Madison, Wisconsin, is set to open phase one of its new $205-million arts complex, beginning this Saturday. Everybody who is anybody will be there during its full opening week of free and paid performance/exhibit activities (I’ll be there too, even though I’m not anybody). For those that want to dig deep into the unprecedented single-donor […]
Archives for September 2004
For the wanna-be cultural literate
If you’ve forgotten what a Philistine is beyond the concert hall, can’t distinguish Chaplin from Chopin, if a friend mentions the Apocrypha and you think about the Apocalypse, there may be a book you need on your shelf (or in your web bookmarks). The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (available on-line and in print) is […]
The IRS and executive compensation
Nonprofit arts leaders and staff responsible for payroll, hiring, governance, or financial reporting may want to keep an eye on the IRS in the coming months (more than usual, that is). Last month, they issued an advisory that they will be scrutinizing executive compensation practices for nonprofits, beginning with about 2000 throughout the sector (arts […]
Fill out this survey, or I’ll probe your brain
A recent article in The Economist, and another in Newsweek, explore the early stages of ‘neuromarketing’ and ‘neuroeconomics,’ or the use of brain scanning equipment in pursuit of consumer cash and decision making. Since people can’t usually describe their actual motivations (or they describe them incorrectly), a few research centers and consulting firms are hard […]
The joys of statistics
The fun and intrigue of a national election (especially in a swing state like Wisconsin) always bring me to wonder at the glory of statistical evidence, and its practical application to really important decision-making. We all take measures of things when deciding which way to turn, how to vote, how much energy, cash, or staff […]
Teaching old books a new trick
Richard Adams in The Guardian has a great piece on a counter-intuitive result of the Internet on a venerable old retail model, actually helping it rather than killing it. Says Adams: It wasn’t meant to be like this. The internet was supposed to bid farewell to the need for buying books in shops. When the […]
The silent (audience) killer
Drive time is one of those quiet variables at work in the heads of our audiences, when considering a night out, a spontaneous group activity, or a season subscription. Who among us hasn’t thought about catching a show, only to consider the hassle of it and visit Blockbuster, instead? Who hasn’t come home after a […]
GETTY: Crafting the audience
In past posts about the June leadership roundtable at the Getty (see bottom of this entry for links in the series) on the nonprofit and forprofit cultural industries, I’ve focused almost entirely on the production side of the discussion (cash and capital and capacity, oh my). Equally compelling is the consumption side, where nonprofit and […]
More on the value of art
Russell Smith has some great musings on the value of art in the Globe and Mail. His thoughts are launched by the recent theft from the Munch Museum in Oslo. ‘The Scream,’ specifically, has no market value (since it can’t really be sold), has no bragging value, since any collector that has it can’t show […]
Roller Coaster Tycoon
A computer game that can simulate decision-making for the arts and cultural manager? Sure. Okay, you’re managing a theme park instead of a performing arts hall, but the experience is eerily similar.