by heather head
[bizprofile]
ASC Leader is Change Agent for Innovation and Energy t a time when the non-profit sector is still reeling from the after-effects of the recession, the Arts & Science Council (ASC) has been transforming itself, and Charlotte, toward a bright future. In fact, ASC President Scott Provancher wants to see our city become “an innovator in the national cultural sector.” “We have such great intellectual capital and creativity in this community,” he points up. “We need to be more aggressive and think a lot bigger for our institutions.” Provancher’s vision of Charlotte as an innovator in the arts and science world comes as no surprise: He was brought to Charlotte in 2009 precisely for the purpose of innovating the organization’s way out of a financial rut. In each of several years prior to this recession, ASC had reliably raised more than $11 million through their Annual Fund Drive to support cultural activities and facilities in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. In 2009, that number dropped by more than 35 percent to just over $7 million. Furthermore, the organization was in the final stages of raising money for the Campaign for Cultural Facilities that would finance the Levine Center for the Arts, Discovery Place’s renovations, and the construction of the new North Carolina Dance Theatre. And it had become challenging. The ASC board of directors knew the organization would need more than a little work to make it happen. According to Mary Lou Babb, then chair of the ASC board, they needed creative energy and a new approach. Conducting Solutions Enter Scott Provancher. Provancher was recruited from Cincinnati, where he was vice president and campaign director for the Fine Arts Fund (FAF). He immediately impressed the board with his youthful energy and a history of thinking outside the box. It didn’t hurt that he had recently completed an initiative at the FAF that had increased revenue by 10 percent. And prior to that, he had rescued the Louisville Orchestra from financial straits to set it on solid ground and expanded both revenue and programming for the Rockford Symphony Orchestra in Rockford, Illinois. Upon arrival in Charlotte, Provancher immediately set about building relationships and generating new ideas. Babb says, “I observed how quickly he makes friends and good relationships with people around the city. Plus, he handled the cultural facilities fundraising ➤ with grace and enthusiasm.”
october 2011
23