The Grand: Community Engagement

The Grand: Community Engagement Kimberly Knox Wilmington University

The Grand: Community Engagement Organizations Mission The Grand Opera House entertains and engages its communities through exceptional, diverse live performances and educational outreach. Committed to broad accessibility and sound financial management, The Grand enhances regional quality of life and contributes to a thriving downtown Wilmington. As steward of a historic Delaware theater is home to several valued arts groups, The Grand affirms the arts vital role within our communities to promote greater understanding and lift the human spirit. Community Engagements Mission To provide meaningful and fun opportunities for arts education, exposure, and enrichment that serves current patrons and builds future audiences.

Demographic Information Currently the demographic focus in on children of ages pre-k to 8th grade. Families, schools, summer camps, daycares and any organization that serve children are also currently targeted to participate in The Grands Summer Childrens Theater. There are no restrictions on the location distance of any of organization or family. Participants include males and females of various cultures and backgrounds. Currently there is a census of approximately 500 children and adults reserved for seating to each of the 5 shows Summer Childrens Theater. The theater has 1200 seats for participants; the census goal is to receive donations for the maximum amount of seats.

The Grand: Community Engagement Policies and Procedures The Grand has Green Policies that apply to all staff. This organization stays

focused on recycling and saving energy. For example the most important green rules are: 1. Shutting off lights when leaving office for more than 15 minutes 2. Recycling all paper in blue bins 3. Each staff member is responsible for their own trash 4. Shutting down computers on the weekends and long term absences 5. Spaces heaters and fans are not permitted for energy purposes. 6. Only print if necessary and use front and back of paper. Other major policies include confidentiality, shredding customer sensitive information, using specific doors for employees and parking in designated areas. All money used from the department budget must be tracked on a shared drive in Microsoft Excel with the person initials. Each employee must use his or her own codes when printing and logging onto the computer to track activity. Since The Grand is a non-profit organization in a large building the space is often rented out and there are other organizations that are within the building. There are policies about etiquette and professionalism. Proper dress and proper language is stressed within the organization.

The Grand: Community Engagement Brief Organizational Structure

Stephen Bailey Executive Director Mark Fields Managing Director

Board Of Directors

The Grand

Bob Parker Technical Director

Jaime Bohn Director of Operations

Terry Cruz Director of Marketing

Kate Gugerty Director of Development

Christine Molino Director of Administration

J.C. Yeaton Design Manager

Pam Manocchio Director of Community Engagement Sana Paula Merchant Digulielmo Community Director of Engagement Finance Associate Teresa Kimberly S Crawford Knox Payroll and Community Benefits Engagement Manager Intern Maryetta Binder Bookkeeping Terhan Chambers Box Office Supervisor

Governance The Executive Director of the entire organization Stephen Bailey has the ultimate governance of all departments. The Board of Directors and the Executive Director govern financial decisions and development of the organization. Their focus is on fundraising and developing events to gain donations to maintain the historic building. The Community Engagement department handles all the programs and activities that involved art education and outreach. The Director of Community Engagement governs all activity that occurs to promote a program or show. The Director of Community Engagement is responsible for maintaining creativity and producing events

The Grand: Community Engagement that encourage art education. The Director of Community Engagement also governs the department financial budget. Funding and Relationships The Grand is funded my many sources and has multiple relationships with other businesses, organizations and individuals. Some of the funders and sponsors are AstraZeneca, DuPont, Capital One, Bank of America, Crawley Fund, Laffey-McHugh

