THE EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE

Viable business structure and strategic planning

At the core of the 16-session Empowerment Initiative is the 501(c)(3) corporation – the spinal column of the arts, but underutilized by most music artists and professionals, especially in jazz.

In recent years there has been an unfortunate and misguided trend in arts funding, discouraging artists and arts professionals from setting up dedicated non-profits. Instead, there has been the recommendation for the use of conduits designed to facilitate funding.

Mr. Khan views this as both short-sighted and counter-productive to empowerment. “A non-profit is not simply a means to secure grants and funding, but rather the ideal vehicle to pursue business in virtually any and all manners that are key to success and artistic pursuit.”

The first two of classes that Marty Khan will be offering as his part of the 16-sessions will focus upon understanding the process of structuring, setting up and operating a 501(c)(3) in the most viable and versatile manner to allow the artist or arts professional to fully pursue their goals.

Utilizing the chapter, THE 501(c)(3) CORPORATION contained in his business textbook Straight Ahead: A Comprehensive Guide to the Business of Jazz (Without Sacrificing Dignity or Artistic Integrity) – containing 89 Q/As, and which will be provided to the participants in the class prior to the actual online sessions – Khan will dispel the various myths surrounding this entity, while offering a straightforward and easily understandable delineation of the advantages and processes involved in utilizing this enormously versatile and user-friendly vehicle for business in the pursuit of artistry.

The third and fourth classes will focus upon developing cohesive and integrated strategies of business development. These sessions will be based on two other chapters from his book: SEVEN KEYS TO EMPOWERMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY; and MUSICIANS WORKING TOGETHER – both of which provide comprehensive information for business even without the use of the nonprofit, but deeply enhanced by its use. Both chapters will also be provided to all participants

Straight Ahead was conceived and written to serve as a textbook, with an accompanying Teacher’s Guide, as well as an outline for a full semester course using the book. Mr. Khan would be willing to work with any schools or teachers who might be interested in teaching such a class. While the focus of the book is 100% relevant to artists and professionals pursuing the art of jazz, it is also highly relevant for those pursuing any other form of music or the arts in general.

The following four sessions will be conducted by Andrew Drury of Continuum Culture & Arts – a NY-based nonprofit that has utilized all the methodology contained in the book, that will clearly illustrate the how the use of these applications have made it a deeply accomplished artist-driven non-profit, with a very diverse context of activities on a national level.

Mr. Khan is also available for other classes outside of this 16-session package. He has often lectured on another chapter from Straight Ahead: Seven Keys to Empowerment and Productivity, a structure that is ideal for virtually any business plan of artistic or even personal pursuit. Other chapters of the book are also ideal for the educational enlightenment of students or professionals.

For over 30 years, Bill Fink has worked in the fundraising realm in both the arts and social services. He has covered a full gamut of activity, from development director of a multimillion dollar social service organization in NYC to grassroots campaigns for non-profits focused upon a single artist. Using the approach to nonprofits that he learned while working with Outward Visions in the early 90s, he has gained a reputation for being an effective and original thinking specialist in the field. Co-founding Boundless Progress, Inc. in 2021, his focus is now on both social service and the arts, usually blending both elements together.

The core value Boundless will instill via the THE EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE sessions is that a nonprofit is only a powerful and strategic tool for planning, developing and delivering creative activity if all of its tools are well-understood.

Challenges that will be addressed via the sessions regarding fundraising and donations will include:

• When – in the life of a nascent arts and education nonprofit - to start planning a fundraising campaign.

• When to give development efforts a high-level attention – and when not to

• Developing a fundraising plan for board members that integrates revenue production without undermining the artistic goals

• How to think about funding from individual donors, private/corporate foundations and government funders as partnerships vs income streams

• Integrating earned income programs into the overall funding plan

In the same way that the nonprofit business structure has often been intentionally withheld from creative music-makers, actionable and accurate knowledge about the true “big picture” when it comes to fundraising has also consistently been denied to many who seek to support nonprofits. The Boundless sessions of THE EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE will serve as preliminary yet critical steps to correct this.

Utilizing examples drawn from nonprofits with budgets from $2,000 to $40M, the sessions will create clarity and understanding with the goal of ensuring that all fundraising efforts are structured into sustainable long-term growth.

