Archives for 2005

August 8 – 12, 2005, is ‘rerun week’ at The Artful Manager. While I’m on vacation, enjoy some favorite entries from the past. PBS ran a great series on contemporary art a while back, art:21, that was rich with metaphor and insight into the creative process…the process we managers are supposed to be supporting, nurturing, […]

I wrote a few weeks back about the rise of amateur culture, and the possible coming boom in creative content produced by non-professionals. Bob Baker’s extended discussion of the trend led me to this report by Demos on The Pro-Am Revolution, subtitled ”how enthusiasts are changing our economy and society.” The report offers a fascinating […]

A fun article in this month’s Wired magazine explores the life and work of Bansky, a self-described ”art terrorist” who, among other accomplishments, snuck his works into four of New York’s major museums in a single day. Says Bansky: ”Art’s the last of the great cartels….A handful of people make it, a handful buy it, […]

Neal Gabler had a provocative but flawed commentary in the LA Times on Sunday, built on the premise that we’re now more infatuated with the backstory of entertainment (personal trials, break-ups, star behavior) than we are with the entertainment itself. Says Gabler: Movies, television and DVDs are attracting fewer patrons because people, especially young people, […]

A new study from the ever-interesting Pew Internet & American Life Project explores the emerging behaviors and perspectives of teens on-line (lots of media coverage available, on ClickZ or through AP feeds…the full report is available on-line, as well). As you might expect, a large majority of teens use the Internet (87 percent, up from […]

If you’ve wondered about the best day of the week for sending out mass e-mails to your patrons, eROI has done extensive tracking and research to find the answer: it’s hard to say. That’s the gist of their most recent analysis of e-mail sending, reading, and clicking. Among their conclusions: Fatigue sets in as the […]

Arts organizations and arts developments are often part of a community’s effort to revitalize or re-animate areas of downtown that have stumbled into stasis. In fact, urban revitalization is often a key talking point in proposals to construct or refurbish cultural facilities (”If we build it…blah blah blah”). All of us know, however, that a […]

I’ve had some interesting comments and e-mail feedback on my rant about distributed ticketing. Some had attempted some version of the idea before, but had been flummoxed by distrust or neglect by the community’s arts organizations, or inelegance of the technology available. I continue to think there’s a way to hack the system to make […]

”Consumer Generated Media” (or CGM) is the buzzword these days for companies seeking trust, attention, and repeat sales, especially through the Internet. Intelliseek, one service company that’s mining the trend, defines it this way: ”Consumer-Generated Media” (CGM) encompasses the millions of consumer-generated comments, opinions and personal experiences posted in publicly available online sources on a […]

An associate forwarded a link to this AOL feature that lets you measure your social network against anyone else on the system…and determine the ”winner.” Says the FAQ: Using a complicated algorithm, AIM Fight crawls through the depths of the Internet to answer the all-important question that plagues us all: How popular am I right […]