New York Foundation for the Arts
New York, NY

Knowledge in Technology

NYFA is a comprehensive arts service organization serving individuals and communities in New York State and the nation. Knowledge in Technology is an initiative to help small and mid-sized nonprofit organizations stay on track as technology changes. Through workshops, technical assistance, and an on-line magazine, the field will receive expert professional technical assistance at reasonable cost. NCF supported NYFA’s KIT efforts to offer nonprofit arts administrators (and especially those organizations with fewer resources) a means to improve daily operations while ensuring that information technology evolves as a meaningful part of the cultural sector’s infrastructure. One of the many things NYFA learned, through an evaluation process, was that if it is to effect real organizational change, the delivery of technical assistance and workshops needs to shift from an expert model to a peer-learning model. Groups of tech teams from organizations will work to develop their plans together and provide peer support. Their knowledge needs to be mined and shared. In 2000, NYFA is seeking funding to provide a peer-learning opportunity in technology planning to small and mid-sized arts organizations through KIT.