Succession Planning for Cultural Institutions, Part Three: Case Studies
Cultural sector professionals are notorious for wearing the proverbial many hats and making extraordinary use of scarce resources. Staff transitions, whether unexpected or planned, can be disruptive and stressful in these environments. With shifts to the workforce and volunteer pipelines, succession planning and knowledge transfer are becoming more important to address.
In 2023, members of 15 arts and cultural organizations participated in listening sessions supporting the Collections Stewardship Succession Planning Initiative, a joint effort by the Conservation Center and Lyrasis, funded by a Museum Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum & Library Services. This input, along with insights from museum, library, and arts professionals across the country, has led to the development of tools and resources to support better succession planning for collections care and management roles at cultural institutions.
Join Catherine Dehoney, President and CEO of Chorus America, Kahina Hayes, Executive Director of the Dance Institute of Washington, and Emily Smith, Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, as they present success stories on their own succession planning journeys at their respective institutions.
This webinar addresses Goal #3: Collections Sustainability of the Foundation for the Advancement in Conservation’s (FAIC) Held in Trust Report on Field Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Sector Health. It is part one of a multi-part webinar series on succession planning for cultural institutions.
About our speakers:
As President and CEO of Chorus America since 2015, Catherine Dehoney brings a wealth of experience in arts management and fundraising. Prior to this role, she served as the executive director for development at the Castleton Festival. Before the Castleton Festival, Dehoney was the chief development officer at Chorus America for over ten years. Prior to that, she was senior director of development at Gallaudet University. During her nine years there, she served as a member of the president’s management team and the institutional advancement team. Her other experience includes capital campaign management, development consulting for a variety of arts nonprofits, and fundraising positions at the League of American Orchestras, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and the Friends of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She is a member of the Performing Arts Alliance Board and the Development Advisory Committee for SMU-DataArts. Dehoney received her BA in music from the College of William and Mary and continues to be an avid singer, having sung professionally in church choirs and with a jazz band.
Kahina Haynes, Executive Director of The Dance Institute of Washington since 2016, is a passionate arts activist and the visionary architect behind one of Washington, D.C.’s leading models for advancing equity in community health, development, and achievement outcomes. Utilizing an innovative and holistic systems approach, The Dance Institute of Washington uses it platforms to educate, create, and advance practices to address longstanding disparities in the dance industry. Following the untimely passing of the Institute’s Founder Fabian Barnes, Haynes led a strategic revitalization of the organization which saw a breadth of new radical program designs, the award of a groundbreaking federal funding appropriation of $1 million from the U.S. Congress, and a multi-year facilities renovation to outfit the flagship site to expand on its 44,000 family reach. Prior to her Executive Director role, Haynes worked in organizational development and process evaluation and strategy for a number of philanthropies and multi-laterals including the United Nations (Bureau for Development Policy at UNDP), the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, SafeKids Worldwide, the World Bank Group, and the U.S. Department of State. She holds a B.A. from Princeton University with a Minor in African American Studies and a concentration in Dance, as well as an MSC from Oxford University in Evidence-based Social Intervention.
Emily Smith has worked at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens since 2009 and became Executive Director in 2014. She has been a speaker at numerous conferences on a wide variety of topics surrounding art environment preservation and is a founding member of the Artist Built Environment Network. Smith oversees Philadelphia's Magic Gardens’ three-person preservation team, which is responsible for numerous sites and more than 200 public artworks in Philadelphia. She was born and raised in New Jersey and received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.