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Emerging from the pandemic, ballet companies will struggle to find funding and audiences in an increasingly competitive atmosphere which requires a strong set of skills to move past the traditional markers of success; a well-known dancing career or profile and being of a certain “lineage” or groomed by a departing Artistic Director.
Historically, women are reluctant to even apply for Artistic Director positions due to their lack of access to pipeline jobs that create a compelling resume for leadership roles. Additionally, Boards of Directors, often older donors, are oblivious of their unconscious bias that equates competency with being male, and search firms are unaware of many talented, potential candidates as they refer to the same sources repeatedly.
While the performing arts, and dance in particular, has recently been focused on race, the industry needs to recognize that women, particularly women of color, face extraordinary obstacles to leadership. They continue to be primary care takers for elders and children, while affordable high quality day care has always been scarce, during the global pandemic, the lack of access has become acute, especially difficult at a time when many school age children were not able to attend in person classes.
Raising the Barre: Curriculum for the Next Generation of Leadership in Dance offers creative solutions to properly equip female dance leaders of the future with vital skills to strengthen their careers. This free series will be accessible on the DDP website with each session accompanied by a tangible resource. Viewers can watch, and rewatch each episode and utilize the assets to compile a robust toolkit to build their careers.
Raising the Barre: Interview with Lauren Cramer
Raising the Barre: Curriculum for the Next Generation of Leadership in Dance offers creative solutions to properly equip female dance leaders of the future with vital skills to strengthen their careers. This free series will be accessible on the DDP website with each session accompanied by a tangible resource. Viewers can watch, and rewatch each episode and utilize the assets to compile a robust toolkit to build their careers.
In this first interview, Dance Data Project® President and Founder, Elizabeth Yntema and Lauren B. Cramer, partner at the New York law firm of McLaughlin & Stern, discuss the processes and documents vital to starting a dance company, a festival, or a touring production.
Dance Company In A Box
The following suite of documents were created by Lauren Cramer to assist in starting a company, a festival, or a touring production.
- Certificate of Incorporation: The document issued by the state government which provides authorization to form a corporation.
- Bylaws: Those rules that determine the nonprofit company’s structure to help guide and regulate its activities.
- SS-4: The form submitted to the IRS providing the basic makeup of the newly formed corporation. The IRS uses the form to grant an Employer Identification Number.
- Conflicts of Interest Policy: Mandatory state and IRS policy for the company to navigate potential conflicts of interest for its Directors, Officers and key decision making persons. This is to ensure that that the mission is number one and not personal benefit.
- Annual Disclosure: Best practices and mandatory in some states. Individual company board directors, officers and key persons provide list of business and volunteer relationships for transparency which ensure that potential conflicts of interest are made known in writing (comply with the conflict of interest policy).
- Code of Conduct: A set of rules which outlines the rules, responsibilities and proper practices of the Company.
- Independent Contractor Agreements: A contract that lays out the terms of a person hired, (not as an employee) but as an independent contractor which spells outlines their obligations, scope, and deadlines of the work which has been agreed by everyone.
- Covid Agreement: A contract that releases the Company of liability and waives a participant’s right to seek or take legal action from all claims, demands, and losses which might relate to COVID-19.
- Mutual Non-Disclosure: A confidentiality agreement between two or more people (including the Company, dancers, artists or other participants) to share and receive private information relating to the Company’s operations, work, or relationships.
- Additional Company COI Language: When you complete a standard form provided by any state, often there is no space on the form for the language you need; here is an example of further descriptive mission language (or later in this form for the mandatory IRS language).
Another wonderful resource can be found from Exponent Philanthropy, Foundation Recordkeeping: A Quick Guide.
Conversations from Raising the Barre
