There was a time when Charles Plymell claimed that Bob Dylan stole his Nobel Prize. Charley was full of blustering anger in those days, calling his old friend Allen Ginsberg a phony, his publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti a two-bit miser, and Jack Kerouac a Mama's boy whose 'On the Road' he never read. In more recent years, though he still claims not to have read Kerouac, Charley has apologized for his deprecation of Ginsberg and dedicated his latest book, 'Over the Stage of Kansas,' to Ferlinghetti. Because it would make poetic sense, I would like to date his change of heart, not only metaphorically but literally, to the time he had a heart attack and wrote this majestic, never-published poem.

Carlos Simon, Composer-in-Residence of the Kennedy Center, shares the ethos behind his composing process that impacts communities.

My just-published story Trucks and Tanks, runner-up in JerryJazzMusician.com‘s 69th short fiction contest and written three months ago, is all too timely in...

It’s expensive, lazy, and a process rife with community red flags. But at least there are no money-back guarantees. ...

Terri Lyne Carrington (drummer, Inst. of Jazz & Gender Justice), Orbert Davis (trumpeter, “Immigrant Stories“) and Marc Ribot (guitarist, Music Workers Alliance) talked with...

Leading an arts organization isn’t about luck—it’s about judgment. Hold when trust matters, fold when the model’s busted, and when the casino’s rigged? Start your own game in the parking lot.

Loki Karuna, Executive Director of American Composers Forum, shares his vision for ACF and the timely role of their “Recomposing America” initiative.

In May 2024 I wrote about the town of Vail, Colorado cancelling the artist-in-residency agreement with Danielle SeeWalker, before it even began, over complaints not...

The arts might be great for inspiration, but Sartre had it wrong. The ...

Felecia Kanney, VP of Marketing, Communications & Digital Media of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, shares the power of strategic storytelling and its impact on community.

It’s a game of chicken. If your arts organization yields, everyone loses. Wanna ...

Esa-Pekka Salonen Among my most-read blogs is “What’s An Orchestra For?” – Mulling Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Resignation from the San

David Stout, Professor of Composition Studies and Coordinator of the Initiative for Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts at the University of North Texas, shares how to utilize AI to generate extraordinary artistic outcomes.

As Kate Larsen so brilliantly puts it, a strategic planning session is not the same thing as a strategic plan ...

I felt impelled to write the long essay that follows after discovering Frank Costigliola’s acclaimed new biography of George Kennan.

Monica Ellis, Founding Member of Imani Winds & Faculty at Manhattan School of Music, shares strategies for maintaining a portfolio career and the secrets to success for Imani Winds.

From magazine listings to the For You page, how we discover art has changed—but not as much as we think. Artists should see social media as a tool for accomplishing their goals, not the enemy.

Nonprofit arts organizations are dropping like flies. Got a problem with that? One ...

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us… In the Washington Post, Charles Djou, who was a Biden administration official and briefly held an Hawaiian congressional...

“Freedom of speech” is never an absolute. Even in a country where people have a great amount of freedom of speech, such as the...