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Time to start pulling off the duct tape …

January 2, 2012 by 18 Comments
duct tape

In his article, Occupy the Arts, a seat at a time, NY Times critic Anthony Tomasini (like others) pounced on recent allegations of ‘elitism’ in the arts (growing out of the Occupy movement), decrying that there are loads of free and affordable arts events and that even those organizations that charge $400 per ticket also have cheap seats (and the experience is just as great from the nosebleeds, thank you very much!). Not only do Tomasini and others seem a tad defensive when they fly their Free Tickets Flag in the face of those seeking to … [Read more...]

01/2/12 9:30 PM | filed under: Asymmetric power dynamics, community, Democratization of Culture, engagement, Uncategorized |

On artists being tossed off the truck

December 19, 2011 by 13 Comments
people falling off truck

About a month ago I wrote a post on ‘'on artists making a living and artistic directors that could make a difference but don't.’ I had a significant number of comments (relative to other posts on my blog) including several from actors (thanks, all). One of the most inspiring posts came from Ron Russell of Epic Theatre in NYC. Epic (founded in 2001) has operating expenses of approximately $1.7 million (according to its 2010 990 filing on Guidestar) and recently renegotiated its contract with Actors Equity Association (AEA) to enable it to … [Read more...]

12/19/11 2:13 PM | filed under: institutionalism |

Instead of more data perhaps we should discuss why we keep ignoring the data we have?

November 26, 2011 by 12 Comments
shutterstock_55702153

I finally had found some time this week to read Scott Walter’s excellent second post in his trilogy (all three now published) looking at the 1% vs 99% issues in the US arts and culture sector. A compelling string of comments follows this post, led by one of my other favorite bloggers, Clayton Lord, who argues two points: (1) Is it effective to turn against the ‘top’ arts organizations at a time when the arts generally are under attack? and (2) We need to collect more data to understand how to improve the system. Walters responds that the … [Read more...]

11/26/11 7:03 PM | filed under: Asymmetric power dynamics, Democratization of Culture |

On artists making a living and artistic directors that could make a difference but don’t

November 14, 2011 by 55 Comments
Ethan Lipton

Saturday night I went to Joe’s Pub to see playwright-lounge lizard Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra perform  his new work, No Place To Go, about a playwright-lounge lizard that must decide whether to relocate or stay in the ‘the city’ when the company that has provided him with a steady ‘day-job’ (part-time no-benefits employment) for a decade decides to relocate to Mars.  It’s funny, satirical, and poignant. As you might have inferred, the piece is inspired by events in Lipton’s life. Some of my friends who are actors, … [Read more...]

11/14/11 10:13 PM | filed under: Artistic Standards & Quality, Asymmetric power dynamics, ethics, leadership |

So I’m at this meeting and, you’ll never believe it, there are NO press.

November 5, 2011 by 10 Comments
Mead Center from Sixth Street

So, I’m attending a meeting at Arena Stage in Washington DC today. The attendees are staff members at Arena Stage, about 18 nonprofit and commercial theater producers, and a handful of artists (playwrights, composers). The purpose is to discuss issues of common concern around developing and producing new work. I am here primarily to help document the meeting. There are no press at the meeting. A few months ago I attended a meeting of about 25 or 30 performing arts presenting curators and nonprofit theater artistic directors. The purpose … [Read more...]

11/5/11 1:58 PM | filed under: arts conferences |

It’s been a great year. Thanks!

November 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
hand turkey

I may be unable to post much the next few weeks as I'm on planes and trains, buried in research materials, visiting friends and family that I too rarely get to see these days, and sprinting to the finish line on a few projects. But I want to take the opportunity to thank Doug Mclennan for the opportunity to launch Jumper on ArtsJournal.com (a gift for which I will be forever grateful) and to thank everyone that has taken the time these past twelve months to read posts, post comments, send emails, Tweet, ReTweet, republish, or otherwise … [Read more...]

11/2/11 9:30 AM | filed under: Uncategorized |

The times may be a-changin’ but (no surprise) arts philanthropy ain’t

October 24, 2011 by 15 Comments
bullballerina

The Philanthropy News Digest recently sent me a bulletin with the headline, “Arts Funding Does Not Reflect Nation's Diversity, Report Finds” which linked me to an AP Newsbreak article with the headline “Report finds arts funding serves wealthy audience, is out of touch with diversity”. My initial thought was, “Seriously? We need a report to tell us this?” The report, Fusing Arts, Culture, and Social Change: High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy, was produced by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and written by … [Read more...]

10/24/11 10:43 AM | filed under: Asymmetric power dynamics, Democratization of Culture, engagement, ethics, nonprofit model, subsidization of the arts |

Digitisation in the arts: Is there a do-over if we get it wrong?

