Patrick Lynch over at “A List Apart” has some useful thoughts about balancing design and content in web site construction. And his thoughts on that balance have implications beyond the web site, and throughout how arts and cultural managers do their work. Says he: In academia, text (and lots of it) is the only way […]
Archives for 2009
Considering the Creative Ecology
I had a great visit to Austin, Texas, last week to talk with artists, arts managers, creatives, and other community members. Building on their cultural planning of the past years, they are working to forge a ”creative alliance” to advance the creative life (not just cultural) of the region. Lots of great people doing extraordinary […]
A glimpse inside the Obama arts policy
I’m in Austin, Texas, for a two-day conversation on the ‘creative ecology’ leading to a public presentation/discussion on Wednesday night. So, I’ll likely not be posting to the blog this week. In the meanwhile, take a moment to watch this segment of Doug McLennan’s recent interview with Bill Ivey, former NEA chair and recent lead […]
Of boards, bungles, and the two-headed beast
The theater world in Milwaukee is reeling from the sudden announcement this week from Skylight Opera Theatre that they had dismissed their artistic director, and that the managing director would be taking over artistic leadership. Opinions are flying. Protests are planned (for this morning). Factions are forming. Petitions are posted. The Playbill story on the […]
Amateur vs. professional
The rise of digital media and networked communications is bashing apart the traditional boundary between amateur and professional, particularly in the creative fields. As Clay Shirky defines the ‘professional’ in his fabulous book Here Comes Everybody: A profession exists to solve a hard problem, one that requires some sort of specialization…. Most professions exist because […]
The evolving hybrids in corporate structure
BusinessWeek offers a useful overview of emerging innovations in corporate structure, the effort to blend for-profit flexibility and responsiveness with nonprofit emphasis on mission over profit. Says author John Tozzi: Social enterprises…often don’t fit neatly into existing ownership structures. Those that register as nonprofits have trouble tapping private capital to expand, while for-profit companies risk […]
The fewer, the older
A preview of the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts results have just been posted by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the news is a bit sobering. This is the mother ship of longitudinal surveys on arts participation in the United States — conducted in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau […]
Speaking in Austin, Texas
If you’re in or around the Austin, Texas, area, come see me! I’ll be presenting a public lecture & discussion on Wednesday, June 24, at 6:30 pm at the Carver Museum & Cultural Center (attendance is free, but registration is required). The public session will cap two days of conversation with members of the Austin […]
Cutting back around the globe
NPR’s Planet Money describes a recent Ipsos/Reuters poll that suggests consumer confidence worldwide is nudging upwards after an 18-month decline (see the Ipsos/Reuters release here). The poll surveyed 23,000 people in 23 countries. Among the interesting statistics were the categories of cutbacks made, on average, by consumers during these tough economic times. As you might […]
Multiple personalities
The challenge of managing (or corralling) multiple voices into a consistent organizational voice or brand has always been a challenge for arts organizations, especially when those voices in the organization are expressive individuals. With the growth of on-line media, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the like, the challenge has grown more public and more […]
