In the last year, Creative Careers has seen an increase in new appointments across diverse roles in the arts and cultural sector, however, one area in particular is seeing a significant uplift – arts and cultural organisations are increasingly approaching Creative Careers to help them source philanthropy and development staff to drive their fundraising programmes.
We talk to Mary O’Kennedy, Director at Creative Careers, about this growing trend. Mary has almost 20 years’ experience of consulting to and fundraising for the not-for-profit sector… Following several in-house fundraising roles she established O’Kennedy Consulting in 2002, and in 2014 co-founded Charity Careers Ireland – a specialist executive search services for the not-for-profit sector. In 2016, Mary and Bruce Tait acquired Creative Careers to expand the service from the original jobs board to include an interactive advertising platform and bespoke Executive Search service.
Mary, why do you think there is a rise in the number of creative and cultural organisations recruiting Fundraising and Development staff?
State funding across the not-for-profit sector declined during the economic downturn, which meant that there was a need to diversify income streams. Many charitable organisations, including those in the arts and cultural sector, started looking more seriously at building philanthropic income. Many now raise well in excess of 50% of their revenue from philanthropic funding and any organisation in this position should have at least one member of staff focused on fundraising. Those who traditionally received upwards of 80% from the State are now finding themselves needing to engage with a diverse group of donors from corporate partners and foundations to individual supporters. Support and resource organisations within the sector are also helping. In 2012, the Arts Council made a concerted effort to revitalize the culture of private giving in the arts in Ireland through its RAISE programme. More recently, Business to Arts initiated Fundraising Fellowships which were supported by Dublin City Council. Business to Arts continue to commission of annual reports on private investment in the Irish Arts sector.
While many arts and creative organisations have already hired their first Development or Fundraising Officer, others may still be cautious. How can organisations make sure that investing in a fundraiser will pay off?
Trustees and senior management of charities need to understand that in order to grow their income and in turn their impact they have to invest in key resources, including staff. With regards to fundraising, that means hiring people with experience of donor engagement. If an organisation has never fundraised before, they’ll need to allow at least six months before they start seeing a return on their investment, and at least twelve months before they start seeing significant new income sources.
The organisations that see the best uptake in donor support are those who are really clear about what the money is for. The most important thing is having a strong and impactful Case for Support. If you’re able to express clearly your need for support and where donor’s money will go, you’re likely to get a higher return. A budget deficit, on the other hand, is not a good case for support.
The Board and senior management team (SMT) also need to be engaged. No matter how good your new recruit is, if the Board and SMT aren’t invested in the fundraising strategy, then it’s really not wise to recruit for the position. But with a strong case for financial support and with the buy-in of the organisational leadership you can achieve great things!
Hiring a member of staff or development team must be costly. What should organisations expect to pay to hire good people?
For a Development Executive/Assistant/Officer – entry level – depending on the size, scale, and fundraising targets, you’re looking at a range between €25,000 and €35,000 for someone who can help develop a Friends programme or support community engagement or assist senior staff. Middle management will cost between €35,000 and €55,000. And Directors or Heads of Development would expect to be paid anything from €60,000 to €80,000 plus, particularly if they’re in charge of leading a capital development project.
If you’re looking to attract strategic or high level donors – people who see themselves more as investors – then you’ll need to hire a Head or Director of Development. The same would be true if you want to engage with corporations, trusts, etc.
Creative Careers has seen organisation looking to recruit candidates with job titles such as ‘Fundraising Executive’, ‘Development Officer’, and ‘Individual Giving Manager’. What do the different titles actually mean or is there a difference?
Arts and cultural organisations, and also educational institutions, particularly at third-level, have tended to steer away from the word ‘fundraising’. Traditionally, they’ve talked about ‘philanthropy’. Back when I was working in the Educational Trust at DCU, we didn’t have any ‘fundraisers’, although we were the fundraising entity for the University, we had ‘Development Officers’, ‘Development Managers’, and a ‘Director of Development’. In reality, there is no real difference. But certainly in my experience in the arts and cultural sector, and the broader creative sector, ‘development’ is a much more common term. Possibly it’s felt to be softer than fundraising. But if you’re being really honest about what you want the role to fulfil, then yes – it is fundraising, or at the very least ‘donor engagement’.
