It's not what you think. We routinely get requests for non-arts organizations that want to come in and speak to our members to talk about their awesome program/business/opportunity. And usually 90% are absolutely businesses or organizations that our members need to know about, but we are limited on the time we spend together, so we wanted to find a way to invite in social service agencies to meet and greet to see where we should collaborate (and perhaps where we shouldn't).
Our answer? Speed dating!
For our first time doing this, we had a wonderful turnout of organizations on both sides that wanted to make new connections and and explore brilliant new ideas. Each social service met with an arts non-profit for 4 minutes, exchanged cards, and then on to the next! There were many times I heard service organizations say "I always wanted to know what your group does" or "I had no idea you offered this type of programming", so I think we were successful in making business connections!
Thank you to everyone that came, and I hope you followed up and created new opportunities!
