“I Wanna!” The Fatal Game of Power About Nonprofit Arts. Ages infantile and up.
How to play:
Players select their tokens to start play. Each token designates their role in nonprofit art.
Marionette: Performing Artists/Designers
Blob of Clay: Writers/Composers/Visual Artists
Pawn: All technical/administrative/volunteer personnel (one token represents all)
Change Purse: Audience
Louis Vuitton Pocketbook: Donor/Funder
Fake Louis Vuitton Pocketbook: Development Director
Hammer: Trustee
Bent nail: Managing/Executive Director
Telescope looking up: Artistic Director/Curator
Microscope looking down: General Manager/CFO
Bloody leech: Critic/Journalist
Sorry: designated tokens for marketing/pr directors were deleted in the last budget cycle.
All players spin the Great Glass Wheel Of Art simultaneously in all directions and yell, “I Wanna!” The Wheel comes off its bearings; breaks into millions of pieces. Players move tokens anyplace in the room that feels most advantageous, regardless of the playing board or other players.
End of game:
Chaos. All players proclaim victory. None actually win.
Really bad ideas for nonprofit arts boards!
- Be the “idea” person. Provide valuable insight. Have employees carry out those ideas in addition to their jobs. Give continual feedback at every board meeting.
- Eschew fundraising. It’s begging for money. You don’t beg.
- Make sure that your annual gala is the organization’s primary activity… above all else.
- Play “Pick Your Favorite Line Item” at the board meeting where the budget is approved. Spend forty-five minutes on depreciation, for example.
- Bring in consultants. Find ones with a single patented technique that works for every organization.
- Build a hierarchy. Successful corporations build hierarchies.
- Do not read anything sent to you before attending meetings. You’re there as the “idea” person, remember?
- Ensure that the company’s activities define the mission, not the other way around. Make sure that the mission contains the words, “fiscal responsibility.”
For success, do the opposite.
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