At the Salzburg Global Seminar I wrote about in my most recent post we were fortunate to have a number of leading music educators from around the world as participants.  Among them was Duffie Adelson, President of Chicago's Merit School of Music, who spoke to us about that impressive school's philosophy and results.  In her talk she hit a nerve with me by saying that we in the arts need to "celebrate rigor" and that "being held to a high standard is the highest possible compliment" you can pay someone.  Merit's mission statement is overt … [Read more...]

Last week I had the honor of serving as Co-Chair, with Nicholas Kenyon, of a session at the Salzburg Global Seminar titled, "Instrumental Value: The Transformative Power of Music."  Nearly 60 people from 23 countries traveled to Salzburg where we met for four days to discuss the ways that music contributes to individuals, societies and cultures.  Participants were musicians, composers, presenters, music educators, policymakers, funders and patrons, neuroscientists, and others who've spent a lifetime in the music field.  Lively discussions … [Read more...]

(This blog post was originally published on the NEA's Art Works blog on March 16, 2011.) I thought it would be interesting to write about the efforts we have made at The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra to increase demand for our classical music concerts.  Chairman Landesman was quoted as saying that “demand is not going to increase.”  At the SPCO we just don’t believe that.  The music we perform has endured hundreds of years and is part of a vibrant living tradition.  We are passionate advocates for our art form, and for the meaning … [Read more...]

Last month I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with senior educators from Interlochen Center for the Arts, where I am a board member.  We were doing a deep dive into the ways teaching and learning are changing, given the immediate availability of information and ideas via digital devices in the classroom. I am not an expert in educational theory, having never taken a class or read very much about how teachers learn to teach.   But I have been fortunate to have been on the receiving end of memorable teaching from a handful … [Read more...]

I'm ready to take a break from the supply/demand discussion, at least for a while.  As I've been thinking about it I find that other work I'm doing is refracted through the lens of that discussion.  One such item is an article that Russell Willis Taylor recommended to me and I'm passing it along to all of you.  It's called No Big Deal, by Thanassis Cambanis, and was published in January in the Boston Globe.  Cambanis writes about the Columbia University economist Scott Barrett whose research looks at the history of success or failure … [Read more...]

The subject of whether there is a supply/demand problem in the nonprofit cultural sector is resonating with a lot of people, and for me it's caused reflection on what's changed that's brought us to this discussion.   And one thing that has changed is funders' expectations for what constitutes an appropriate grantee. In the 1970's and 1980's there existed a number of intermediary cultural organizations that no longer exist (or exist with a changed mission), some national and some local, whose purpose in part was to provide the … [Read more...]

In an interesting turn of events last week, the NEA Chair, Rocco Landesman, echoed the "too much art" refrain that we've been hearing lately.   The press quotes varied from this one on the NY Times Arts Beat e-column to this one in the Post.    The Post has him saying, "We're overbuilt.  We have too many theaters."   And the Times quote is, "You can either increase demand or decrease supply.  Demand is not going to increase so it's time to start thinking about decreasing supply."   Let's leave aside for today the thought that … [Read more...]

Every Sunday's NY Times Business section includes a special feature on leadership and management in the form of an interview with a business executive.  It's called  "Corner Office"  and is written by Adam Bryant.  The interviewees are asked about things like what they look for in a person when hiring, how they approach interviewing job candidates, and how they lead their businesses - from a people perspective.   The column is in a Q and A format, and Mr. Bryant does a great job of selecting leaders with different approaches and … [Read more...]

With the New Year came dozens of media stories about resolutions and how to stick with them.  Two of my favorite were the Oliver Sacks' Op-Ed in the NY Times (This Year, Change Your Mind) about things you can do (at any age) to strengthen your brain function, and a Wall Street Journal article on the neuroscience of developing new habits by Sue Shellenbarger (How to Keep a Resolution: Forget Willpower, Reaching a Goal Means Retraining Brain to Form New Habits).  Both of these reminded me of the inspiring section in Benjamin Franklin's … [Read more...]

Lately I’ve been thinking about how to encourage charitable giving without evoking the tax deductibility of gifts as a benefit.  Why? As government looks for ways to balance its books, both revenue and tax code simplification proposals are being widely debated among policymakers and the press.  Among these are proposals to terminate both the mortgage interest deduction and the charitable gift deduction.  For example, an article in last week’s New York Times by University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler (“It’s Time to Rethink the … [Read more...]