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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 and becomes the basis for a detailed Strategic Plan.
Once the Vision Plan has been completed, B+C begins the development of a detailed Strategic Plan. This is one of the most critical components of any project. The Strategic Plan clarifies all aspects of the project, identifies unanswered questions, and allows the entire Team to analyze each element of the project. The Principals have found that this step is so critical that they spend 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. Typically, the Strategic Plan takes into consideration the current physical, financial and organizational capacity of the institution and recommends a course of action for building upon that capacity to strategically achieve the future goals outlined in the Vision Plan. The Strategic Plan includes an Implementation Plan with a practical, achievable schedule and recommendations, based on analysis, concerning the need for potential changes to the organization’s structure, staffing, the creation or restructuring of Boards, and proposed rules of governance.
For some assignments B+C assembles a 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, business planning, 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.
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.