Unknown Origins

Sadie McKinlay on Performing Arts Fundraising

December 17, 2021 Sadie McKinlay Season 1 Episode 97
Unknown Origins
Sadie McKinlay on Performing Arts Fundraising
Show Notes Transcript

Sadie McKinlay is Head of Development for the Edinburgh International Festival, where she raises funds to enable this annual celebration of the performing arts, working with sponsors, donors, and trust & foundation supporters to create meaningful and valuable partnerships that support the presentation of music, drama, and dance in theatres and concert halls, and learning and engagement and Community Programmes throughout Edinburgh. Sadie previously worked for the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh and the South Bank Centre in London.

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Roy Sharples:

Hello, I'm Roy Sharples, welcome to the unknown origins podcast. Why are you listening to this podcast? Are you seeking inspiration? an industry expert, looking for insights, or growing your career? I created the unknown origins podcast to provide access to insights and content from creators worldwide with inspirational conversations and storytelling, about art, architecture, design, entrepreneurship, fashion, film, music and pop culture. Sadie McKinley is Head of Development for the Edinburgh International Festival, where she raises funds to enable this annual celebration of the performing arts, working with sponsors donors and trust and Foundation supporters to create meaningful and valuable partnerships that support the presentation of music, drama, and dance in theaters and concert halls and learning and engagement and community programs throughout Edinburgh. City previously worked for the illicium Theatre in Edinburgh, and the Southbank Centre in London, where she cut her teeth and donor cultivation. Hello, and welcome city. So what inspired and attracted you to the Performing Arts in the first place,

Sadie McKinlay:

I grew up in the middle of the countryside with no access really, to arts and culture. I think the only thing we ever did was go to the pantomime once a year, or maybe play with the school. And then when I was just left school after us 1718 I moved to London, and my eyes just opened, you know, there was so much going on in the city so much happening. I mean, not just theaters and concerts, but galleries, museums. And you know, I suppose I probably didn't study hard enough. But what I didn't do was experience a lot of things that are going on in London. But my first job was in the private sector. And I was doing things like organizing hospitality events, for sponsorships. I was doing communications for the team. But one of the verbal things they did was sponsor a lot of events. So I had sort of experience on the other side of fundraising. I went away for a year that was in the 80s. Both of these companies went bust as a sort of, you know, economic crisis, then went away to France three years to learn French, and came back to London and it was my experience of organising events, I got a job at the Southbank Centre. And so there's, you know, there's a big complex on the Thames, and it has concert halls, it has behavior Gallery, and all of a sudden, I was working behind the scenes in this environment. And that was my first introduction to fundraising for the Performing Arts. And it was it was it was a great introduction, it was a big one established fundraising team, the fundraise all different kinds of areas. And I just learned all these other skills when I was there. But by this time, I'd been in London for about 10 years, and wanted to move out of London and ended up in Scotland. And we had a bizarre way of choosing where to go, it was like a list of cities, and then who between my partner and I will get a job first. And that's where we will go. So we moved, we ended up in Edinburgh, and I applied for lots of jobs and got a job. Based on my one year's experience, I have to say, at the Lyceum Theatre here in Edinburgh and as a as a sponsorship manager, and I was the only person doing fundraising. It was my first job in a theater and just loved it absolutely loved it. out I think I was lucky because in those days you only ever had one member of your fundraising team. And you had to do every kind of fundraising. So I really learned on the ground. And I just learned to love the theater and performing arts that way. I think just seeing it happen. seeing it happening in rehearsals, I mean the workshops, the work that goes into building the sets, you know, the scenic artist, the costume department, he just he can't you know, unless you've actually experienced that I think it's kind of sometimes hard to convey how it is to be, I suppose I would call myself a non creative person, how you are being a non creative person in a creative environment and what it can do for the role that you do.

