Supporting Succession Successfully

Tuesday, October 15, 2:00pm – 4:30pm

Organized by Susan Feder, program officer, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and Eddie Torres, president & CEO, Grantmakers in the Arts.

Presented by Trella Walker, associate director, Advisory Services, NonProfit Finance Fund (NFF); Tony Garcia, executive artistic director, Su Teatro; and Malik Robinson, executive director, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance.

The United States is in an unprecedented period with a significant number of Baby Boomers nearing or entering retirement. Though not unique to the arts, we are seeing a major impact on founder-led arts organizations. What are the challenges, both institutional and personal, that founders face? How is the grantmaking community addressing these challenges? Through the Mellon Foundation’s Comprehensive Organizational Health Initiative (COHI) and working with both the National Performance Network and the International Association for Blacks in Dance, we have encountered this moment of transition into retirement in numerous instances and have tried to address it in different, more flexible ways. In conversation with representatives of two of our Denver-based grantees, Tony Garcia of Su Teatro and Malik Robinson of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, along with Grantmakers in the Arts president & CEO Eddie Torres, and COHI administrative partner Trella Walker from NonProfit Finance Fund, let’s discuss how grantmakers might move forward both intentionally and collectively.