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on Creating Arts Admin Jobs to Serve Regional Needs by Micki Stirling location representation on provincial arts boards, communication and publicity through a directory, an annual arts brochure and a periodic newsletter. I will also provide a role model for professionalism in the arts and offer consulting and training to other groups on a fee-for-service basis. What have you learnt at the North Shore Arts Commission that you didn't learn through your courses? Primarily, I wanted to just see what it's like to be a "grown-up' in the business. Brenda has allowed me to see how she handles her mail and her scheduling; which mailing lists are worth being on; what it's like to serve three municipalities simultaneously; how the Arts Commission interacts with other agencies such as the Vancouver Cultural Alliance; how the Commission, the Cultural Alliance and the Regional Arts Council are similar and different (and how these models relate to W K R A C and its ability to serve the region); administrator support and survival techniques; etc. How is the training program progressing and how would you design it differently in hindsight? I am very pleased with the content of what I'm learning and the reaction of our member councils to the services proposed for the next year. Funders are very interested in establishing revenue sources to reduce dependence on grants and we already have one council interested in paying to have me come do a workshop with their board! Future demand will be influenced by the results of that workshop. The main change I would make would be to have scheduled less training into the time available. When applying for funding, it is hard to resist the temptation to sound superhuman. With the realities of my family life, working 40 hours a week with no holiday time has been difficult, especially during the s What will you do if you don't receive funding for Phase 2? I am fairly confident that we will find funding. Having developed a concrete three-year vision for this training program, it is fairly easy to transfer the ideas to new funders' formats. We can also develop ways to carry on with the training within the regular W K R A C operations. I will use the skills I have already learned to give workshops and consult on a fee-for-service basis as much as possible. AH this training is very exciting to me. Cultural workers have important jobs to do and it is wonderful not to have to reinvent the wheel each time. After years of learning the hard way (by trial and error), it feels like a great luxury for me to be learning how to do things more easily and cost-effectively. I am looking forward to sharing this knowledge with my home community. How is the training program being Mich Stirling, Coordinator of the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council (WKRAC), carried out? The training is being carried out in phases. recently spent some time at the North Shore Arts Commission office as part of a unique Phase 1 (Academic) is being funded by a six-month Canada Job Strategy project training program funded by WKRAC and with Employment Canada (April-October). Canada Employment and Immigration. Arts Access wanted to find out more about W K R A C is currently seeking funding for Phase 2 (Mentorships). what she was doing and why. What job are you training for and why? I'm being trained as an arts administrator. What is unusual about my job. though, is that I will act as a resource person to all the arts organizations in the West Kootenay region. This is a large mountainous region geographically isolated from Vancouver and Calgary by about 10 hours driving time in each direction. W K R A C and its 10 member arts councils cover 31.457 square kilometres. In this area there is only onefull-time, paid arts administrator (at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson). I will soon become the second, but the first to serve the entire community. The training project is designed to be a model for all rural, small, or geographically isolated arts organizations in need of more qualified administration. Other areas of the country with large geographical and small population bases could consider investing in the training, of a 'local expert,' providing a non-traditional job to someone with a commitment lo ihe community and experience with local issues. A want of trained administrative professionals has meant that local arts organizations manned by volunteers stagger along from project grant to project grant, with no stability in finances or personnel. The energies of executive volunteers tend to wane when dealing with the complexities of funding, communication and programs without paid professional support. Projects which could be self-supporting or a( least run in the black incur deficits due to lack of trained personnel, lead time or continuity of personnel, office space and procedures. Experienced workers bum out on the instability of grant funding or U I C incomes' and change professions or move away. One full-time professional available to the arts community through the W K R A C network, on the other hand, should improve the stability of many groups by providing a model for effective management and acting as a resource for training and consultation vs ithout the cost of importing an expert from elsewhere. 1 have lived in the Kootenays for eleven years and was chosen for the administrative trainee position due to my experience and commitment to the regional arts council, arts administration as a career, and to living in the Kootenays. Wliat exactly will you do? As the administrator. I will coordinate regular W K R A C activities such as networking meetings, training opportunities, an annual juried art show. The curriculum for the first phase was designed to fill gaps in my competencies. Building on a business administration background. I am taking the following courses in my six-month program: · Computer training in word processing, spreadsheets and desktop publishing · Distance Ed courses from Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton-- Contemporary Non-Profit Management; Board Community and Government Relations · Two courses from the Justice Institute Training the Trainers series-- Fundamentals of Instructional Planning; Delivery Tips & Techniques · Survey of Western Art History course from the Open Learning Agency · Participation in the Assembly of B . C . Arts Council annual conference · S.F.U. at Harbour Centre--Management. Leadership & Decision Making · a short internship with Brenda Berck. Cultural Development Officer. North Shore Arts Commission Phase 2 will focus more on internships-- the plans include work with Richard Reid, painter and founding Director of the Grand Forks Art Gallery; a tutorial series on aesthetic issues with Lorna Obermayr. artist, retired Gallery Director and Professor Emérita at Idaho State University; and an internship with Shawn Lamb, Director of the Nelson Museum. A l l of these internships will take place in the Kootenays. What makes this project unique? We have used a wide variety of resources accessible from the Kootenays lo meet a federal list of competencies required for professional status as an arts administrator. away from family and home office for the trainee and maximizes regional networking and recognition of local professional Also, the combination of academic training and hands-on experience is ideal--not to mention the fact that I got to put the training program together. How do you feet about being perceived as 1 do not feel that I will ever be an expert, per se. I see myself as a facilitator. I believe I have something important to offer and my experience with local issues and groups will make the application of my skills more relevant and cost-effective than importing someone from the coast or Alberta. I have been a long-time volunteer with arts and other non-profit groups in the Kootenays and have a good sense of which skills are needed to round out the expertise which already exists in the communis . A n , Acce, Nov/Dec 1993 7