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Methodology
While every engagement is different in its nature and goals, the firm begins each project with an initial meeting attended by the firm's principals, the Client's staff and major stakeholders (such as Board Members and major donors). During this meeting the participants explore the overall project concept and identify goals, issues, potential problems and benefits. B+C then establishes and maintains a close working relationship with the Client through regularly scheduled meetings, reviews and presentations, including progress reports and informational meetings. After a thorough examination of the issues - and once a consensus on how to proceed is reached – the firm frequently creates a Vision Plan document that establishes the broadly defined ideas and goals for the project. This Vision Plan becomes the basis for a detailed Business Plan that includes a budget, a time line and a work plan that are necessary to achieve the Client's goals.
For some engagements, B+C creates a Project Team, incorporating outside professionals that bring all the required skills to the project. This allows the firm to select the best, most appropriate members for the individual elements of facility and program development, and to utilize them for just the relevant portion of the project (reducing expense), such as architecture, engineering, or curatorial services. The firm works with the Client to refine each task for the team members so that they are able to meet all requirements and identify specific areas of concern or opportunity. The firm prepares detailed Request For Proposals for the consultants or subcontractors, disseminates them to attract the widest applicant pool, and establishes and conducts a rigorous review process before recommending a designee.
After the Vision Plan has been completed, B+C begins the development of a detailed Business Plan. This is one of the most critical actions undertaken at the outset of any project. The Business Plan clarifies all aspects of the project, identifies unanswered questions, and allows the entire Team to analyze each element of the project, from design to financing to image and beyond. The Principals have found that this step is so critical that it spends a significant amount of effort to create such a plan with the Client, for without a full understanding of the entire scope the possibility of success is compromised. The firm bases Business Plans on previous exercises and experiences, tailored to the circumstances. Typically, the Business Plan includes all expenses and revenues, projected over a term well beyond stabilization, Sources and Uses of funds, operations, policies (including an analysis of competitors, if relevant), programming and events, additional revenue generators, general facility/operational plan, staffing issues, and opportunities and/or problems that may impact the project's sustainability.
Once the Business plan is complete and accepted by the Client, a detailed Implementation Plan is developed to create a practical, achievable schedule. The Implementation Plan includes a time line and a comprehensive staffing plan. In consultation with the Client, the Principals can create a report that discusses and analyzes the organizations' structure and other alternatives. For example, B+C has worked with a wide variety of organizations on the creation or restructuring of their Boards. This allows the Client and Beckelman + Capalino to come to a conclusion regarding the optimal organizational structure. The firm can then develop an Institutional Plan, including an organization chart, job descriptions, roles, responsibilities, and compensation, and proposed rules of governance.
In the development of any cultural project the very nature of the process requires an extraordinary ability to collaborate with a wide variety of stakeholders and players. Every project that the Principals have been involved with – museums, not-for-profits, cultural organizations, public agencies, governments, and even private firms – has presented such situations. This may, for example, include working with Board members who do not share the same vision for a facility's physical realization or to political or community pressures that may threaten the very life of a project. This is one area where the firm offers skills that no other firm can provide. The Principals have unparalleled experience in successfully engaging with all of the different factions of a community that may be impacted by a project and work with them to arrive at a consensus so that a project may be realized.