Roy Sharples:

The first point that I'd like to make is that Edinburgh is one of the most distinct and beautiful cities in the world, and an epicenter of arts and culture, which rises from the Firth of Forth, where the cantilever trust, architectural staple. Fourth bridge stands strong as a colossus that crosses Scotland's Firth of Forth estuary. It even has a castle. That is over 900 years old. Slam Dunk right in the center of the city. Yes, you've sensed I'm describing the center of the universe. And of course, I have no unfair bias towards the point Being city you have impeccable taste and the choices you have on where you have decided to live. And the Edinburgh Festival is one of the most influential celebrations of arts and culture worldwide. And compassing music, theater and opera and dance, which has further helped position Edinburgh on the global stage as a creative city and enabler of bringing creative talent to the world. City. It must be an elating experience, being part of that community and being able to influence and bring to life its creative output.

Sadie McKinlay:

I think I'm very lucky right that I have worked for three different festivals in Edinburgh. To actually there's there's there's no such thing as the Edinburgh Festival there's, there's lots of different festivals that make up so where I am at the moment, that's the Edinburgh International Festival, as you rightly said, you know, leading performing arts Opera Theatre drama dance from around the world. But my first festival job was the Edinburgh International Film Festival. And then I moved to the Red Book Festival. So I worked in these different arts and cultural environments. And you can see through these different lenses, the impacts they have in different parts of the city, with people different age groups. And you know, this festival for the International Festival was founded in 1947, we're going to be 75 years old next year, it's our 75th edition next year,

Roy Sharples:

Congratulations in advance!

Sadie McKinlay:

Well, it's the last few years, sometimes you wondered if we'd get there. You know, the, the festival was founded to sort of bring people back together again after the Second World War, and to have the sense of cultural understanding, and how we can do that through the arts. And I think it's just done an enormous thing for bringing people together. But as you say, as well for Edinburgh, it wasn't necessarily guaranteed, that's where the festival was going to be. And it was the foresight of some of the city leaders at that time. And Rudolph bang, established the first festival, he was a Jewish refugee. And you know, without people who've got that kind of vision, this would never have happened. And since then, lots of festivals have sprung up all around the world, in the mold of Edinburgh. But the thing is, you can come here and you can just it's a melting pot, you can see all these different pieces of work from different countries in one place. And I think that's the beauty of it in a way.

Roy Sharples:

Yes, I've spent many a day in Edinburgh. And the first time I experienced the festival was as a teenager, which was one of my earliest experiences of being truly exposed to a global diversity of people, foods, smells, noises, fashions, music, art, etc, etc. which was the perfect storm for a curious and adventurous teenager, and expanding the mind and imagination. The city completely takes an international look and feel throughout the duration of the festival, then when it's over, that is always an aftermath of pilgrims and the likes who have made that journey from all over the globe, who ended up falling in love with the city and ended up not wanting to leave the city and ended up residing there, which continually an annually and fuses its cultural richness and beauty in a sustainable way.

Sadie McKinlay:

You're right, the city does change. I mean, the population almost doubles during August and, and this is August, we're talking about their festivals year round. Yes. But it has this amazing backdrop, you know, a castle, you've got an extinct volcano, you have the old town, you have the new town. And what we're trying to do is move our sort of events out of the city center to engage more with people who live and work in Edinburgh, year round. Yes, lots of many communities that are all around the city centre and mustn't forget that. And it's really important to have programs that are year round, like our learning engagement program, as well as bringing these amazing international artists here in August, we can sort of engage with audiences. And that doesn't necessarily mean they have to become a ticket buyer in the future, but they should be able to feel the benefit of what we do, and take pop out performances into these venues or, as we did two years ago, take the LA Philharmonic put them in a football stadium feel free concert for 15,000 people, half of whom have never been to classical music before. Wow. And so that's when fundraising, when in some ways, that's the beauty of my job. Because if I can go to someone and go, This is what we want to do. This is our vision. Can you help support us? Can you help us do this? You know, when you've got amazing, fantastic events like that, that you can approach people with? Yeah, that makes fundraising a joy.

Roy Sharples:

That's right. Yeah. So that's a perfect segue in to your creative process, what you do in terms of how do you make it happen? So on that, how do you make the invisible visible by dreaming up ideas, developing them into concepts, and then bringing them to visualization from a fundraising perspective.

