There’s an article archetype in the press every few years, about how difficult it is to fill the top slot at America’s leading museums, and about whether boards should search for business leaders or art scholars to plug the hole. This time around, the article is in the Wall Street Journal. In a nutshell: Who […]
What does it mean to ”stand on your own”?
A recent local editorial about the debt refinancing of Madison’s Overture Center (discussed earlier this week) uses an interesting phrase, which lives at the end of the excerpt below: Mayor Dave Cieslewicz is right to express reservations about signing on to a new long-term funding scheme for the $205 million Overture Center for the Arts. […]
ANOTHER RERUN: What, exactly, are we sustaining?
Sorry to say that I’ll be disconnected again for a few days, as I make the long drive home from Boston to Madison. Please enjoy (or ignore) another blast from the past while I’m wandering without Internet connections. An interesting sidebar from the Discovery Channel web site suggests that the human race is too big […]
The hot potato of public/private partnerships
For the [very] few who are interested in how major new cultural facilities are financed and funded, there are interesting conversations on-going in Madison, Wisconsin. The Overture Center for the Arts — half done now, to be completed in April 2006 — is attempting to regain its financial footing after a good idea met a […]
RERUN WEEK: The problem with purpose
August 8 – 12, 2005, is ‘rerun week’ at The Artful Manager. While I’m on vacation, enjoy some favorite entries from the past. So I get this pizza pan as a gift…I’m pro-pizza, to be sure. But when reading the promotional copy on the pizza pan, I find this: Sensible and sublime, practical and whimsical, […]
RERUN WEEK: Reintegrating our organizations and ourselves
August 8 – 12, 2005, is ‘rerun week’ at The Artful Manager. While I’m on vacation, enjoy some favorite entries from the past. Choreographer/dancer Liz Lerman has always provided a broad and engaging perspective at any professional conference I’ve seen her present. A friend (thanks Becky) recently forwarded this 2001 keynote address she gave to […]
RERUN WEEK: The Box
August 8 – 12, 2005, is ‘rerun week’ at The Artful Manager. While I’m on vacation, enjoy some favorite entries from the past. Sometimes when we try to talk our way out of a problem, we end up reinforcing the problem…or even making it worse. Such is the case with ‘the box,’ that clever phrase […]
RERUN WEEK: Comfortable being out of balance
August 8 – 12, 2005, is ‘rerun week’ at The Artful Manager. While I’m on vacation, enjoy some favorite entries from the past. PBS ran a great series on contemporary art a while back, art:21, that was rich with metaphor and insight into the creative process…the process we managers are supposed to be supporting, nurturing, […]
More on the professional-grade amateur
I wrote a few weeks back about the rise of amateur culture, and the possible coming boom in creative content produced by non-professionals. Bob Baker’s extended discussion of the trend led me to this report by Demos on The Pro-Am Revolution, subtitled ”how enthusiasts are changing our economy and society.” The report offers a fascinating […]
Art as the ‘last cartel’
A fun article in this month’s Wired magazine explores the life and work of Bansky, a self-described ”art terrorist” who, among other accomplishments, snuck his works into four of New York’s major museums in a single day. Says Bansky: ”Art’s the last of the great cartels….A handful of people make it, a handful buy it, […]
