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The Artful Manager

Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture

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The five actions of art-making

May 7, 2019 by Andrew Taylor

A Restless Art

The recent book, A Restless Art: How participation won and why it matters, offers a beautiful balance between theory and practice, abstract and concrete. The author, François Matarasso, brings decades of reflection and action to this exploration of participatory or community art. And that combination brings deep value to so many conversations about art making, arts management, and arts in society. … [Read more...]

Mark Nerenhausen on Curating Outcomes

April 30, 2019 by Andrew Taylor

Mark Nerenhausen

For a second video interview for my Presenting the Performing Arts class at American University, I talked with Mark Nerenhausen, President/CEO of Hennepin Theatre Trust in Minneapolis. While my previous conversation with Pamela Tatge focused on the art and practice of artistic curating, Mark shared the many moving parts in animating and activating a building and a neighborhood through the live performing arts. … [Read more...]

The Complexity Fetish

April 18, 2019 by Andrew Taylor

Complexity by Dany Sternfeld

Nonprofit Quarterly has a thoughtful overview of complexity and sensemaking as they relate to organizations, the first of a four-part series on the subject. The general idea is that purpose-driven collectives, such as civil-sector organizations like nonprofits, need to respond to an increasingly complex world by becoming increasingly complex themselves -- in how they see, interpret, discuss, and act in the world. … [Read more...]

Paying attention

April 1, 2019 by Andrew Taylor

Attention Sign

The New York Times apparently wants us all to be more productive, since it's hammering away at the subject from many fronts. In one article, Charlotte Lieberman tells us that procrastination isn't about self-control but about negative emotions. In another, Adam Grant suggests that productivity isn't about time management, but about attention. … [Read more...]

Pamela Tatge on Curatorial Practice

March 11, 2019 by Andrew Taylor

Pamela Tatge

In support of this semester's "Presenting the Performing Arts" course at American University, I've started a series of video interviews with performing arts professionals. Through my prep for the class, I found strikingly few resources available in any media about the craft, practice, and management of arts organizations in the live performing arts (beyond the usual-suspect books). … [Read more...]

Exploring the Four Stories

January 2, 2019 by Andrew Taylor

The Four Stories

For over a year now, I've been stewing on and adapting the independent work of E.F. Schumacher and Ken Wilber (citations below), both of whom explore and explain what a "whole" view of ourselves and our world might look like. As I've unfolded it (literally) for a few groups and close colleagues, it now seems useful to unfold it for all of you for your reactions. … [Read more...]

Private, public, plural

August 10, 2018 by Andrew Taylor

In the U.S. we've agreed to disagree about what to call that "other" sector of collective action that isn't private (aka, privately owned business) and isn't public (aka, government). Non-profit, not-for-profit, third, social, civil, voluntary all capture bits of it, but miss important bits as well. Which is why I'm increasingly fond of Henry Mintzberg's framing and naming for this other sector: plural. … [Read more...]

15 Years Ago

July 14, 2018 by Andrew Taylor

cc flickr Bill Swingle

This week marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of The Artful Manager blog, brought to life through the invitation and innovative brilliance of ArtsJournal editor Doug McLennan, and my own growing curiosities at the intersection of art and management and collective action. … [Read more...]

Strong opinions, weakly held

June 25, 2018 by Andrew Taylor

Strong opinions, weakly held

The yelling and pointing in our current civic environment keeps me going back to futurist Paul Saffo and his mantra: "strong opinions, weakly held." In his extensive work exploring the present and divining the future, he found this combination to be a productive path toward more robust thinking. … [Read more...]

The pyramid and the wheel

May 30, 2018 by Andrew Taylor

Barnraising Photo

There are countless ways to categorize collective human action (by legal entity, by sector, by formal/informal structure, by tax status, by geography, and on and on). But sociologist/political-scientist/historian Johan Galtung suggests there are essentially two types: thick-and-small ("the wheel" or "Beta") and thin-and-big ("the pyramid" or "Alpha"). … [Read more...]

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About Andrew Taylor

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Andrew Taylor is a faculty member of American University's Arts Management Program in Washington, DC...
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Recent Comments

  • Heather Good on The Complexity Fetish: “Andrew, this is why all administrators need to also be artists: because art offers us so many ways to "ease…” Apr 19, 11:26
  • JIm O'Connell on The Complexity Fetish: “Self-knowledge is both a blessing and a curse, my friend. ;-) It might be said that a complex universe of…” Apr 18, 14:58
  • william osborne on Paying attention: “In this sense of improv, it would be interesting to study the reactive differences between orchestra musicians who serve largely…” Apr 7, 01:38
  • Andrew Taylor on Paying attention: “How cool to ponder on the expressive practices that might inform or inspire those three elements of the attentional system!…” Apr 5, 18:57
  • JIm O'Connell on Paying attention: “Thanks, as usual, Andrew. I had read the procrastination article when it first appeared, but the others were new to…” Apr 5, 18:37

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