Archives for 2004

So I’m off again to another conference, this time of the Association of Arts Administration Educators (yes, Virginia, there is an association for everything). This is a group of full-time degree program directors (of undergraduate and graduate programs) that prepare managers for the arts and cultural field. Avid readers will recall a point-counterpoint argument I […]

In an add-on to my post last week on engaging school children in the museum experience, a colleague sent me a link to a recent study that’s full of fun charts and graphs. The study, done by Harris Interactive for a December 2003 meeting of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (here’s the meeting […]

The Board of Directors of Independent Sector, a service and research organization representing nonprofits, recently endorsed and posted a statement on the dreadfully dry but essential issue of operating costs. Authored by Paul Brest, president and CEO of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the statement seeks to encourage a new dialogue between funders and […]

Christine Temin in the Boston Globe has a nice piece on several Massachusetts art museums reconsidering how they welcome and engage schoolchildren. Instead of the cattle call of the traditional annual school field trip, these museums are working to connect with children on many levels, and reinforce the museum as a place to discover their […]

I just stumbled onto an older article in Fast Company on professor Jerry Zaltman, a marketing and consumer behavior maven at Harvard. He’s been working on ways to discover the hidden metaphors behind the way consumers view their world. His assumption is that we can’t just ask people what they want, because they honestly don’t […]

In New York, union workers are preparing to picket the use of a new machine that threatens their jobs. In DC, a professional association on the other side of the table has just released an antitrust policy to help its members avoid indictment under the Sherman Antitrust Act. No, it ‘s not about steel or […]

The Washington Post has an unusual piece on the Arena Stage (username: ajreader@artsjournal.com, password: access), and their process of defining their theatrical season. It’s a bundle of quotes by the creative and business team, tracking their discussions and decision-making over the course of several months. What jumps out is the complex calculations behind building a […]

It’s time for a weeklong break in my weblog posts…I’m off to refuel, and complete some other projects and proposals. While I’m away, I encourage you to visit some of my other weblog neighbors, who always have interesting things to talk about.

Steve Martin wrote a great piece in The New Yorker back in December, that I only just stumbled onto now. It’s a short fake script of Picasso appearing on ‘The Entertainment Channel’ to market his work, ‘Lady with a Fan’. Just some flavor from it: The Entertainment Channel: First of all, we loved ‘Lady with […]

I’ll admit that I’m addicted to random bits of information…Harper’s Index is like coming home. If you’re equally interested in seemingly useless bits of knowledge that aggregate into semi-useful clusters of facts, there are some sites well worth your clicks. For general trends and opinions, wander by Harris Interactive where you can learn things like […]