Sadie McKinlay:

In some ways, you're a bit like a producer, I think, you know, there's some simple sort of skills at play, there's actually a process to it. So underneath, creative layer on the top, there's steps you have to follow in fundraising. And really, that applies whether you're raising money from individual donors, or from corporate partnerships, or from trusts and foundations. And I quite like that, because it means there's different parts of the job you can do, there's a really early stage of identifying who might support you and doing some research around research around them. And I really like that, you know, I think in another life, I'd like to have been a detective or something, because it really is exploring who those supporters are. And then in a way, you had to match them up with what you're doing so that brand values align with ours, you know, we're really focused on Discovery and on generosity and sharing what we do, and we want to work with brands in particular, whichever. And then it's about getting to know people. And people ask me, What's the definition of development, which is what we call fundraising. And I say, well, it's about maintaining and building relationships with people. You know, raising funds is the byproduct of that, at the end of the day, whether the money is coming from an organization or an individual, it's about people, and talking to people about what we do. And suppose bringing to life is some element of storytelling. And I learned from all my colleagues around it, so the people who do work in programming, I listen to what they're saying, how are they describing the work that's going on here? And then how can I either describe it on the same way, or describe it in terms that relate directly to the people I'm talking to, and that's when the creative part comes in. That's when you start to talk in the terms of our audience, you know, the supporters, and creating proposals, and coming up with ideas of how to pitch proposals to people and fundraising opportunities. And so that's another stage in it, you know, and so, we have to follow steps along the way, and then we embellish it around the top. But you've got to have credibility, as well, you know, can't go out and promise all of these things that you know, you can't deliver at the end of the day. So the can't think of too many wild ideas, because we might not be able to do that.

Roy Sharples:

What are the key skills needed to survive and thrive in fundraising for the Performing Arts?

Sadie McKinlay:

You know, I was doing some work with one of our local high schools are our learning engagement program has had a residency in the high school and we're doing a fundraising project with you and I talk to you about these podcasts are very much about giving back. And here was an opportunity, you know, I think, for my team to go and talk to them. And I had to say, you know, if you want to career fundraising, he couldn't be trained for that. In some ways, there are some courses now. But it's really the soft skills, I think, are so important. And I couldn't really demonstrate to them because, you know, it's sometimes it's just about shaking hands with people. And of course, we can't do COVID Go and do that at the moment. But looking people in the eye, and then we'll talk to them, learning how to write letters have one's phone conversation. And I think that's that bit. Because if you can do that, then you can build up a relationship with somebody, and you're telling them a lot about what you do. That's a big part of it. The other big part is having a passion for the thing that you're fundraising, because someone would see straight through you if they are this person doesn't believe and what they find raising funds for in and doesn't matter what your passion is, could be the arts, it could be sport, it could be gardening, if you've got that passion, and you can get that across to people, you've got to have a sort of similar interest to start with. I think they're the base of the skills that you need to get into fundraising and the other things you can learn.

Roy Sharples:

Very true. Your point about passion, as he specially resonant when you are genuinely passionate about what you do, projects positivity, having an magnetic energy, and a confidence and belief in what you do, as opposed to someone who is just going through the motions and the checkbox and of things, but instead are proactively driven by the purpose of what they do, and take a mission driven approach and driving that work with persistence to bring it to life and ultimately resulting in success. And

Sadie McKinlay:

I think one of the other things is you have to be able to talk to people in different ways. So obviously, we have a lot of support supporters who are interested in classical music. Now, that's not I don't have a huge knowledge about that. I rely on the programming team to help me with that, when our supporters often A lot more. But what you do is you talk to them about supporting us in a different way that you might talk to a corporate organization. I think that an individual donor who has who again, has that passion for music, or theater or dance, they want to support us to bring the best that world has here in Edinburgh, you know what they want to get that upclose experience in terms of they can see this work in their hometown, you know, to me, they don't have to travel the world to see it, because it's all coming here. Whereas if I'm talking to a brand partner, they're very much interested in our audience, they want to know who our audiences, they will know less about the art form, and they will rely on us to, you know, earn our reputation to know that the work that's going to be here, it's going to be excellent work that they want to know. So who were the audience that attracted to this? How often do they come? How can I reach them? Those sorts of things that you know, most people do in business anyway, it's like, how do you target your audience?

