Diane Ragsdale on what the arts do and why
Diane is currently attending Erasmus University in Rotterdam (in the Netherlands), where she is researching the impact of economic forces on US nonprofit regional theaters since the 80′s and working towards a PhD in cultural economics. Read More…
"Surviving the Culture Change", "The Excellence Barrier", and "Holding Up the Arts: Can We Sustain What We've Creatived? Should We?" are a few keynote addresses I've given in the US and abroad on the larger changes in the cultural environment and ways arts organizations may need to adapt in order to survive and thrive in the coming years.
If you want a quicker read, then you may want to skip the speeches and opt for the article, "Recreating Fine Arts Institutions," which was published in the November 2009 Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Here is a recent essay commissioned by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts for the 2011 State of the Arts Conference in London, "Rethinking Cultural Philanthropy".
In 2012 I documented a meeting among commercial theater producers and nonprofit theater directors to discuss partnerships between the two sectors in the development of new theatrical work, which is published by HowlRound. You can get a copy of this report, "In the Intersection," on the HowlRound Website. Finally, last year I also had essays published in Doug Borwick's book, Building Communities Not Audiences and Theatre Bay Area's book (edited by Clay Lord), Counting New Beans.
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Recent Comments
Brendan McCall on I see an arts cliff, too, Mr. Kaiser; but it’s not fiscal in nature.
Thank you for the article, Diane; and for all of the comments. Perhaps these are sub-headings to the 4 cliffs you...Aaron Andersen on On organizations evolving: when short-term coping mechanisms become the new way of doing business
Good piece, Diane, I've generally appreciated the ecosystem analogy, but I think too many of us ignore a key aspect...David Dixon on On organizations evolving: when short-term coping mechanisms become the new way of doing business
Thanks Diana, really interesting thoughts, as always. Given the seismic shifts in Europe which are being caused by severe custs...Richard Kooyman on Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy?
Scott, I don't disagree with that at all. But talking about interaction and success and humility is separate...Craig Fleming on Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy?
Scott, I couldn't agree more.Scott Walters on Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy?
Richard -- You wrote: "Tell them that excellence doesn’t reside either in the script they worked from or in the...Richard Kooyman on Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy?
Scott, Here's a little test for you. Next time you put on a theatrical performance or are amongst a group...Scott Walters on Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy?
Richard -- What we're dealing with is known as "reification," the fallacy of treating an abstraction as if it were...Richard Kooyman on Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy?
Major Typo...I meant to say "A layperson on the outside may make a completely different assessment but that should...Scott Walters on Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy?
"Excellence is another name for something of the highest quality." That is circular reasoning. "Orange is another name for the...