Australia Council Arts Governance Program

The Australia Council Arts Governance Program is a unique, tailor-made training and networking program designed to help Australian arts organisations to thrive. An initiative of the Australia Council for the Arts and delivered by the Institute of Community Directors Australia (an Our Community enterprise), the program provides practical information to arts organisations on how to get the best out of the board, and how to enhance the relationship between the board and the organisation's senior artistic and management staff.The challenges arts organisations face can at times feel overwhelming, but good management paired with good governance and an optimistic mindset can ensure an organisation stays on top of it all, survives and thrives.

Program Outcomes

• Enhanced understanding of arts governance by boards and senior leadership in organisations of all sizes
• Strengthened understanding between senior leadership, including artistic leadership, and board members
• Greater confidence in managing board and organisational performance
• Greater confidence in guiding the artistic health of an organisation.

Program Components

The Arts Governance Program consists of a number of discrete but inter-related components, delivered in venues across the country, as well as online.

The components of the program comprise an arts governance workshop series and webinar series, both of which are aimed at the leaders (including board members/chairs, as well as senior management and artistic staff) of small-medium arts organisations.

The workshops cost $350 per organisation (for a maximum of three people). This includes for each registrant a two-year membership of the Institute of Community Directors Australia (ICDA), a specialist not-for-profit governance membership body. The webinars are free.

Program Framework

The program will explore all of the themes and topics in the diagram below in greater or lesser depth depending on the program component and the needs and interests of each audience.

Two key themes will run through all program components: the central importance of artistic vision to an arts organisation's vibrancy and success; and the critical role of board culture in creating a high-performing organisation.