With an emphasis on educating and supporting programs that foster social change in marginalized communities, the team behind Boundless has extensive experience supporting NYC-based human service and arts and culture organizations, will additional expertise in areas including community organizing, workforce development, healthy food and nutrition, youth empowerment and childhood literacy.

While Boundless provides traditional consultations regarding creative approaches to building development activities, it specializes in educating nonprofit leadership and staff during the critical early stages of their nonprofit’s growth– specifically: about development strategies that ethically and appropriately fit into an overall heathy / thoughtful / wholistic approach to nonprofit fiscal planning.

Continuum Culture & Arts (CCA) has been in operation for ten years, growing its scope of activity and its presence organically and methodically in consultation with Outward Visions. During that time CCA has put in motion a diverse set of programming based upon the guidelines of Marty Khan’s book, Straight Ahead: A Comprehensive Guide to the Business of Jazz (Without Sacrificing Dignity or Artistic Integrity)—which is fundamental to concepts of The Empowerment Initiative.

Included in these activities are:

• Soup & Sound, a series of over 200 events featuring world-class artists that began as a house concert series in Brooklyn, and which expanded to presentations across New York City, abroad, and in partnership with institutions such as Lincoln Center 

• FLY! a social action program which utilizes participatory drumming workshops as an introductory point for other programs in partnership with organizations in historically marginalized communities across the U.S.

• International Cultural Exchange, a program engaging artists in 40 countries on six continents

• Different Track Productions, a product line of music by affiliated and outside artists

• a highly innovative Incubation Program that serves multiple purposes for its participants, including:
  

  • Providing fiscal conduit services that enable funding that doesn’t just “pass through,” but which is designed to allow the recipient to maintain and build organizational equity

  • Assisting in the development of participants’ own dedicated non-profit entities

  • Providing a fertile environment for interaction, mutual aid, and collective action among participants

The highly flexible manner in which CCA was founded and incorporated allows for an unusually open model for how nonprofit organizations operate. This is at the core of THE EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE.

Utilizing a capacity-building grant from New Music USA, CCA adopted an approach to board development that has allowed it to expand to ideally suit the changing needs of the organization and offering board members the opportunity to establish their own dedicated programs within the CCA imperative.

Based on his in-depth personal experience in operating within these guidelines Andrew Drury’s sessions will inform students and professionals how to properly develop an organization’s activity while still maintaining an intensive focus upon their own artistic goals.

Louis Marks is a serial entrepreneur and practical social activist. During his 18 years in the music business, Marks has persistently been an advocate for musicians who find themselves marginalized by the mainstream business of music. His purchase and subsequent management of Ropeadope has sustained and grown an important platform for both established artists and newcomers who place their artistic vision above commercial pursuits.

Musician, entrepreneur, educator, and community advocate Fabian Brown has gained a wide range of experience in his 20 years in music. His passion for lifting up artists and community is evident in all of his roles, from President at Ropeadope to co-founding the Non-Profit organization Heights In Progress (HIP).

Together, Brown and Marks lead Third Way Cultural Alliance, an organization dedicated to preserving the album as a primary format in a fragmented world, and to connecting musicians and communities to raise the value of music.

Brown and Marks will contribute a ‘there never was a box’ perspective to THE EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE, removing the framed narrative that hobbles an artist before they begin. Further teaching will include practical aspects of the music business – asset collection and ownership, proper presentation, long term planning, and building a network of curatorial allies.

1. Who Are You? The philosophy of life as an artist in the 21st Century. Real talk about the commercial market and the way in which capitalism influences your thinking. Concepts to re-frame your vision with self-preservation, control of your art, and overall well-being in mind.

2. Presentation. Evaluating your approach and revising your materials for the target audience. Hear what writers, music supervisors, editors, agents, managers, labels, and DJ’s want to see, and what they automatically delete.

3. Ownership. Why it is important to have all of your assets in place, and how to organize them in an efficient manner.

4. Long-term Thinking. How to escape the cycle of getting to ‘the next level’. Adopt a long-term view of your life as an artist.

5. Separation of Powers. How to balance creativity and the tedious work of business.

6. The Curator Economy. Guidelines for establishing a network of professionals who are dedicated to music as art connections in the business.