Bookshelf 1. Essential Bookshelf

A Shortlist of Titles for the Smaller Arts Enterprise

The collected wisdom of those who have gone before you - running small enterprises in the arts or the voluntary sector. Essential reading for effective management in the performing arts. Selected by SAM's Books in association with the Independent Theatre Council.

Just About Managing
by Sandy Adirondack
Pub: LVSC 4th Edition 2006 £25.
Jam packed full of wisdom, drawn from a wealth of personal experience, and some management theory. Covers a wide range of issues - people management, meetings, committees, time, stress, etc. Essential reading for managers of small organisations.
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Voluntary but not Amateur
by Jacki Reason and Ruth Hayes
Pub: LVSC 7th edition 2004 £25 ISBN 1872558232X
The companion volume to Just About Managing. A clear, concise guide to the major legal aspects of running a smaller voluntary organisation. Essential reference.
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Through the Maze - A Do-It-Yourself Guide To Planning in the Arts
by Janet Summerton and Sue Kay
Pub: South West Arts 1995 free ISBN 1874396043
How to achieve the plan without the pain. A step by step, DIY consultancy - how to achieve a worthwhile business plan and enjoy the process. Written from experience with small arts organisations. An excellent example of recycling best practice.
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Planning Together
by George Gawlinski and Lois Graessle
Pub: Planning Together Associates 1999 ISBN 0952857715

This is a practical workbook that presents a model for planning as a team, with a choice of activities at each stage.

Managing Your Community Building - A Practical Handbook for people running buildings in local communities
by Peter Hudson
Pub: Community Matters 2000 3rd edition
£19.95 ISBN 0900787759
A clear approach to an impressive range of issues in running a public building of almost any size. Chapters include constitutional and organisational matters, finance, insurance, licenses and other legal permissions, heating, lighting and cleaning, furniture and equipment, and rules and relationships.
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Creative Arts Marketing
by Elizabeth Hill, Catherine O'Sullivan, Terry O'Sullivan
Pub: Butterworth Heinemann 2003 2nd edition ISBN 0750657375

This covers theory and practice. It includes case studies showing how marketing techniques have worked in practice. It covers a wide range of marketing issues including audience research, direct marketing, planning and managing, press and PR, special events, pricing and touring. A fascinating read, full of ideas. Review

Charitable Status - A Practical Handbook
by Andrew Phillips
Pub: DSC 5th edition 2003 ISBN 1900360837
A step by step guide to registering a new charity and a practical handbook for running a charity. This covers everyday matters of role and responsibilities of trustees, accounts and reporting, and the tricky bits - conflict of interests, political activity, campaigning and trading.
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Care, Diligence and Skill: A corporate governance handbook for arts organisations
by Graham Berry and Paul Pia
Pub: Scottish Arts Council 5th edition 2002 ISBN 1851191054 free
A useful guide to the role and responsibilities of board members in arts organisations. Full of wise words and warnings! It is most relevant to organisations that are limited companies with charitable status and employing a number of staff members. Review
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Complete Guide to Creating and Managing New Projects for Charities and Voluntary Organisations
by Alan Lawrie
Pub: DSC 2nd edition 2002 ISBN 1 903991 153 £12.50
A clear, well written guide that takes you through all the necessary stages from idea to viable project. It covers innovation, mapping support, designing and structuring the project and seeing it through to implementation. Review
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Art Management: Entrepreneurial Style
By Giep Hagoort
Eburon 2001 ISBN 9051668023

Giep Hagoort runs the Master Programme of Art and Media Management at Utrecht School of the Arts. The book is truly international in its examples and suggests that arts managers need to develop a 'glocal' attitude. To let the start of Chapter 1 speak for itself: 'This book is about art management, entrepreneurial style. It is intended to give practical, theoretical and conceptual insight into the management of profit and non-profit cultural organizations. The combination of art, culture and management and of theory and practice will, we believe, provide a real aid to those who want to acquire knowledge about running cultural businesses. The reader will find a lot of practical cases, case studies and learning questions, which will aid the understanding of the complexity of art and cultural management. Review