Is fundraising the better word then, because you’re more likely to attract people who are clear that it’s a definite part of the remit?
Not necessarily. You just need to be very clear in the job spec that the role will involve fundraising, so don’t over couch it in the language for the person you’re looking to appoint – you should give them the specific fundraising targets within the job spec. Also, there can be another challenge on occasion with the word ‘development’ in that in a number of organisations it doesn’t actually mean fundraising at all – it could actually mean programme development. So you need to be very clear on that. Titles like ‘Individual Giving Manager’ or ‘Donor Development Manager’ are very useful. Or ‘Corporate Partnership Executive’ or ‘Head of Corporate Engagement’ are equally workable as they’re very specific as to what the role entails. Organisations are also beginning to look at legacies in a bigger way so a ‘Legacy Promotion Officer’ is someone who is dealing with people who might consider leaving a legacy to an arts or cultural organisation that they care about.
What’s involved in the job and how can management set realistic goals for their new staff? Or should prospective fundraisers be setting their own goals and targets?
It all goes back to the Case for Support. It’s totally down to what the organisation has decided in its strategic plan; what it wants to achieve and how much money needs to be raised from donors. Targets would normally be agreed before the new fundraising staff are put in place. Fundraisers generally don’t set their own fundraising targets; however, they may set the key avenues or approaches, particularly at a senior level. So if you’re recruiting somebody as a Director of Development, and they’re going in to manage a capital campaign, let’s say a national cultural institution needs to raise €3m or €4m, your Director of Development may help you work out the best routes or avenues to raising your targets, for example 40% corporate, 50% individuals, 10% trusts. They wouldn’t be setting the overall target but they could define the approach to raising the target.
What qualities, qualifications and experience should HR managers be looking for from prospective fundraising or development staff?
If you’re looking to actively engage people then you have to actually like people! Fundraising is not, and has never been, rocket science. There is a certain skillset involved in understanding and determining the motivations of donors at various levels. You need someone you feel can competently and confidently champion your cause to potential donors. Heads of Development tend to be people who are confident and outgoing for the most part. This is perhaps less important for someone involved in donor research or grant applications.
You need somebody who understands what a good return on investment is. The other thing to understand is systems, governance and data protection, which is becoming increasingly important. In general, I find the best fundraisers are people who care about the cause they’re raising funds for – there are exceptions of course but that’s my experience.
Can internal staff be developed or trained into the role of fundraiser?
If you have someone in your organisation who doesn’t currently work in fundraising, but who cares about the organisation and its mission, and who knows the organisation well, then they could potentially be trained into the role. There are training courses that people can attend on specific fundraising areas. In Ireland we have courses such as those run by Charities Institute Ireland and The Wheel. The Institute of Fundraising in the UK offers a wider range of courses and there’s also an annual International Fundraising Congress in Holland every October. New fundraisers in the arts and cultural should also try to engage with network groups, such as the Development Managers’ Forum organised through Business to Arts.
A combination of factors – increasing employment, rising rents, an underfunded arts sector and a growing tech sector – will put pressure on creative employers to find and retain good staff.
With 60,000 new jobs being created in the Irish economy in 2017 according to IBEC and employment growth figures back at 2007 levels, employers in the creative sector will be forced to compete harder for their most important resource – good staff.
Employers are also under financial pressure from existing staff with calls for pay restoration in response to a gradually improving economy.
Pressure from employees is increased by an out of control rental market; rents have risen by 12% year-on-year to June 2017 and more particularly in creative centres like Cork, Galway and Dublin. In Dublin rents are now 18% above peak prices in 2008 and 21.4 percent above peak prices in Galway.
The inevitable result will be entry-level to middle-management staff seeking pay increases simply to remain living within commuting distance of work.
But despite an overall increase in funding for the Department of Arts since 2008, there has been a 22% decrease in Arts Council funding during the same period.
While particular national institutions such as the National Gallery and National Library have benefited from increased Department of Arts funding which was funnelled through the Creative Ireland programme, the hundreds of smaller arts organisations who rely on Arts Council funding to maintain thousands of jobs are suffering from this policy.
