2024-2027 Strategic Plan
Between 2020 and 2021, members of the steering committee completed GTN’s inaugural strategic plan. The steering committee wanted to seize the momentum that several years of informal programming had inspired.
In 2022 and 2023, the steering committee worked with staff and alumni alliance representatives from the university to explore partnership opportunities to implement the plan.
This page provides an overview of the phases of GTN's process and a summary of the major goals within the strategic plan.
Developing the Plan
Ideation
We began our Strategic Plan process by completing a series of Design Thinking exercises to better understand the nature of our work, our field, and our stakeholders. We met virtually over Zoom for several months but also worked independently with resources like Lucy Kimbell and Joe Julier’s “The Social Design Methods Menu,” IDEO’s “Field Guide to Human Centered Design," and Bruce Hanington and Bella Martin’s “Universal Methods of Design.”
Several stand-out exercises from the work during this phase include the SWOT Analysis, Stakeholder Mapping, and Outcomes Matrices.
Outreach
Throughout the Ideation Phase of our work, we recognized that our experiences within the Georgetown theater community represented a small sample against the decades of curricular and co-curricular activity — activity that had shifted and transformed in lock step with the culture of the campus. We wanted a variety of voices to inform our plan and its desired outcomes.
We reached out to current and past university staff and faculty across disciplines and offices (e.g., Theater and Performance Studies Department, Alumni Association, Advancement Office, Alumni Alliances like GEMA, Co-Curricular Theater, etc.) as well as alumni from the 2020s through the 1960s. Ultimately, we completed nearly 30 interviews.
Analysis
Armed with the results of our brainstorming exercises from the Ideation phase as well as our learnings from the interviews we conducted during the Outreach phase, we kicked off the Analysis phase of our work with a retreat in Washington, DC. Nearly all members of the Steering Committee were able to join for two days of intensive workshops and delicious meals along M Street.
We left the retreat with a revised mission statement, our first vision statement, a revised list of values, and early drafts of our strategic plan’s goals as well as our adaptive impact planning questions.
Following the retreat, we worked diligently to draft our strategic plan for final review and approval by GEMA and staff representatives of the Georgetown Office of Advancement.
Implementation
Currently, we are in the implementation phase of our process. We are excited to see where this next chapter of collaboration with GEMA, the University, and their partners brings for Georgetown’s theater community. We hope to provide annual updates of our process and progress over the coming years.
Major Goals
GTN and GEMA Partnership
Establish a robust and collegial working relationship with GEMA, as one of its affiliate organizations that complements and enhances GEMA’s existing mission and offerings.
Our first and most important organizational relationship is with GEMA, under which GTN operates as an affiliated organization. For GTN to effectively complement and enhance GEMA’s activities in the performing arts sector, we will work to establish a consistent and collegial approach to collaboration. The theater community will be best served when GTN can leverage GEMA’s strong connections across the creative industries and we hope that GEMA will in turn benefit from more robust relationships with Georgetown’s theater community - both on campus and among its alumni.
Governance
Maintain and establish leadership entities that allow GTN to evolve into a place of organizational sustainability, thriving, and growth.
In order to accomplish the broader goals laid out in this plan and continue Georgetown Theater Network’s (GTN) ability to build community over time, we must have a solid foundation. That foundation includes a dedicated and sustainable leadership structure, a core set of organizational systems, and a mechanism for securing funding for future projects. Each of these subgoals represents one block of the foundation and is laid out to ensure that each item can continue to support the growth of GTN for years to come.
Financial Management
Establish official, financial channels and pathways to support GTN’s programming and fundraising priorities.
Over the next three years, we plan to collaborate with our new partners across the University to establish and maintain sustainable financial channels for GTN and its programming.
Programming
Produce programming that appeals to the full body of GTN’s membership to strengthen our ties to theater and our Georgetown community.
Our programming is the most widely visible/accessible barometer for GTN’s reach and influence. Hosting or organizing events on a regular basis is the outlet for GTN’s efforts to engage with our members, partners, and communities - on and off campus, in DC, and around the world - in a consistent and reliable manner. In addition to the legitimacy that these events will give us, each one is an opportunity to reach new/previously untapped members. In the mid/long term, programming is likely to be the main vehicle for interactions, conversations, and experiences that will spur momentum to reach self-sufficiency and longevity.
Membership
Cultivate and celebrate a community that represents theater produced on and off Georgetown’s campus.
Our goal is to create a community that is both specific enough to be meaningful, while also being inclusive and welcoming. We aim to identify clear membership criteria while being representative of the entire Georgetown theater community - past, present, and future. We hope to acknowledge the history of Georgetown theater and to learn from the stories that our older alumni hold and share, while also cultivating interest among the current student body and welcoming our future members.
Above all else, we want to showcase that we are always listening and learning from our community which, as introductory exploratory conversations have shown, changes from decade to decade.
We anticipate our membership model will closely follow that of GEMA, wherein anyone is able to self-identify as a member by completing a membership form.
Operating Systems and Logistics
To develop the skills, structures, and operating protocols that promote adaptability and responsiveness to the needs of the organization and its constituents.
The Georgetown Theater Network (GTN) is spread across disciplines, geographies, and graduation years. To build and maintain a strong and robust community, support systems must be put in place with consistency as a top strategic priority. Consistency is established and maintained in many ways — frequency of messaging, continued quality of service, and continued offering of programming and support.
The following action items outline the ways in which GTN’s outreach, as well as information and financial systems, will support our burgeoning role in connecting alumni with Georgetown University — on the hilltop and beyond.
Partnerships
To foster and support relationships with key partners in order to develop robust and considered programming.
We believe that GTN can enhance the role of theater within the wider Georgetown community by building and strengthening connections among our partners on and off campus. We will create opportunities for our members to engage with theater, while expanding our partners’ access to theatrical expertise and experiences. We believe that, for alumni, theater can serve as an important catalyst for connection, professional growth, and creativity, while students benefit from expertise, mentorship and access to the Georgetown community’s professional network.
If you’d like to read a full version of the 2024-2027 GTN strategic plan, please reach out to georgetowntheaternetwork@gmail.com