Partnerships for Learning: A guide to evaluating arts education projects By Felicity Woolf
Pub ACE revised and updated 2003 free ISBN 0728707918
Written to assist people involved in arts education projects understand evaluation clearly and to evaluate effectively, according to their particular needs. It divides evaluation into 5 stages - planning, collecting evidence, assembling and interpreting, reflecting and moving forward, reporting and sharing. Well-designed and with useful summaries, much of the information here could be very useful in other contexts too. There are reminders of pros and cons of various methods, and mini case studies of good practice. Excellent as an introduction or a refresher on the subject, this is a useful addition to the material available on evaluation, and particularly good on its respect for partners' differing measures of success.
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Building Better Relationships With Schools: A Guide for Arts Organisations
by Catherine Rose with Sarah Beddell and Anne Roberts
Pub: Eastern Touring Agency 1998 £10.00 ISBN 0953432807

Developed out of research undertaken by the ETA, this guide is written for specialist education managers and marketers in arts organisations, or for those arts managers who cover these areas along with other responsibilities. There is a summary of research into the needs of schools, a call for education and marketing managers to work together, and an up-to-date overview of the world of schools, teachers and the curriculum - key stages, literacy hour, subject status, and out of school clubs. There are suggestions for overcoming barriers to attendance and participation, and case studies of good practice. The book includes useful checklists and exercises, and plenty of practical suggestions to improve practice.

Culture and Learning: Creating arts and heritage education projects
Pub: ACE 2002 ISBN 0 7287 0885 X Free
This is designed to be useful to the full range of artists, organisations and groups involved in arts and heritage projects for the first time. However experienced practitioners will still find inspiration and useful checklists, budget headings, project planner etc here. The well-written text is interspersed with case studies of innovative projects. What also really impressed me were the contacts lists for sources of further information.
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A Guide to Audience Development
by Heather Maitland
Pub: ACE 1997 free ISBN 0 7287 0750 0
This valuable handbook defines audience development, and considers why develop audiences? What does audience development do? What does it involve? This book provides a step by step guide to developing and managing audience development projects including case studies from a wide range of organisations.
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Marketing and Touring: A practical guide to marketing an event on tour
By Heather Maitland
Pub ACE 2004 ISBN 0728710277 £10
This guide aims to help companies and venues to market touring arts events more effectively. It can be used in an art form, on any scale and in any capacity – and is particularly useful for theatre and dance. It contains many case studies and tips from practitioners and had an editorial team drawn from companies and venues. It stresses the value in developing effective partnerships and planning ahead. There’s also plenty of useful stuff on communicating with audiences.
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Create! A toolkit for creative problem solving in the not-for-profit sector
By Mark Butcher
Pub DSC 2005 ISBN 1903991579 £14.95
The author describes creativity as the critical (and often ignored) element in the successful application of the management skills. “Creativity enables you to see beyond the accepted, usual, normal ways of acting and behaving – in order to find a better, more effective or quicker way of achieving the results you need.”
It is a wonderful resource with an enormous range of powerful ideas presented in an accessible and friendly manner. There are practical exercises to try out with well-reasoned explanations of why it is worth giving them a try and each chapter includes examples of creative ideas put into practice within the voluntary sector. A very valuable toolkit. Review
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The Minute Taker's Handbook
By Lee Comer, Paul Ticher
Pub DSC 2002 ISBN 1 9000360 99 3 £9.95
From the origins of the word, the role and purposes of minutes and the minute-taker, the importance of preparation, to note-taking skills, ideas on layout and what to do after the meeting – it is all here. Wonderfully useful stuff, not only for minute-takers, but also for all co-ordinators of the meeting process and chairs of the meetings themselves. It covers both formal and less formal settings, explains meeting conventions, and has a glossary of terms. Review
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Complete Fundraising Handbook
by Nina Botting and Michael Norton
Pub: DSC 4th edition 2001 £16.95 ISBN 1 900360 09 8
A comprehensive overview of fundraising practice suitable for newcomers and the more experienced. It covers first principles of fundraising, sources of funds, fundraising techniques, strategy, working with people and communication skills. There are loads of good ideas here and some timely reminders of potential problems. Appendices include codes of practice, model forms and contracts as well as useful addresses.
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Bookshelf 1