These smaller arts organisations will find it difficult to meet demands from existing staff for increases in pay. They’ll find it difficult to attract new staff, particularly when competing with employers in other creative industries offering significantly better wages. They’ll also struggle to live up to the main tenets of ‘Making Great Art Work’, the Arts Council’s policy document which focuses heavily on developing “economically viable careers” for artists.
As is plain to see from the number of Development Officer jobs appearing on Creative Careers in recent months, organisations are looking for alternative sources of funding, particularly from corporate or philanthropic sources.
Many organisations will be hoping Leo Varadkar’s commitment to double arts funding over five years in not just hyperbole. (It’s not the first time he’s promised to double things by 2025.) But the answer is not a simple increase in funding for the Department of Arts. A greater proportion of that increase must go the Arts Council who have a proven record of turning relatively small amounts of money into a significant number of jobs and opportunities in the Arts sector.
The National Campaign for the Arts has called for an increase “of at least 20% to Arts Council core funding, excluding one-off commemorative events or Creative Ireland initiatives” in the 2018 Budget. They want the government to provide a clear plan as to how they will deliver on their promises, i.e. a road map of the annual increases to funding each year for the next five.
The focus on Arts Council funding is essential as it can ensure – better than the Department or Creative Ireland – that increases in funding filter down to artists as well as the staff of creative organisations. Artists are often the last people to feel the benefit of increased funding, particularly after a recession, where organisations use initial increase to reform and restructure. However, through policy and funding – and by addressing the implementation of minimum payments for artists on a sector by sector basis – the Arts Council are best placed to ensure a fairer deal for everyone in the sector.
Brendan Mac Evilly, Recruitment Associate with Creative Careers
(Creative Careers is not funded by or affiliated with the Arts Council.)
If you ask yourself ‘Who or what is a creative?’, the first answer that comes to mind is ‘artists’, since their aim is to produce entirely original work – to bring abstract dreams to life through words, material or performance. But there are undoubtedly other people working to bring ideas to life, to create original events, products and experiences.
The most frequently used definition of the creative industry in economic valuations is the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) which recognized nine creative sectors within the industry.
- Advertising and marketing
- Architecture
- Crafts
- Design: product, graphic and fashion design
- film, TV, video, radio and photography
- IT, software and computer services
- Publishing
- Museums, galleries and libraries
- Music, performing and visual arts
It’s argued that only some parts of IT, software and computer services are classified as creative. Perhaps a more helpful way of defining the creative industry is all those activities that create copyright. So a laptop repair person doesn’t work in the creative industry, but a app developer does.
Others break the creative industry into three distinct parts: arts, culture and creative media[1]
Arts: visual arts including paintings, sculpture, craft, photography; the arts and antique markets; performing arts including opera, orchestra, theatre, dance, circus; and heritage including museums, heritage sites, archaeological sites, libraries and archives.
Culture: the production of cultural products aimed at mass reproduction, mass-dissemination and exports (for example, a book, a film, a sound recording). These are cultural industries‛ including film and video, video-games, broadcasting, music, book and press publishing.
Creative: where culture becomes a ‘creative‛ input in the production of non-cultural goods. Activities like design (fashion design, interior design, and product design), architecture, and advertising. And more recently, app and web development and the creation of other IT products
Most organizations active in the arts are not-for-profit. They receive funding from groups like the Arts Council of Ireland, The Department of Arts etc., Culture Ireland and numerous others. Individual artists, mostly working on a freelance basis, can also receive funding from these and other organisations as well as earning income from sales, commissions, and performances. However many artists in Ireland cannot make a living from their art alone and aim to find relevant and meaningful work within the creative industry to support their practices; others find unrelated work to make ends meet. Creative teaching, lecturing, mentoring, journalism, arts management, organisation and curation are all common ways for artist to earn an income. Many develop what is referred to as a portfolio career.
Within each art form, there are further funding and resource organisation for artists and arts organisers. For example, visual artists seek support from Visual Artists Ireland, theatre makers from Theatre Forum, writers from the Irish Writers Centre, Words Ireland and others. These are easily found after a quick internet search.
