Archives for 2004

The ramp-up to the opening of a new performance hall or performing arts center always involves a public discussion of rent. It’s beginning (again) in Madison, Wisconsin, as the new $100-million Overture Center for the Arts approaches its Phase I opening day this September. Here’s how it usually goes: A new cultural construction project is […]

I received quite a few responses to my posts last week on the evangelical qualities of arts management, despite our continual focus on business practice. Most respondents reflected the same sense of conflict and confusion between mission and marketing. Said one reader: The arts are being asked to prove their worth based on evidence, proof, […]

This article on jobs and the economy from the Sunday New York Times Magazine has wonderful parallels to our perspectives on the ‘arts industry’. The article underscores our quick perspective on jobs lost, and our inability to see jobs gained: In a quickly evolving economy, in which increased productivity constantly makes some jobs redundant, we […]

James Sullivan is a bit upset in the San Francisco Chronicle to think that the compact disc might be dead by 2007. With the growth of digital downloads, he says, the young folks are moving past the ‘stuff’ of physical recorded media, and the ‘collectible’ connection that drove a previous generation, and framed their relationship […]

This linked article in ArtsJournal on open-source software development rekindled my fondness and interest in the connections of that approach to arts and cultural management (especially on the community level). For those unfamiliar (the article above is a bit thick for the newbie), open-source is a way of developing software through the independent work of […]

I’m getting some great responses to my recent posts on the evangelical qualities required of arts managers (I’ll post some excerpts from those responses soon). But I had forgotten how the comparison runs the other way, as well: religious organizations are vital arts administrators, too. I stumbled again on this arts and religion survey done […]

Two pieces in the UK Guardian explore the perils of success among museums (or any nonprofit/public cultural organization). In one, Tristram Hunt posits on the downside of popular temporary exhibits (ie, blockbusters) and their threat to the contemplative, quiet, and even sacred spaces museums are intended to provide. In another, Dan Glaister explores the Boston […]

The techno-geek in me is compelled to point you to this series of articles in the February 2004 Wired magazine on living machines. For anyone interested in human interaction and the dynamics of social groups (which should describe most arts managers), it’s interesting to note that many of these properties and behaviors are now being […]

The counter on my weblog system tells me that this is my 100th post to The Artful Manager, a fair bunch of bytes since its launch in July of last year. In fact, if you printed out all of my ponderings and wanderings and laid them end to end…you’d clearly be someone with too much […]