Governance is a developing perspective on organizational dynamics. Through ‘understanding the rules of the game’, many issues and theoretical ideas converge in governance studies. Some scholars call it the new management. Governance occurs in arts organizations’ boards of directors and in government policymaking where societal values around art are interpreted in order to ensure artistic vitality and organizational sustainability. Direct and indirect funding results from these policies.
Important research partnerships have stimulated my work on governance: Johanne Turbide at HEC Montréal, Ruth Rentschler at the University of South Australia, and Chiara Carolina Donelli at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Many years of participating in boards of directors and in cultural policymaking in Canada and in Québec have informed my research.
Publications
The Routledge Companion of Arts Governance, Leadership and Philanthropy co-edited with Ruth Rentschler and Chiara Carolina Donelli (2025). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003316121/routledge-companion-governance-arts-world-ruth-rentschler-wendy-reid-chiara-carolina-donelli
My co-authorship of chapters in the Companion:
With Stéphanie Havet-Laurent, INSEEC Grande Ecole, Lyon & Ruth Rentschler, University of South Australia. Balancing identities: Board members’ dual roles in small, volunteer- operated artistic organisations.
With Verena Teissl, University of Applied Sciences Kufstein. Cultural governance as field governance: Interest groups and the transformational work on cultural policy.
With Hilde Fjellvær, NTNU Business School. Practices at the Nexus of Logics When Boards and Co-leaders Undertake Governance Work.
With Melissa Wilson, Carlton University, and Johanne Turbide, HEC Montréal. Co- governance of an arts organization and its parallel foundation: A role space shared by two boards.
With Ruth Rentschler, University of South Australia and Chiara Carolina Donelli, University Ca’ Foscari. Introduction.
Rentschler, Ruth & Wendy Reid (2021). Theorizing arts governance, Mapping the influence of context, creativity and funding paradigms for future research prospects. International Journal of Arts Management 24(1):4-9.
Teissl, Verena, Elizabeth Meherhoff & Wendy Reid (2021). Austrian Film Festival Forum: Cultural governance and accountability in Viennese film festivals. International Journal of Arts Management, 24(2) 101-113.
Reid, Wendy & Johanne Turbide (2013). Growth crises and three phases of governance response. Nonprofit Quarterly, Fall-Winter, p. 64-69.
Reid, Wendy & Johanne Turbide (2013). Dilemmas in the Board-Staff Dynamics of Governance, in New Perspectives on Nonprofit Governance, edited by Chris Cornforth and William Brown, Routledge, p. 163-182.
Reid, Wendy (2013). Beneath the Surface and Around the Table: Board Group Dynamics and Implications for Governance, in New Perspectives on Nonprofit Governance, edited by Chris Cornforth and William Brown, Routledge, p. 123-141.
Reid, Wendy & Johanne Turbide (2012). Board/staff relations in a growth crisis: Implications for governance, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 41(1) 82-98.
Please be in touch regarding availability of book chapters.