Roy Sharples:

Yes, communication is such a peculiar thing. And what may mean one thing to one person can mean something very different to another. So knowing your audience, and the diversity of personas in them, is critical. And being able to really learn your message that it communicates in the way you intended to. And being able to communicate effectively, by passing information to people and communities from one place to another. So that is clearly understood, is probably the most essential human life skill there is. But it can often be taken for granted. And it's staggering on how poor we, as humans can be at communicating, you are active in all aspects of the Performing Arts. How do you keep adrift with trends and the themes and be able to have informed and credible conversations that connect the hearts and minds of your community? Do you do that through immersing yourself in the community, on networks, and listening systems associated? Or do you proactively do research and analysis or all of those,

Sadie McKinlay:

I'm really fortunate that I work in an organization where learning and being able to experience what we're fundraising for is deemed an important part of your job. And I have colleagues who obviously know an enormous amount of work. And so I ask them questions, and we talk about the program. You know, people say, Well, what do you do year round? Well, what as soon as one festival finishes, we're working on the next one. So our programming team, I can talk to them about, what what are their plans for the festival the next year? You know, we have videos we watch, we can go and see work. And it's just learning, obviously, I'm never going to have the knowledge of depth of knowledge that they have. But it's really important here that there's a learning environment across everything we do.

Roy Sharples:

You have a well established, globally recognized brand, which will be highly attractive, and a no brainer to compel like minded donors wanting to be associated and support your purpose and mission. But what are some of the obstacles you have to combat with the less inclined donors, but they're the ones that you'd like to get involved? How do you go about doing that?

Sadie McKinlay:

I think of it as an 18 month process sometimes. So we only happen once a year, we're on for three weeks. And yeah, so if I was to take a kind of diary, look at it, I might go well, in November, what I'll do is start to make contact with people that might be interested in supporting us, especially if they're unknown. Partners. Yeah. And then as I say, we're going through that process, we've done some research to identify them. And part of it is for them to experience what the festival is. So they've never been before. That means that's eight months until they can come and really experience what we do. So they might come and see the festival next August. And like you say, when people come here, and they see what Edinburgh is like and see the work on stage, like blown away by it. So then you've got another year before that partnership might realize itself. So it's taken all of this length of time to go through this process of getting people on board. Sometimes it's a lot quicker, obviously it's a lot easier. If it's if it's an organization that's based in Edinburgh, and they know what you can do. They might not have been, but they understand it. Yes, they might, they might agree to come on board as a corporate member sooner than that. Sometimes it will take a lot longer. But that's a rule of thumb for me just based on our schedule and our diary throughout the year. How hard it is, you know, I think that's why people don't go into fundraising until they sort of fall into fundraising. Because everyone looks at it and goes, oh my goodness, I've got to ask somebody for money. And it's okay because what you realize if that's what these people you're meeting are expecting you to do. So sometimes it's hard to get that conversation going. Other times, you know, people know exactly why you're there. And you know, and I love it, when people are really clear as when they go, this isn't for us, that's, you know, that's fine. It's when you don't get an answer, or decisions aren't made, that you go, are they really interested? Is this going anywhere, you know, I'm sure if you're pitching for business as well, you get that same thing. And I just love the honesty that people give. But there's a great feeling when you marry these two things together, and you've suddenly got this festival that you're putting on and you've got a new supporter of you know, we call them our festival family, we engaging people in to this, and, you know, and they get hooked on it, and it gets under your skin in festival. You know, I think that's why I've been working in festivals for 15 years, probably it must be more than that. But it does that and you get you get a buzz out of it. And the way of working it, I think it's different to, if you might be working for an organization, and I have the theater producers work around, you know, we have these amazing highs and lows. And you can't beat that as a feeling.

Roy Sharples:

As you reflect back upon your career to date. What are your lessons learned in terms of the pitfalls to avoid, and the keys to success that you can share with aspiring fundraisers in the performing arts?

