Page 62 - APAP - Inside Arts - Conference 2020

changed how I run my business, allowed
me to be more successful in running that business, pushed me to become the leader
I needed to be for my organization and for myself. The program has made me a more
compassionate and patient person and pushed me to seek out a personal
philosophy that helps me make daily decisions both big and small.
My Action Learning Project was originally a re-branding effort to re-introduce myself as
the new head of an organization that was as old as I was (which was incredibly intimidating and
scary). It ended up being much more than that. I realized that a
culture shift and a total reimagining of what this company I was now running
could and should be doing were necessary to become a true participant and thought leader
within the dance field. With this new clarity, I pointed the company in a new direction with a lot of firsts while featuring what we had done well for the last 35 years. The choices that were made after this point allowed Elisa Monte Dance to go from 9,400 served in 2016 to over 35,000 at the end of our 2018/2019 season. It was rewarding, fulfilling and an incredible amount of work, but because this program asked such important probing questions it made me really think about the “why” and “how” of what I was doing. Understanding the “why” and
60 INSIDE ARTS CONFERENCE 2020