Leadership Program FAQs

CANVAS Leadership Programming is available to current CANVAS grantee organizations–Grantee Leaders, executive staff members, and Board members. In addition, CANVAS offers periodic field-wide sessions and resources for the broader Jewish arts field, open to the public. To be notified about these public sessions or to learn more about the program, please sign up for the CANVAS Compendium Newsletter.

Every year, throughout the year. 

• A curated slate of online workshops for participating CANVAS Grantee Leaders, including sessions:
  • Led by vetted experts and focused on Capacity-building and leadership issue
  • Co-led by CANVAS grantees on topics suggested by the grantee group, focused on
    capacity-building or other issues faced by leaders in the field
• Access to and training in easy-to-use capacity-building tools and resources
• Access to CANVAS’s by-invitation-only Community listserv
• Informal, closed leaders-only monthly conversations with CANVAS staff
• Periodic in-person gatherings for information-sharing and networking among peers
• One-on-one sessions with Executive Mentors from CANVAS’s wide professional network who specialize in Leadership development, team management, organizational goal-setting, capacity-building, strategy, and Board development and motivation.

In regular surveys of and open dialogues with CANVAS Grantees, we have heard them consistently express a need for a more formalized knowledge base and training in foundational skills for capacity-building, as well as a desire to strengthen their Leadership and be a part of a community of practice among their peers. CANVAS firmly believes that in addition to providing funding for the field, making leadership and capacity-building resources available is central to our mission to support a healthy, sustainable Jewish arts and culture ecosystem.

CANVAS understands that its Grantees may vary greatly in terms of their current capacity, bandwidth, staffing, and ability to implement offered resources. Therefore, all programs and offerings are optional..  Grantees can choose to join the workshops; work with a Mentor; attend in-person gatherings; or choose all or none. The level and mix of participation is up to each grantee’s time and bandwidth.

CANVAS will regularly check in with and survey all participants and mentors to monitor progress and fit, and to thoughtfully plan/adjust programming for the next year(s).

CANVAS will reach out to all Grantees to determine their interest in upping, or re-upping, or scaling down their participation.

Some of the online and in-person events will be opened up to staff and Board members, while others will be limited to organization leaders only.

Participation in CANVAS’s Leadership Programming is entirely optional. Your participation will not be factored into current funding or future Grant decisions by CANVAS or its Review Committee.

CANVAS’s lineup of Executive Mentors is comprised of best-in-class experts with a diverse variety of professional experience helping leaders tap into their full potential. CANVAS will contact you for a quick conversation, and CANVAS will pair you up with a Mentor who best matches your needs.

Each Mentoring Cycle will feature 4-6 one-hour Mentoring sessions, to be held over phone or Zoom over the period of 2-3 months. Mentors will follow up each session with a brief summary of what was discussed, and next steps (if any). After each Cycle ends, Mentors and Grantees will have the option to “re-up” for a second Cycle, also of 4-6 one-hour sessions, over a period of 2-3 months. In order to equitably provide Mentors to all CANVAS grantees, the maximum amount of Cycles available to each CANVAS Grantee is 2. CANVAS team will check in with Mentors and Grantees periodically during each Cycle to ensure the relationship is mutually beneficial.

There is no homework between sessions. Executive Mentoring is designed to meet Grantees where they are in terms of needs and bandwidth. The sessions are supposed to be informative, fun, stress-relieving, and full of insights and thought partnership. Bring as many questions to it as you need, and don’t worry about homework between sessions!

CANVAS encourages its Grantees and Mentors to continue their relationship, if desired. Once the 2nd cycle ends, Grantees and Mentors should feel free to explore ways to independently work together outside of CANVAS’s oversight.

All topics raised and discussions conducted within the CANVAS Community in virtual events, in person, or on the CANVAS Community listserv, are to be treated as confidential. These conversations are happening in a “safe space” and are not to be reported on, repeated, or shared in any way without specific permission from all involved, including CANVAS leadership.

Information shared with Executive Mentors will be held in confidence in specifics, and will be referred back to CANVAS as higher-level trend reporting and discussions of goal-setting and planning. See CANVAS Leadership Program Mentoring Confidentiality Guidelines for more information.

CANVAS aims to make Leadership offerings available to the public whenever possible, and holds field-wide sessions on important topics.

If you’d like to learn more and to be notified about these sessions, please sign up for the CANVAS Compendium Newsletter.