As one radiates out from the arts to culture and the wider creative industry, there are more organisations operating commercially, for a profit, as products are more likely to be mass produced and thus profitable. There are also a greater number of jobs, and generally greater remuneration for work.
Creative Careers Ireland aims to serve all of these sectors and advertise the diverse employment opportunities that the arts, culture and creative sectors provide.
[1] As per the HEA 2006 report for the European Commission
Your first Job in the Arts – Nobody gets into the arts to get rich. And while many people at the top of their game do make a very good living, be it in artistic, managerial or directorial roles, you should be realistic about your earning potential, particularly in the early part of your career when there is a high demand for entry-level jobs in the creative sector. Here are some tips to help you get your foot in the door.
- Do your research on the industry that you’d most like to work in. Read journals, magazines and websites relevant to the sector. Get an understanding of how the industry works, who the largest or most important organisations are, and where the funding comes from and goes to. The Arts Council, for example, gives out figures on all funding decisions, this can give you an idea of the pecking order in specific sectors. Attend professional development events to get an insight into your specific area of interest. Don’t be put off by people telling you it’s a difficult sector to get into or that it pays badly. If you’re interested, determined and good at what you do, you’ll crack it.
- Get out and about, network! Networking is sometimes considered a bad word, but really it just involves talking to people with common interests. Go to events, conferences and shows. Volunteer at festivals to get behind-the-scenes experience. Find out who the lead organisers are and find out how they got to where they are today. Can they offer you further experience or career advice? Is there anything you think you could do for them or their organisation? Do they need a web developer, researcher or fundraiser and could you offer support in any of these areas?
- Information interviewing is a step on from networking. It involves identifying specific people in the industry, and talking to them about the work they do and the kind of people they employ. Is there a family member or friend who knows somebody working in the sector they could put you in touch with? Is there a particular organisation that you’d love to work for? Perhaps one of their junior staff would meet you for a coffee. Don’t be offended if they can’t, many organisations are understaffed and have little time (and lots of similar requests), however some organisations are set up specifically to give information to prospective artists or staff. Equally, career guidance counsellors in universities like NCAD or IADT might be able to give you valuable industry information. The more people you talk to, the more informed you’ll be and thus in the best position to make a decision on your next steps.
- Create Your Own Project. Developing your own creative projects is a great way to gain relevant and valuable experience. Instead of being an intern for someone else, become a creative director for yourself, even if it is just for a one-off, small-scale project. Look for creative gaps in the industry, community or university. CreativeCareers.ie began life as a university project. Initiating and managing your own event series, blog, exhibition or mini-festival will give you better real-world experience of the creative sector. If successful, it shows you’re an innovator and an achiever. If unsuccessful, try to evaluate why; hopefully you’ll learn how to do it better next time.
- Self-promotion. Again, sometimes considered a bad word, it simply means letting interested people know who you are and what you’re good at. Most jobs, even in the arts, require a standard two-page CV, but sometimes a portfolio, brochure or showreel is more appropriate or a valuable addition to your CV. If you can get a well-designed website to display what you do, it lets people know you’re serious about a creative career and organised enough to create a good website.
- Become very good at what you do. I once worked with an editor on a creative writing journal. For every 100 short stories he received in the post, he could only about three or four. His advice to writers was ‘make it so good that I can’t turn it down’. This applies to any artist and their work. Or any creative for that matter. Don’t compete, be desired! This means hard work and perseverance. Some raw talent is necessary but nobody who attempts to write a short story gets it right the first time, second, or third time either. As Samuel Beckett said, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
The creative industries encompass a wide range of activities, some of which rely heavily on public funding, others are commercially viable. A life in the creative industry can range from practising as a full-time artist, writer or performer; as a creative director or manager in the arts or cultural sector; working in a venue, event space, gallery or museum; or it may involve work as a practitioner in the wider creative sector in areas such as graphic design, audio-visual production, creative advertising and marketing (think Mad Men). The people who write scripts for TV adverts or articles for newspapers, the researchers and producer for a radio programme, and the names that appear beside exotic-sounding job titles like Concept Artist, Best Boy and Key Grip – they all get paid! These numerous and diverse areas make up what we call the creative industries.