Foundation and Harry & Evelyn Russell. Funding is also gained through Planned Giving and program donations. The Grand had revenue of over $6 million in 2010. The Delaware Division of Arts and Dow sponsor and fund many of the Art Education programs. The Grand has a strong relationship with Chelsea Tavern, which is located across the street from the building. Chelsea Tavern caters all events for The Grand. Another source of funding and income is renting space. Organizations such as First State Ballet, Womens Journal, The Masons, Mobius and Opera Delaware rent office space at The Grand. This has built a relationship where paying rent is not always financial; services are often traded which benefits both organizations. The public is also able to rent space from the Grand for personal events or concerts. The Grand has relationships with almost every music and art organization in Delaware. Other relationships include vocational arts high school and local colleges for internships and employment. Strengths, Trends and Challenges The Grand appears to have been successful over the years. One of the strengths that help maintain the organization would be their relationship with other organizations. The Grand has repeated customers that support various programs because of the

The Grand: Community Engagement relationships The Grand has with others. For example, the Summer Childrens Theater

program is built on partnerships with organizations such as Delaware Childrens Theater, Great Shows for Kids, Ritz Theatre Company and Wilmington Drama League. These actors and actress often perform to bring in donations to The Grand. Positive reputation and strong relationships help make The Grand a success. Another strength The Grand has would be the innovative staff. New ideas help to maintain the mission of the organization. Staff is constantly thinking of new ways to reach out into the community. Almost all staff members have an artistic background, which is a bonus for connections in the industry. The teamwork is proven in the final product of material. The chemistry between co-workers appears strong. The team work together well and provide constructive feedback to each other. One of challenges The Grand appears to have is organization. Although the team produces great work, the organizational skills put programs at risk for failure. For example, the process of receiving ticket orders for various programs appears unorganized. The box office handles tickets but customers are also able to book tickets by emailing the community engagement department directly. Keeping track of all the orders can be challenging when there are multiple channels that are not communicating. This delays the process of sending receipts and confirmation letters to customers. Another challenge, which is common in most non-profits, is limited staff. For example the community engagement department is a makeup of two people. Two people have to prepare, plan and execute different events to raise money and engage the community. The director is constantly in meetings and on conference calls. This leave limited time to focus on budget goals and fundraising. The other community engagement

The Grand: Community Engagement associate works many late nights and often complains about being behind with paperwork. Doing more with less has been a challenge in the non-profit sector for years. This is why having the motivation and passion for the mission is important. Trends within the organization are what help The Grand maintain success. There are multiple trends within The Grand such as the Green Policies. It appears that all employees respect the policies and follow the trend of cutting off their lights when they leave their office. This has lower the electric bill tremendously, reported by the Community Engagement Director. Another trend within the organization would be engaged work ethic. The employees set the tone of the environment. The employees have a trend of working effectively on their assigned task. The relationship within the organization appears effective and productive. A cost effective trend that continuously occur is internships and volunteer help. The Grand constantly has free help. This organization receives interns from high school and colleges along with volunteers. This is one of the smartest trends because it brings different ideas to the organization and fresh talent. This trend has also helped with the

hiring process and eliminated new hire training. The Grand appears to have saving money as a top priority from bartering services with tenants of similar interest and using free help. Internship Role The internship role has been hands-on exposure to some of the day-to-day tasks of a Director. Working in the Community Engagement Department the internship role is administration and learning how different processes work. As an intern I have the same

The Grand: Community Engagement responsibilities as a Community Engagement Associate. I have been working directly

under the Director of Community Engagement and assisting with program management. I have been balancing budgets and completing customer orders. My focus program currently is Summer Childrens Theater. Some tasks are: Monitoring sales and donations of Summer Childrens Theater by managing excel worksheets has allowed me to view budgets. Completing purchase orders of money spent from budget Communicating with customers through phone and email Data Entry Assisting with marketing material Writing letters of receipts and confirmations to customers

A new program will begin in July called Summer in the Parks. I plan to engage in managing this program as well by attending to some of the offsite events. Managing this program will include ensuring activities are executed properly and artists are paid for their time. Completing an internship at The Grand has been truly an eye opening experience. Servicing the community through Art education broadens horizons and talents. The Grand provides alternative activities to the community by providing insight and appreciation for the Arts.