Benchmark Analysis: The State of Our Teams

After a full year of working under pandemic restrictions - often with reduced headcounts due to layoffs and furloughs - most arts organization teams still find themselves working from home. Our recent Arts Executive Poll surveyed leaders on the state of their teams and their plans for the coming year.

Highlights from the survey include:

• The plurality of arts organizations have plans to return to the office in the next 3-6 months, but some will be waiting even longer. Once back to the office, nearly all orgs are planning to retain more flexible remote work policies, among other changes.

• Teams are understandably experiencing a range of emotions both positive and negative - "optimistic" and "overwhelmed" were the two most popular descriptions of the prevailing mood on the team.

• Arts leaders are looking to enhance many skill sets and areas of expertise on their teams in the coming year including DEI&A, digital content creation and production, audience management, and major gift cultivation.