Acting | Advertising & Marketing | Animation | Architecture | Circus | Creative Media Technology | Design & Visual Communications | Digital Media | Fashion | Film & Television | Galleries & Libraries | Heritage & Museums | Journalism | Literature | Marketing | Music Production | Photography | Publishing Radio | Theatre | Visual Art
As the Irish economy recovers, so to are the creative industries. Funding bodies such as the Arts Council and Culture Ireland find themselves with more money for artists and arts organisations; the government, through its Creative Ireland programme has committed to making Ireland an international hub for film and TV production, and will invest in community arts and children’s creative education. Ireland has also become a hub for digital media development and animation – commercially successful entities competing on the international stage. International corporations like Facebook and Google set up in Ireland citing a creative workforce as one of the main reasons for locating here. Advertising and marketing firms engage in new ways to creatively communicate messages to their audiences – be it through print, audio, video, digital or social media. Indigenous animation firms like Brown Bag Films and Boulder Media are making a splash on the international stage. Increased visitor numbers to Ireland means more attendees for festivals, events, galleries and museums. And international opportunities and exposure for writers and artists is greater than ever. Things are once again looking up for the creative sector in Ireland.
A career in the creative industries offers the chance to express yourself, achieve your creative vision and live an original life. It’s an opportunity to build a career based on your own passions and interests, and surround yourself with like-minded people, or progress a social or political agendas through creative means.
Personal Characteristics and skills required to make it in the creative sector
Ideas Oriented: people who can generate original and engaging ideas – be it ideas for next year’s creative programme of events or ideas for alternative sources of funding or income. Lateral thinking is highly prized.
Good Communication Skills: people who are able to communicate their ideas, to convince their team that their ideas will succeed, or who can convince external partners or funding bodies that their ideas are worth investing in and achievable.
Budget Oriented: most creative organisations work to tight budgets. They have more good ideas than they have money to spend. Therefore, an ability to cost ideas and spend budgets effectively is essential.
Diplomatic: most creatives work as part of a team. Diplomatic personalities are required to bring creative partners or funding bodies on board, and to keep their own team onside and personally invested in their ideas. At events, exhibitions or premieres, creatives regularly play host to guests and industry professionals.
Organised: creative teams work on a project by project basis, to specific budgets and timelines. Creative and cultural leaders need to plan for all eventualities, predict potential pitfalls, and employ the right staff at the right time to ensure a successful outcome.
You’ll also need…
Industry knowledge: knowledge of key funding bodies, the most influential organisations and key players and significant technology or policy changes in the industry. Keeping up to date with relevant magazines, journals, TV and radio shows, and websites is essential, as is attending industry events, festivals and conferences to keep in touch with your peers.
Creative knowledge: If you’re interested in producing computer games, do you know the latest trends and technological advance in the industry? If you want to work as a visual arts curator, you will need practical or academic knowledge of leading artists or movements in your field – are you reading the latest journals and regularly attending exhibitions to keep in touch with current movements, locally and internationally?
Sectoral-specific skills: some industries will require industry-specific skill sets. For example, to work in design or visual communications you may need to know your way around the Adobe suite; or to work in radio production, you will need to have some experience operating technical and audio programmes and equipment. However, if you’re transferring from a different industry, you may have some very valuable skills which many creative organisations lack. For example, book-keeping, design or web development skills, or a working knowledge of Irish or additional foreign languages are often highly prized too.
And finally…
Perseverance: getting a job in the arts or creative sector isn’t as easy as getting a job in, say, a bank. This is because there are lots of other people trying to turn their passion into their career. Therefore, there is generally more demand for jobs than there is supply. If you’re trying to make it as an artist, it may take a number of years before you build a reputation and produce work of a certain quality. If you want to become a creative or cultural organiser or leader, or land a job on a film set, you might have to take up a number of volunteer/intern positions or administrative roles before working your way up the ladder. Another way of getting ahead is to create your own projects in order to gain the necessary experience.
A short video from Atlantic writer Ta-Nehisi Coates for inspiration: https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/280025/advice-on-writing-from-i-the-atlantic-i-s-ta-nehisi-coates/