How to Partner with Your Local Chamber of Commerce - From the PARTnership Movement

Overview

Just as local arts agencies act as voices and conveners for their arts and culture communities, so do local chambers of commerce for their business communities. This three-part curriculum will guide local arts leaders on how to build strong and lasting partnerships with their local chambers of commerce to achieve shared community and economic development goals. The collection and accompanying toolkits will focus attention on how local arts leaders can build business-to-business (B2B) relationships, shift thinking and actions to one of a creative business that positions one’s assets differently, and position their local arts agency as a driving force for equitable community and economic development alongside their private sector partners.

This collection aims to flip the conversation away from ‘business support of the arts’ to ‘how and why the arts are an essential part of business and community development strategies.’

Arts leaders will gain the following competencies:

  • Basic understanding of the chamber of commerce landscape, their service organizations and networks, and their primary challenges and priorities. Leaders will be able to identify the various spaces businesses organize and congregate in their communities and who are the leaders in those spaces.
  • The ability to perform ongoing analysis and inventory of organizational needs and identify which business partners can provide those assets in an exchange that isn’t cash-based. Organizations will be able to identify the return on investment of their activities and apply them as a benefit in terms of solving business, civic, and social challenges.
  • Learn how to expand their networks, allowing for access to potential partnerships and circles of influence, providing opportunity for previously unrecognized potential.
  • Create visibility for their organizations through new partnerships and build trust among their community of fellow arts organizations. 
  • Provide tools to change the case for the value of what the arts organization does in a narrow sense to one of an essential community and economic development partner.  

Part 1: Local Arts Agencies & Chambers of Commerce - The Very Basics

Part 1 of this collection will establish a foundational knowledge of local chambers of commerce, the networks in which they operate and that serve them, how to navigate a traditional business environment, and basic activations a local arts agency can undertake to establish a partnership. Participants will hear from chamber and arts leaders and gain perspective on chamber priorities and challenges and learn to identify the various chamber and economic development entities in their communities. Participants are encouraged to use the toolkit as complimentary learning and participate in a live discussion with presenters once completing the 3-part on-demand webinar series. 

Part 2: Connecting Community Impact to Arts and Chambers Partnerships

In Part 2 of the collection, participants will take the foundational knowledge gained and basic activations from the first series and expand beyond their role as arts leaders into the role of community and economic development partner. Participants will learn about how to identify their own work and assets within their full community and creative ecosystem and begin to leverage new connections and relationships inside the chamber to address social impact, equity, and community issues. Participants will gain fluency in the Arts & Economic Prosperity studies, as well as learn how to use other creative economy research to make their case to their chamber and economic development counterparts. Participants are encouraged to use the toolkit as complimentary learning and participate in a live peer discussion once completing the 3-part on-demand webinar series.

Part 3: Moving as Equals 

Further building on Parts 1 and 2 of the How to Partner with Your Chamber of Commerce Series, participants will look to rural communities and consider how innovative partnerships can be used as inspiration or scaled to suburban and urban areas for long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. This module will explore practical ways of orienting local economies around "Quality of Place" and of rethinking the individual roles of arts and business in a local economy. It will demonstrate how navigating public/private partnerships can strengthen the relationship between the business and arts sectors. This module will explore, in varying depth, case studies in multiple rural communities, and highlight how these arts and chamber entities have worked together to build community wealth, deepen alliances, and expand opportunity for artists and businesses alike. This Part will ask the questions: When the LAA is seen as a respected and equal partner to their chamber and economic development entities, what are you advocating for together? What can you do together that you can’t do alone?

Participants are encouraged to use the toolkit as complimentary learning, and participate in a live discussion with presenters once completing the 3-part on-demand webinar series.

Registration

Participants can sign-up for all three parts of the collection or select individual areas of interest. Each part contains three prerecorded learning sessions which can be watched on-demand. We will also be hosting coffee chats on topics explored in the series which you can register for at your convenience. Questions? Please email artsu@artsusa.org. 

Register for the Entire Collection

  • How to Partner with Your Local Chamber of Commerce from The pARTnership Movement
    Contains 3 Product(s)

    Just as local arts agencies act as voices and conveners for their arts and culture communities, so do local chambers of commerce for their business communities. This three-part curriculum will guide local arts leaders on how to build strong and lasting partnerships with their local chambers of commerce to achieve shared community and economic development goals. The collection and accompanying toolkits will focus attention on how local arts leaders can build business-to-business (B2B) relationships, shift thinking and actions to one of a creative business that positions one’s assets differently, and position their local arts agency as a driving force for equitable community and economic development alongside their private sector partners. This collection aims to flip the conversation away from ‘business support of the arts’ to ‘how and why the arts are an essential part of business and community development strategies.'

Register for a Part of the Collection

  • Part 1: Local Arts Agencies & Chambers of Commerce - The Very Basics
    Contains 4 Component(s)

    Part one of the "How to Partner with Your Local Chamber of Commerce" collection will establish a foundational knowledge of local chambers of commerce, the networks in which they operate and that serve them, how to navigate a traditional business environment, and basic activations a local arts agency can undertake to establish a partnership. Participants will hear from chamber and arts leaders and gain perspective on chamber priorities and challenges and learn to identify the various chamber and economic development entities in their communities. Participants are encouraged to use the toolkit as complimentary learning, and participate in a live discussion with presenters once completing the 3-part on-demand webinar series.

  • Part 2: Connecting Community Impact to Arts and Chambers Partnerships
    Contains 4 Component(s)

    In Part 2 of the How to Partner with your Local Chamber of Commerce collection, participants will take the foundational knowledge gained and basic activations from the first series and expand beyond their role as arts leaders into the role of community and economic development partner. Participants will learn about how to identify their own work and assets within their full community and creative ecosystem and begin to leverage new connections and relationships inside the chamber to address social impact, equity, and community issues. Participants will gain fluency in the Arts & Economic Prosperity studies, as well as learn how to use other creative economy research to make their case to their chamber and economic development counterparts. Participants are encouraged to use the toolkit as complimentary learning and participate in a live peer discussion once completing the 3-part on-demand webinar series.

  • Part 3: Moving as Equals
    Contains 4 Component(s)

    Further building on Parts 1 and 2 of the How to Partner with Your Chamber of Commerce Series, participants will look to rural communities and consider how innovative partnerships can be used as inspiration or scaled to suburban and urban areas for long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. This module will explore practical ways of orienting local economies around "Quality of Place" and of rethinking the individual roles of arts and business in a local economy. It will demonstrate how navigating public/private partnerships can strengthen the relationship between the business and arts sectors. This module will explore, in varying depth, case studies in multiple rural communities, and highlight how these arts and chamber entities have worked together to build community wealth, deepen alliances, and expand opportunity for artists and businesses alike. This Part will ask the questions: When the LAA is seen as a respected and equal partner to their chamber and economic development entities, what are you advocating for together? What can you do together that you can’t do alone? Participants are encouraged to use the toolkit as complimentary learning, and participate in a live discussion with presenters once completing the 3-part on-demand webinar series.

Register for a Coffee Chat