service design meets the arts

The team at MMM have designed a new phase / program / idea / service for their next venture and they invited me to help move this back-of-an-envelope document into a version of the programme where they have much more detail of the what/how/when/&how much. Mission Models Money is a passionate network of thinkers and doers whose vision is to transform the way the arts use their resources to support the creation and experience of great art.

The first of three workshops kicked off last week with  Clare, Rohan and Mark , a big white space, lots of walls, pomegranates and peas. The team have never thought about what they offer as a 'service' before and we had a really interesting conversation around this. For some, the word 'service' conjures up thoughts of transactional exchanges and for others it has much more positive connotations such as 'being of service' which leans towards the notion of the gift economy. I am fascinated by the way people interpret the word service and I learned alot from simply going out and asking people last summer.

The day began by me asking simple questions to ensure clarity, as we needed a clear and jargon-free explanation of their service offering. We spent time understanding this new phase as a service, mapping programme outcomes and relation to stakeholders and really imagining what MMM's new service might look like from a user perspective. The trio got colourful with cartoons and story telling and it really helped bring it to life! You can see pictures of the tools we used and the outcomes generated here.

The next workshop is happening this week and we are inviting two of the key stakeholders along to bring their expertise and insights to the table.