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Case Study: Strategic Planning
TO Live
Location: Toronto, ONT | AMS Team: Steven Wolff, Michele Walter, Lynette Turner
TO Live was incorporated in 2015, becoming the City of Toronto’s public agency charged with operating nearly a dozen distributed venues in Canada’s cultural heart. The process was lengthy, and by 2020 the leadership knew focused facilitation was needed to bring the staff and board into alignment. Then the pandemic hit. It took until 2021 to start the process, in the midst of a dramatically altered social and economic landscape.
The Challenge
TO Live engaged AMS to facilitate a thoughtful, rigorous strategic planning process that would probe areas of existing alignment and help identify a compelling future vision.
TO Live
Location: Toronto, ONT | AMS Team: Steven Wolff, Michele Walter, Lynette Turner
TO Live was incorporated in 2015, becoming the City of Toronto’s public agency charged with operating nearly a dozen distributed venues in Canada’s cultural heart. The process was lengthy, and by 2020 the leadership knew focused facilitation was needed to bring the staff and board into alignment. Then the pandemic hit. It took until 2021 to start the process, in the midst of a dramatically altered social and economic landscape.
The Challenge
TO Live engaged AMS to facilitate a thoughtful, rigorous strategic planning process that would probe areas of existing alignment and help identify a compelling future vision.
Our Approach
AMS facilitated a process focused on aligning the TO Live team and culture with a rich foundation of data. We conducted a deep dive into years of operating history for all the venues now under the TO Live umbrella, exploring the drivers of revenue, participation, and probing how the organization did (or didn’t) realize desired outcomes for its diverse stakeholders. We identified new revenue opportunities, bringing together initiatives already underway to redevelop the Meridian Arts Centre, along with continuing a digital reimagination and a brand repositioning effort.
AMS partnered with TO Live leadership from the inception of the strategic planning effort through a multi-year implementation process, engaging a broad spectrum of staff, Board, and City leadership:
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years of pre-planning, plan facilitation and development, and implementation monitoring.
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venues under TO Live management, following amalgamation, brought under a unified brand guided by AMS’s support.
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staff and board responded to a custom survey, over a 50% participation rate.
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socially distanced workshops built on survey analysis, supporting TO Live leadership, staff, and board in defining future policies and practices.
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years of pre-planning, plan facilitation and development, and implementation monitoring.
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venues under TO Live management, following amalgamation, brought under a unified brand guided by AMS’s support.
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staff and board responded to a custom survey, over a 50% participation rate.
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socially distanced workshops built on survey analysis, supporting TO Live leadership, staff, and board in defining future policies and practices.
AMS developed deep-dive industry research to shine light on TO Live’s opportunities, codified in a detailed set of scenarios.
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best-in-class performing arts centers researched to identify how TO Live’s peer organizations were navigating opportunities and risks.
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distinct scenarios defined and detailed to illustrate potential futures for TO Live.
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best-in-class performing arts centers researched to identify how TO Live’s peer organizations were navigating opportunities and risks.
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distinct scenarios defined and detailed to illustrate potential futures for TO Live.
I’m very excited by these results. This could be a significant plus for the city. This is such a significant structure in some way to many in the community. We have suffered so much loss of identity in this community. So many historic structures have fallen by the wayside. It would be an honor to resurrect this one.”
– Damian Pardo
Commissioner, City of Miami, as quoted in the Miami Herald
Our Solution
The AMS team partnered with leadership to model cross-organizational collaboration throughout the strategic planning process, setting the stage for an integrated “matrix” operation.
We created a robust implementation monitoring tool for TO Live staff leaders to use on a routine basis, aligning specific strategies and tactics to broader goals, objectives, and budget resources.
We facilitated internal City planning to reopen and program the Saint Lawrence Centre, a cornerstone of TO Live’s venue inventory, in a way that would fully align with the strategic and financial objectives of the City and key arts constituencies.
The AMS team partnered with leadership to model cross-organizational collaboration throughout the strategic planning process, setting the stage for an integrated “matrix” operation.
We created a robust implementation monitoring tool for TO Live staff leaders to use on a routine basis, aligning specific strategies and tactics to broader goals, objectives, and budget resources.
We facilitated internal City planning to reopen and program the Saint Lawrence Centre, a cornerstone of TO Live’s venue inventory, in a way that would fully align with the strategic and financial objectives of the City and key arts constituencies.
Navigating organizational transformation is deep, complicated work. Call AMS today to learn how we can support your organization’s transformation – and help you create alignment with your city and its communities.
Contact AMS today to talk about how we can co-design a process that delivers a plan – and a meaningful experience for every stakeholder involved in making it.
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