2024-2029 Paprika Festival Roadmap

Where is Paprika Festival today and where are we headed?

Many Paprika participants experience the multiple degrees of what it means to be a leader in the performing arts for the first time.

That was true for all three of us. We got our first shot at Paprika to be facilitators, artistic leads, and project managers. As new leaders we looked for answers and guidance in the 2018 Manifesto — but 4 years and a pandemic later, the world was changed. Inflation rates and housing costs had skyrocketed, and opportunities for artists had thinned. Over the last few years, we worked tirelessly to push our revenue and pay better fees across the company. We brought Paprika’s operating budget over $200,000 for the first time in its history.

But with the current market, revenue generation alone is not enough to ensure the next generation of leadership at Paprika would have what they needed to build success for the organization. When we
began at the festival in 2020, we were overseeing 7 programs and managing a budget of $190,000+, engaging over 100+ artists, and producing a festival — on part-time hours and salary.

It’s time for a new strategic plan — one that ensured Paprika remains a place for artists of diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to learn, lead, and thrive.

Guided by Currents Group and Paprika’s Board of Directors, we jumped into the fog. After countless zoom/phone calls, surveys, and guiding questions, and by sharing and listening with one another, we found our way into clarity.

This road map is the result of that process!

- Keshia Palm (Exiting Paprika Artistic Producer 2021-2024), Julia Dickson (Paprika General
Manager 2021-Present), Cheyenne Scott (Community Programming Producer 2022-2023)