification programs.
John Wong, CFRE, is the Director, Community & Fund Development, with Brilliant Labs.