Academy Programs

The Academy identifies African-American young professionals who in five to ten years will take leadership roles in the nonprofit, government, and private sectors. The focus is on the issues of leadership: what is required, the variety of styles, and the core attributes. There are four-hour monthly sessions for seven months, exploring such core leadership and management topics as power, conflict, group problem solving, oral and written communication, coalition building, self-management, fund developments and finance, and board relations. This program is produced in cooperation with the United Way Key Club.

The Board Leadership Project offers two alternatives, a single session or an in-depth experience. The Gathering of Presidents offers an evening of reflection and leadership development for new board presidents and presidents-elect. Meanwhile, The President's Institute offers a year's worth of meetings and consultations for new board presidents. Utilizing The President's Book and their own rich and diverse experience, a faculty of three board presidents and executives works in-depth, over time with this group of board leaders.

The Fellowships are for nonprofit executives who are ready for growth and change. The eight-member faculty works with ten to twelve fellows each year over a six-month period, addressing such issues as leadership voice, the executive's special relationship with the board president, and organizational ethics. The fifth group of Fellows recently celebrated the completion of their work in June of 2008.

The Fellowships are designed to identify, support and prepare the most promising next generation of leaders for our institutions of arts and culture. This effort is carried out in a small group with highly individualized attention to the professional development needs of the participants in the context of the multiple demands of leadership.

Based on the book, Women Leading the Way, this fellowship program provides an in-depth ten-month experience for emerging women leaders. The focus of the fellowship is on the issues of leadership: what is required, the variety of styles and the core attributes. Fellows attend monthly sessions that focus on issues identified by the fellows together with such core leadership and management topics as self-management, work-life balance, cultural competency, partnership building, oral and written communication, fund developments and finance, and board relations.