October 17, 2011 by 10 Comments
shutterstock_26267014 leap over gap

I've recently come across four articles/papers that have me grappling with the promise and the potential threats of digitisation in the arts and culture sector. At the end of September I read an article in “Inside Higher Ed” discussing some truly exciting advances in the 'digital humanities', a branch of the field that uses “technology-heavy approaches” to study and provide new ways of understanding and experiencing history, language, art and culture. The National Endowment for the Humanities recently hosted a conference with the 60 … [Read more...]

10/17/11 12:50 PM | filed under: Innovation |

What are we incubating and to what end?

October 2, 2011 by 9 Comments
starry night egg

A couple weeks back Thomas Cott published an issue of “You’ve Cott Mail” centered loosely on the theme of innovation and business incubators in the arts world, in which he linked to a post by one of my favorite bloggers/researchers/thinkers, Devon Smith. Devon contrasted the concept of ‘incubator’ in the tech world and the arts world. After reading her post I was curious to read up on technology and business incubators and ask myself what, exactly, arts incubators are incubating and to what end? Devon makes the point that in the … [Read more...]

10/2/11 8:53 PM | filed under: Artistic Standards & Quality, Innovation, Supply/Demand |

50+ years of backing away from the hazardous ledge of imagination

September 19, 2011 by 16 Comments
salary_ledge

Last week the NEA announced a round of 34 grants totaling $11.5 million as part of a new program, ArtPlace, which aims to integrate artists and arts groups into local efforts in transportation, housing, community development and job creation as an important tool of economic recovery. ArtPlace is a joint-initiative of the NEA and a consortium of foundations, corporations and federal agencies. Luis A. Ubiñas, president of the Ford Foundation and chairman of the ArtPlace Presidents’ Council, is quoted saying: “The arts are inherently … [Read more...]

09/19/11 12:32 PM | filed under: Economic Impact Studies, subsidization of the arts |

Works-in-process in an everyone-is-a-critic-now world.

September 11, 2011 by 14 Comments
under_construction

If inviting general audiences into the artistic process now means potentially inviting them to share their feedback with the world does this change how we think about presenting works-in-development for public audiences? Perhaps I have a skewed perception, but it strikes me that over the past couple decades (at least in the US) arts organizations have increasingly presented half- or nearly-baked works to the public and (in many cases) charged them money for the privilege of seeing this work. For a variety of reasons, we have invited patrons … [Read more...]

09/11/11 10:06 PM | filed under: Artistic Standards & Quality, Democratization of Culture, engagement |

But What Does Barry’s List Mean?

September 6, 2011 by 6 Comments
the politics of culture

So Barry’s Blog posted its annual Top 25 Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts list last week. In years’ past I would see this list and bemoan the fact that it seemed to be dominated by funders. I never said anything because I thought it would probably come across as sour grapes since I was, at the time, a funder (but not one that made the list).  As it turns out, this year I squeaked onto the list … barely. And so (with this new found and, no doubt, short-lived position of influence) I have decided to raise the … [Read more...]

09/6/11 10:47 AM | filed under: Asymmetric power dynamics, leadership |

The lesson in my new tree for arts policy makers

August 28, 2011 by 7 Comments
DSC01879

About my tree: Last month my husband and I hired a small family-owned landscaping business to help us renovate the small gardens in the front and back of our house. They planted three new trees, two of which are young (thin) but already quite tall. They planted the trees with support poles on either side to ensure they grow straight (see pic). As I have never had a garden I asked how many weeks the poles would need to stay. The answer: three years. About the production houses in the Netherlands: For years the Netherlands has had a … [Read more...]

08/28/11 5:05 PM | filed under: Artistic Standards & Quality, Innovation, subsidization of the arts |

How to avoid a strip-mall future for the arts sector: Lessons from the boutique label, Pi

August 22, 2011 by 9 Comments
shutterstock_53960845 strip mall

This past week I came across a New York Times article featured on ArtsJournal examining the remarkable success of the indie Jazz label, Pi. The article demonstrates that Pi is bucking trends in the music industry. It is managing to not just keep its head above water at a time when many music labels are struggling, but it is having tremendous impact despite being a relatively small Jazz label focused on the leading edge of its artform. Here are a few keys to Pi’s success (which I gleaned from the article): (1)   Unlike many labels … [Read more...]

08/22/11 7:10 PM | filed under: Artistic Standards & Quality, Innovation, Supply/Demand, Undercapitalization |

No algorithms needed for this show recommender system

August 14, 2011 by 7 Comments
low-tech-lower-res

I’m back from my honeymoon and a brief hiatus from Jumper. Despite a volatile stock market, downgrading of the US credit rating, questions about the fate of the Euro, and arts budgets hither and yon that are already slashed or soon to be so, the 2011-2012 arts season begins (although sadly with the loss of some very good organizations). I’ll be honest, since moving to the Netherlands I have not seen nearly as much work as I would have liked. This is primarily due to other commitments (family, Dutch lessons, work) and logistics (I have a … [Read more...]

08/14/11 9:22 PM | filed under: engagement |
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