Sadie McKinlay:

I think in terms of painful, I did, I stepped down to the arts for a year or so just still in fundraising. And I realized, Oh, I was in the wrong amount, I realized I missed being around all these creative people. And so that's when I came back to work in festivals. And I look back on that, and I go, okay, it didn't work out for me. But that doesn't mean it was a disaster. And I treated it as almost as a training year. Because I learned an awful lot in that time. And I think that's the thing, people should remember that, you know, you might, it might take a wrong decision or something like that, you might make a mistake, but it's okay. And just learn from it. That's the thing to keep, keep doing. And I think I think like one only is really good, as well. One of the things that I really like is, you know, just the people around me and working, choosing your right team, getting people all work together. So you've got that support around you, you can encourage people and you can take them on this journey with you. That's, that's something that's really good. Because, you know, I don't do this on my own, you know, nobody does this on their own. And you have to work together. And there are times when you're picking people up, or they're picking you up. And share as much knowledge as you have, you know, doing things like this working with the school, I do some mentoring for sort of artists who aren't doing fundraising as their role. But everybody, if you if you're running a very small company, or your own, you know, Theater Company, a dance company, you have to do all of these different things. And so I do work with them as well. And I get a lot out of it being on a board of a company as well. And I think just meeting people and getting out there. It's that's one of the things in the last two years, that's been really difficult, not being able to get out and meet people face to face.

Roy Sharples:

As you tilt forward, what's your vision for the future of Performing Arts and the role of creativity?

Sadie McKinlay:

In an environment where, you know, we have to fundraise because we obviously make a lot of our income through ticket sales, and there's some public subsidy and public subsidy has been declining over the years. And that's why we have fundraising really. And I suppose the vision would be, you didn't have to do fundraising in a way. It's an odd thing I'd be doing myself that, you know, the idea, we've seen how important arts and culture and performing arts have been over the past two years, people watching online, you know, just using this that sort of help with their mental health and well being. And that vision would be that it wouldn't be a struggle to have to fundraise for it. You know, I love my job. And I like what you're doing. And I like that bit of bringing people together and I wouldn't want to not do it. But to find that position where you have to fundraise to survive. I think it's a shame. But I think the nature of it is changing as well. You know, I've been doing this for a long time. And I've seen when I first started out, you know, an artistic director would go, well, here's my program for the year, go and fundraise for it and you go. fundraise, but never mind. And then, you know, times have moved on and fundraising and what we can do with seem to be a very important part has to be especially early on. But, you know, brands used to sponsor because they wanted their logo everywhere. They wanted to call hospitality and that's changing and it's all become about, you know, sponsorship with a purpose. And I think that's really important that there's a very philanthropic aspect, even to corporate partnerships now, and we can see how their support of us as performing arts companies means we can have an impact in the community within the wider community, we work so with artists, with community groups with people who are maybe more marginalized in society. And that's, that's how it's changing. And that's quite exciting because I think that's something that can be explored a lot more.

Roy Sharples:

You also mentioned that you did mentoring and work with schools. And obviously, you're heavily involved with the young generation, the next generation of creatives coming through. How optimistic are you, from your engagement within that community about the future of creativity, the future creatives that's coming through

Sadie McKinlay:

Oh, these are bright, Sparky, intelligent young people, right, in a in from the school age group that I'm working with to the younger artists that I've been telling about fundraising, it can see this keenness to learn. And I think it's, you know, we're stuck in a strange time at the moment, but it will pass. And so used by, you know, these people are far more ambitious. And they have, you know, ideas and, and they're activists in their own way. And I think it's just brilliant to see this. And I wish I would be like them when I was that age. So I think that generation companies do that. They're just going to be amazing. I think, if we can get beyond these next few years, and where we are even with COVID at the moment, there's real hope there things are really changing.

Roy Sharples:

The children of this revolution, are the canvas onto which our values will be imprinted and shaped. It starts with youth to build the society of the future by taking a long term approach, and it is our duty to pass the baton in a way that leaves the world better than when we entered because our outputs are the next generations inputs. Do you want to learn more about how to create Without Frontiers by unleashing your creative power? Then consider getting

CREATIVITY WITHOUT FRONTIERS:

How to make the visible visible by writing the way into the future. It's available in print, digital and audio on all relevant book platforms. You have been listening to the Unknown Origins Podcast. Please follow subscribe, rate and review us. For more information go to unknownorigins.com. Thank you for listening!