C|NET has a once-over-lightly piece on the Van Cliburn Piano Competition’s new blog and the trend it suggests for classical music marketing. Says C|NET: …like other areas before it, from politics to open-source programming, the classical music world is finding a democratic spirit online that could help shape its future….with little support from big institutions, […]

No time for much today, just a quick link to weblog neighbor Greg Sandow, and his fabulous examples of how to write a classical music press release…with personality, voice, perspective, intelligence, and without the usually empty hyperbole.

At least one arts journalist in Madison, Wisconsin, is in a bunch over the name change of a local museum. After the Elvehjem Museum of Art — part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison — announced a $20 million gift for a new building and simultaneously changed its name to the Chazen Museum of Art to […]

Lots of news sources are following the second fall from grace of mega-patron Alberto Vilar, who was arrested at the airport last Thursday for fraud. Said the New York Times: But it all came crashing down Thursday. That night, Mr. Vilar, 64, flew to Newark Liberty International Airport from Las Vegas, where he spoke at […]

Justin Davidson of Newsday has a two-part exploration of the production and distribution shifts in the American arts system. The first article discusses the advancement of do-it-yourself productions by artists, often called ‘vanity projects,’ which attempt an end-run around the traditional gatekeepers of culture. The second piece wonders, in this increasingly decentralized world, who decides […]

I’ve now posted the Rotary speech I gave yesterday in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It was an attempt to distill and discuss (in 20 minutes) the challenge of valuing culture in communities to an audience that hadn’t been part of the academic or advocacy conversation. Avid readers will recognize the opening joke, which I also used in […]

I’m on the road today to speak to the Rotary in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The topic is ‘exploring the true benefit of culture to communities,’ and the purpose is to take my arguments out for a public spin, and to stay connected as a university employee. Should be fun. If the speech works out, I’ll post […]

A great interview on Smart City (a radio program out of Memphis) features Paul Schoemaker, co-author of the book Winning Decisions: Getting It Right the First Time. Schoemaker teaches and consults on issues of decision-making strategy, and on developing organizations that learn. His perspective on why we so often make bad decisions: …people don’t spend […]

Cultural productions of all kinds have a rather brutal financial model: there’s a lot of investment of time, money, and energy up front (what economists call ‘sunk’ costs, because they can’t be recovered once expensed), and a huge risk of not paying back those costs in either earned or contributed revenue once the production is […]

Great stuff from Clara Miller (again) on the particular peculiarities of the nonprofit business model, and the underlying dynamics that make our work so difficult. Her piece in The Nonprofit Quarterly on ”The Looking-Glass World of Nonprofit Money: Managing in For-Profits’ Shadow Universe” will baffle most for-profit managers, and surprise many nonprofit leaders, as well. […]