I’m attending a Nonprofit Economic Summit for Dane County, Wisconsin, this morning, co-sponsored by our county’s United Way. Lots of experts — including state, county, and Madison city officials — exploring the economy and the unique need and role for nonprofits. The sessions have been front-loaded with bleak information, as you might expect, tracing the […]

Over in his Diacritical blog, Doug McLennan reminds us to continually reconsider the ways we recognize the many people who support our arts organizations — not just the ones who do so through contributions. Says he: Who’s the more valuable member of your community? The person who gives you money but otherwise doesn’t have much […]

Grand Rapids, MI, may not be New York or Los Angeles, but it’s attempting to top both through its new ArtPrize competition. Announced last week, ArtPrize boasts the “world’s largest prize” for the arts, which will be selected by public vote. The competition is the initiative of Rick DeVos, a dot-com entrepreneur, and underwritten by […]

The Hewlett Foundation has released its phase two report in its series on ”Involving Youth in the Arts,” specifically as staff and leadership (described by author Barry Hessenius here, or available for PDF download in executive summary or full report versions through Hewlett). The first phase (which I blogged about back in 2007) underscored the […]

Back in June, I was working with some colleagues and a team of graduate students to explore and capture the conversations during the massive National Performing Arts Convention in Denver. We had been commissioned by the convention partners to bring a sociological perspective to the convening — watching not only what was talked about among […]

During the recent Association of Arts Administration Educators conference in Philly, Barbara Schaffer Bacon of the Animating Democracy project showed the video linked below. It describes and displays the 2006 installation work by Brian Knep at Harvard’s historic Memorial Hall designed to address an omission in the memorial that had been long forgotten. The memorial […]

I was all geared up to write a response to the Washington Post critique on the Facebook ”Causes” application, but others with better ideas than mine beat me to the post. The Post article suggests that the application, which allows supporters/champions of nonprofits to share their enthusiasm and encourage contributions, is ineffective as compared to […]

As the permanence, high fixed costs, and relative inflexibility of bricks-and-mortar cultural facilities become more albatross than attribute (as chronicled in Skip Reiss’ inventory of stalled or stalling cultural facility projects), events like the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival may offer at least one alternative. Christopher Hawthorne’s exploration of the event — and its […]

Back in 2007, I wrote a research overview and environmental scan about the state and dynamics of the arts in America for Americans for the Arts. The briefing provided one of the inputs to that organization’s strategic planning process, facilitated by AMS Planning & Research. With that strategic plan now released, Americans for the Arts […]

During my recent presentation at the Wallace Foundation grantees conference, I got to work with Nina Simon of Museum 2.0, an adviser and consultant to museums hoping to make their work and their spaces more socially connected. During the session, she underscored a rather striking point: For most of the middle to senior managers among […]