I’m pleased to be participating in the upcoming Americans for the Arts Convention in Milwaukee next week, and hope to see many of you there. I’m among a panel of folks, coordinated by Barry Hessenius, on the topic of ”change,” and what arts and cultural leaders might do about that ever-present and ever-increasing critter. The […]
Archives for 2006
Affective forecasting
Really fascinating stuff in this conversation with Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert. Gilbert is most known for his work on ”affective forecasting,” or the uniquely human ability to predict the pleasure or pain of future experiences, and to make choices based on those predictions. Says Gilbert: We are the only animals that can peer deeply […]
Separating ‘generic’ and ‘expected’ from ‘augmented’
A great overview from Neill Archer Roan [link now broken] explores an essential marketing and audience experience model for arts and cultural managers. The model, originated by Theodore Levitt back in 1980, suggests why so many marketing and experience efforts in the arts fall flat: because they never rise above the generic expectations of the […]
Ping
One of my favorite moments of the week is the flurry of bounce-back e-mails I get every Friday morning, just after I send out my weblog’s weekly summary. The subscribers who are away at a conference, or out in the world, or taking a day off, set up their autoresponders, alerting those that contact them […]
Two conversations worth a moment
Just wanted to direct you to two conversations now going on-line that are worth a read: ArtsJournal is hosting a conversation among critics, focusing on the changing universe of criticism, filtering, and insight on creative works. You can read the conversation from the beginning here, or jump directly to the most recent posts. Here’s the […]
Clarity vs. Chatter
I had a fabulous time last week speaking with theater board members and leadership as part of the Theater Wisconsin gathering outside Milwaukee (at Ten Chimneys…if you haven’t been, you need to go). The subject of my particular part of the event was ”Clarity vs. Chatter: The theater board’s new role in knowing (or defining) […]
I need a week
Lots of loose ends on other projects for me to tie up this week, so I’m taking a short break from blogging. I’ll be back the week of May 15.
The art of letting go
The McKinsey Quarterly has an interesting article on the challenge of exiting an unsuccessful initiative, or closing down a ineffective business. Even in the for-profit world, the assessment of success and the decision to discontinue are fraught with bias and emotional baggage. Says the article: Why is it so difficult to divest a business at […]
In praise of the walkable city, in memory of Jane Jacobs
A week ago today the world lost a dynamic and influential voice in the lives of cities. Jane Jacobs, author of the 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities, was an advocate for the human scale of cities, and a formative force behind much of the urban planning we see at work […]
Setting literature free
While in Toronto last week, I discovered an abandoned paperback book in a public lobby — Tom Clancy’s Hunt for Red October. It turned out to be a liberated book, set there on purpose to be taken by some random stranger to read and then to re-release into the wild. It was a Bookcrossing book, […]
