The Global Leaders Institute is launching a new project with the Advisory Board for the Arts (ABA), a research and arts consultancy platform that connects over one hundred arts organizations worldwide. A team of five GLI Fellows is applying tools and frameworks from the Arts MBA classroom to this dynamic organization through an interactive Case Study process.
The Advisory Board Concept
Founded in 2019 in Washington DC, ABA is modeled on the successful structure of the global research consultancy group the Advisory Board, a highly successful enterprise of over 40 years that networks 4500 healthcare enterprises in the quest for faster innovation, competitive research, and shared insights. As the brainchild of longtime Advisory Board veteran Chris Denby, ABA applies the Advisory Board model to the field of the creative sector, supporting arts organizations through strategic research designed to help organizational decision-makers.
ABA’s membership-driven model has allowed the organization to quickly scale the scope and reach of its research and work, putting its data-driven research engine in the service of member organizations to help them adapt, navigate sector trends, and make informed decisions.
ABA Services
At the heart of ABA’s work is understanding an established organization’s inherent difficulty and hesitation in integrating innovation. Leaders often perceive it as a high-risk, high-cost experiment that stresses a company culture if it is not ingrained quickly into its day-to-day operations. By offering enterprises a third space, industry leaders can better observe, learn, and integrate new insights and capacities to address sector-wide demands and challenges.
ABA supports the arts and culture organizations through research, data, and measurement tools to amplify the practices of organizations that successfully create more equitable and diverse environments for their teams, audiences, and visitors. It also offers members exclusive insights, webinars, and content for continuous training and benchmarking.
ABA offers members of the network tailored advisory services with seasoned experts who can facilitate strategic planning and change management from ideas to implementation. Each ABA member has a dedicated Member Advisor who understands present opportunities and pressing challenges, translating these into actionable solutions from ABA’s resources. Member Advisors facilitate network connections, guiding members to case studies from the ABA library of custom research and data-driven results.
The Opportunity: Continuing to expand ABA’s cross-sector coverage
ABA has quickly become the largest global arts network of its kind. In its first year of operation, as the pandemic challenged a largely halted arts sector, ABA secured a membership base of 70 arts organizations. By 2022, ABA announced over 80 members. And in September 2023, this number surpassed the 100 membership threshold.
ABA’s growth is a key sign of the value it delivers to members and a symptom of the potential for long-term sustainability through its membership-driven business model. In only four years, ABA has become the creative sector data-research consultancy leader.
The Challenge Ahead: AI-led transformation
ABA’s achievements come against the backdrop of a rapid sector change where AI is transforming access to and analysis of data. As AI-driven data analysis becomes increasingly prevalent, ABA has the opportunity to become a leader in guiding organizations on harnessing and navigating these new opportunities. In as much as ABA’s leading position in the world of research stands to be challenged by the power of AI, this new tool can also become part of the guidance and unique value-added that ABA provides its members.
Another potential future challenge for ABA stems from the increasing tendency of arts organizations to shift from long-term planning to more short-term strategies. While this has the potential to challenge the long-term annual renewal structure of ABA’s model, the unique insights and value that ABA provides its members are also well-positioned to serve the increasing trend of outsourcing specialized work. In this way, the wider shift presents both a challenge and an opportunity in ABA’s dynamic future.
For an organization born shortly before a global pandemic, ABA is no newcomer to navigating shifts and external pressures. If recent history is any indication, ABA will continue growing in the extraordinary ways its short history has already so decisively shown — fulfilling the increasingly critical need for arts organizations to make informed decisions based on the benefit of a nuanced understanding of their shared experiences around the world and the valuable data that these diverse perspectives yield.
