Connecticut: Customer Relationship Management System

The Peer Advisor Network (PAN) is a flexible, short-term consulting service available to cultural organizations in Connecticut. Led by the Arts Division of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, PAN provides peer advisors—seasoned Connecticut professionals trained to provide consultation—to help community cultural groups to address a variety of organizational health, capacity and management issues. This spring the Arts Division engaged the Arts Extension Service to develop a new customer relationship management (CRM) system, a web-based tool that allows the state arts agency and five local arts agency field offices to coordinate administration of the PAN program. The CRM system documents the impact of PAN services, helping the agency to make the importance of technical assistance more visible to policy decision makers and the cultural field. Using the CRM, the agency can produce reports on services provided in state House and Senate districts, by type of service requested or by type of constituent organization served. The Arts Division recently expanded the PAN program by partnering with the Connecticut Humanities Council to provide advisors with skills in the heritage and humanities areas. PAN is now marketed to all arts, cultural and heritage organizations across the state. The program is successfully administering approximately 10 times as many technical assistance applications and contracts as it did in 2008. To find out more, contact Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Arts Division Director An-Ming Truxes or Community Development Coordinator John Cusano.