What a revelation it has been to experience the vast arts world, after my most recent 14 professional years totally immersed in the field of music (not all classical at Eastman).  During these years, because of the press of senior management and seductive insularity, my arts exposure was 90% music, 10% other (and rarely self-selected).  Escaping this situation has allowed me to experience a wide variety of art, in different genres and forms. And in doing this I have changed the way I think and approach matters. For 2011, let's … [Read more...]

For years, and I mean years, I prided myself on my being able to stay on top of advances in technology.  I saw it as an amazing tool to advance communications, increase efficiency, and provide creative possibilities for education in the arts.  I thought I had a complete concept of the potential of contemporary technology.  But what I didn't "get" was how it would become so central, such a control point in daily lives.  Somehow its hardware and software have married and produced something entirely new, a medium unto itself. … [Read more...]

I spoke to this task in 2 recent blog entries, to concern about the effects of government support.  Let's make it a priority to re-examine our positions vis a vis government involvement.  We've really got to, as we're on a slippery slope now.  We shape our artistic output to please legislators and we prattle endlessly about the constructive benefits of the arts (economic development, tourism, brain development, etc.).  We're hooked, guys, and we'll do anything for our next fix. The mostly-dysfunctional 501c3 comes from … [Read more...]

Who makes iconography decisions in your arts organization?  If you are the leader, it better be you.  I have recently advised a number of student research papers that examine alignment between mission, program and iconography, and I'm appalled by the lack of synchronization.  It makes be wonder, no suspect, that the iconography has a (false) life of its own; or that it's the organizations' wishes being expressed, not their actual operation. What we have been finding is some of the usual embarrassments of tokenism and cultural … [Read more...]

Let's break down, get rid of the artificial barriers between not-for-profit arts and commercial arts.  This artificial designation does us no good, as it causes internal sector strife, and confusion and misunderstanding among the public. There's plenty of really cheesy not-for-profit art, and plenty of high quality commercial art.  Examples surely pop into your head as you think about this.  That a dichotomy emerged out of the "501c3 movement" is still hard to understand: that not-for-profit = quality art (or even worse, "high … [Read more...]

Number 5 is short and sweet, like Five Golden Rings!  Let's practice what we preach.  Let's approach our work with creativity, and with an appetite for risk.  Although my interpretation of his work may be over-simplified, Robert Persig, in his iconic work, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (and later in Lila), asserted that unless we are moving forward, unless we are dynamic in our approach to life, we are moving backward and declining, that there is no stasis, or even place.  His philosophy speaks clearly to … [Read more...]

This one will be no surprise to readers of this blog.  Let's really work on exploring and then considering organizational designs other than the 501c3.  Yes, the 501c3 offers a number of seductive characteristics, but it is also expensive to operate, cumbersome administratively and has the potential to become insular.  Organizational design, as well as administrative design should be built to best move a mission forward.  Current arts innovators don't even think that there may be alternative organizational and … [Read more...]

Let's make a commitment to creating and nurturing cooperative ventures, not just within our inner circles, or our comfort zones, but those that stretch us artistically and those that make our entities more efficient. Face it: we're very, very conservative and unimaginative when it comes to artistic cooperative ventures.  Our first thoughts are to cooperate with those like us (I'm resisting a number of poignant examples).  These can be fun, but don't stretch us artistically. But perhaps way more important, it doesn't stretch us … [Read more...]

Let's develop better use of the language within our field.  Our weakness here feeds our weakness in presenting a more effective argument for the arts (Work Task #1).  Our needs in this area are numerous.  One, we tend to misunderstand, and confuse the "languages"  of marketing, development and simple descriptive narrative.  "Market talk" has infused both of the other areas.  Foundation proposals read like marketing promotions and simple narrative often wanders incomprehensively between "market talk," … [Read more...]

In keeping with the annual spate of Top Ten lists, I offer here a Top Ten list of work items for the arts sector for 2011.  In this blog I will outline the first of these.  Then, on each of the next 9 days I will deliver one each day.  I'll then take a break for the holidays and return to blogging on January 3, 2011. Item #1 Develop a better argument for the arts as a priority in community planning and decision making.  Let's acknowledge that the economic development argument is riddled with holes.  And, especially … [Read more...]