Archives for 2012

Bloomberg offers an interesting article on a rising fear of commitment by consumers, in many aspects of their lives. Social and economic indicators point to rising lease vs. buy rates for cars, rising rent vs. purchase rates for homes, declining birth rates, and declines in long-term contracts (such as on mobile phone service).

Since Diane Ragsdale left her work at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and wandered to the Netherlands to pursue a PhD, she’s been increasingly feisty about how the arts world works — particularly in the United States, as that’s her area of focus and experience. And I rather adore the emerging Diane (I was already […]

For over a decade now, John Brockman has been posting a single question to brilliant people, and gathering their responses. Past questions have included “What will change everything?” in 2009, or “What do you believe is true, even though you cannot prove it?” in 2005. This year’s question is particularly important and compelling, as it […]

‘Nuff said.

There’s extraordinary power in a thoughtfully conceived and artfully crafted infographic. When a complex dataset, process, or ecology is expressed as an image, we can see the whole and explore the parts. We can choose our own path to discovery, unlike most linear written narrative.

Foundations and other funders seeking to promote innovation in cultural organizations tend to wrestle with two main problems. One, of course, is to find and foster innovative practice in an industry that’s often just barely treading water. The other is to share those innovations beyond the inner circle of the project participants.

The latest issue of the National Endowment for the Arts magazine explores the fertile ground of ‘innovation’ — with a particular focus on artistic practice. Featured are discussions with artists such as Julie Taymor, Fred Dust, Josh Neufeld, and others. And the online edition features bonus multimedia about Tony Orrico, Meredith Monk, Low Anthem, and […]

A marketing professor in the Wisconsin School of Business loves to share arts marketing materials in his straight-up MBA classes, just so he can mock them publicly. His favorites are hyperbolic about the experience on offer, suggesting in romantic images and flowery prose that nirvana awaits any who purchase a ticket. Every show. Every time. […]

I’m co-teaching a special topics course this Spring about the intersection of art and enterprise — where aesthetic and expressive effort meet the marketplaces of people, places, and resources. “Arts Enterprise: Art as Business as Art” works to encourage a more connected view among the students (mostly arts majors, but from a wide range of […]