I frequently hear from foundation administrators and grants panelists who bemoan the dry and incomplete grant requests they receive…lacking the spark and storytelling you might expect from organizations focused on creative expression. But then when you look at their grant guidelines — dry and dull, sequential and uninspiring — it’s a bit easier to spread […]
The rise of the right brain
According to Daniel Pink in this month’s Wired magazine, the logical left brain will soon be playing second fiddle to the creative and empathetic right brain as the engine of the American economy. (I know, it’s not exactly a new theory, but it’s always interesting to see how each version spins out.) In the excerpt […]
More brain-blinders to watch for
While digging around the web to write my recent entry on the Peak/End Rule, I stumbled on a fabulous list of other cognitive biases that any thoughtful manager should be watching for in him/herself or his/her staff. A ‘cognitive bias’ is a kind of blind-spot in our brains — the result of short-cuts or habits […]
Krens and the great rich whale
Color commentary is still spinning out from last week’s dramatic departure of the Guggenheim’s board chairman Peter Lewis. The affluent and cantankerous insurance company CEO had finally come to blows with the tall and cantankerous Guggenheim director Thomas Krens. And it seems that Krens won this particular battle through the support of the remaining board. […]
It’s all about the peak and the ending
How do we attach value to an experience after we’ve experienced it? It’s a fairly basic question, of importance to economists, marketers, product manufacturers, service providers, policy makers, and of course, arts managers. After all, if an experience is remembered as highly pleasurable or profound, an individual is much more likely to want to experience […]
Cultural sprawl
Leo Kotkin had a piece in the Wall Street Journal last week on the growth of cultural facilities in the suburbs of America. Like most things cultural, the boom seems directly related to shifts in where people live — especially people with means: Since 1960, more than 90% of all population growth in America’s metropolitan […]
Feedback on conference panels
I received some supportive and thoughtful responses to my recent entry about the conference panel format and its annoying limitations as a means for sharing rich ideas. Some responses echoed the problems I identified, and let me know I wasn’t alone. Said one: I find most panel discussions ineffective, and not focused to the concerns […]
Dark matter
There’s a chart and some findings in the report I mentioned earlier this week on executive compensation among Illinois arts organizations that are worth a moment’s reflection. The survey found that the large majority of arts organizations in their sample (and therefore in the state) were small in both money and staff (under $250,000). Says […]
Peanuts, pretzels, art, candy bars, cigarettes
One way to make art more accessible to people’s daily lives is to make art more accessible to people’s daily lives. So often, accessibility initiatives are complex attempts to lure and cajole the public out of their daily activities and into our boxes (with discounts, coupons, bring-a-friend programs, lifelong learning initiatives, young professionals programs, cocktail […]
Patterns of compensation
An article in last week’s Chicago Tribune discussed a study of Illinois arts executive compensation in some gloomy terms: ….the new study finds that only 10 percent of Illinois arts leaders receive any employer contribution whatsoever to their retirement savings. Other fringe benefits are in similarly short supply. And a striking 50 percent of Illinois […]
