Financial Management in the Arts in Canada

In this edition of At The Mic, we bring you Heather Young of Young Associates in conversation with the ACCA’s Jane Needles. Heather is an expert in Financial Management for the Arts and has just published two books on the subject which are something that should be on every consultant’s bookshelf and in every Arts Administration teacher’s required reading lists for their students.

ACCA recognizes the generous support of Unity Design Studio for sponsoring this podcast! — Unity Design Studio (https://www.unitydesignstudio.ca) is a high-ranked B Corp architecture firm with over 50 years experience designing many arts and culture venues, including the new Canadian Canoe Museum which you heard about in our last podcast!

Chapters:

• 00:00 - Introduction and Welcome
• 00:18 - Guest Introduction: Heather Young
• 01:05 - Heather's Expertise and Background
• 01:44 - Discussion on Heather's Books
• 03:17 - Impact of the Pandemic on the Arts
• 05:24 - Regional and Organizational Differences
• 10:30 - New Financial Models and Community Engagement
• 19:07 - Challenges in Arts Administration
• 26:29 - Conclusion and Farewell

Useful links from this episode:

• Purchase “Finance for the Arts in Canada”: https://www.youngassociates.ca/finance-for-the-arts-in-canada
• Young Associates' free glossary: https://www.youngassociates.ca/glossary/
• Scale Collaborative: https://scalecollaborative.ca/programs-and-initiatives/
• Thriving Nonprofits (one of Scale's programs): https://www.thrivingnonprofits.ca/
• Mass Culture - https://massculture.ca/
• Alex Sarian, “The Audacity of Relevance”: https://ecwpress.com/products/the-audacity-of-relevance/
• Max Wyman, “The Compassionate Imagination”: https://www.cormorantbooks.com/the-compassionate-imagination/
• David Maggs, “Art and the World After This”: https://metcalffoundation.com/publication/art-and-the-world-after-this/

Heather Clara Young, CPB (Principal, Young Associates) founded her company in Toronto in 1993 to provide bookkeeping, payroll, training, consulting and data management services to not-for-profits and charities, specializing in the arts and culture sector. Heather teaches accounting and financial management in Humber College’s Arts Management program, and has taught for Humber’s Fundraising and Volunteer Management program and University of Toronto’s Arts Management program. She was the 2012 recipient of the Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture, and a 2004 recipient of Humber College’s Continuing Education Award of Excellence for Outstanding Academic Contribution. Finance for the Arts in Canada (2005, 2023) is a unique self-study guide, reference source and textbook for the accounting and finance functions in cultural organizations. Heather’s experience includes leadership roles with arts and heritage service organizations, theatre and dance producing companies, facilities, festivals and community organizations.

Jane Needles’ wide experience in the arts covers all disciplines of the cultural world, primarily arts administration and teaching administrative techniques.  Her deep involvement with both official language cultures has increased her awareness of their complex diversities. Currently she is President of the Board of the Dollard Centre for the Arts, Secretary to the Board of the Arts Consultants of Canada, Treasurer/Secretary of le Centre d’art Rozynski, and Board member of KingDom Theatre Company (Ottawa) amongst many other involvements with the arts in general.  She taught Arts Administration at Bishops’ University over 27 years. She also taught an on-line Arts Management course for the University of Windsor for five years. She is a mentor for Business for the Arts (Mentoring groups across the country), and also for Futurepreneur, Academos, La Machinerie, Diversité artistique Montreal, En Piste and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, as well as others and acts as private consultant to many entrepreneurial organizations.