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The Artful Manager

Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture

Teaching old books a new trick

September 10, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

Richard Adams in The Guardian has a great piece on a counter-intuitive result of the Internet on a venerable old retail model, actually helping it rather than killing it. Says Adams: It wasn’t meant to be like this. The internet was supposed to bid farewell to the need for buying books in shops. When the […]

The silent (audience) killer

September 9, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

Drive time is one of those quiet variables at work in the heads of our audiences, when considering a night out, a spontaneous group activity, or a season subscription. Who among us hasn’t thought about catching a show, only to consider the hassle of it and visit Blockbuster, instead? Who hasn’t come home after a […]

GETTY: Crafting the audience

September 8, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

In past posts about the June leadership roundtable at the Getty (see bottom of this entry for links in the series) on the nonprofit and forprofit cultural industries, I’ve focused almost entirely on the production side of the discussion (cash and capital and capacity, oh my). Equally compelling is the consumption side, where nonprofit and […]

More on the value of art

September 3, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

Russell Smith has some great musings on the value of art in the Globe and Mail. His thoughts are launched by the recent theft from the Munch Museum in Oslo. ‘The Scream,’ specifically, has no market value (since it can’t really be sold), has no bragging value, since any collector that has it can’t show […]

Roller Coaster Tycoon

September 2, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

A computer game that can simulate decision-making for the arts and cultural manager? Sure. Okay, you’re managing a theme park instead of a performing arts hall, but the experience is eerily similar.

The next best thing to an arts org. simulator

September 2, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

The New York Times Magazine a few weeks back featured a story on military training using the XBox video game player. The idea is to provide cheap and engaging video games that mimic real-life strategy issues or battle environments, so soldiers can learn as they play. ‘Full Spectrum Warrior’ for the XBox is now available […]

GETTY: More capital ideas

August 31, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

NOTE: This entry is part of a continuing series sprouting from a leadership roundtable hosted by the Getty Leadership Institute and National Arts Strategies in June 2004. For links to all posts in the series, see below. In the exploration of the differences between nonprofit and commercial cultural enterprise, we’ve already touched on the challenge […]

New museum model or Trojan horse?

August 30, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

The museum world is casting a wary eye on Clear Channel Communications, according to this LA Times report (username: ajreader@artsjournal.com, password: access). The multi-mega-media company, with efforts in radio, outdoor advertising, concert production and promotion, and other industries is touring its third museum show. It’s a bit of irony that the company’s third touring show […]

GETTY: Some capital ideas

August 25, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

Any extended conversation of nonprofit cultural enterprise will eventually wind its way to a certain business term: undercapitalization. The term and the challenge certainly came up often at the Getty Leadership Institute/National Arts Strategies roundtable I attended back in June. The general gist of the conversation is that the nonprofit arts lack sufficient capital to […]

Orientation and orienteering

August 24, 2004 by Andrew Taylor

We’re knee deep in new graduate student orientation this week in my program, so my entries will be patchy, at best. In the meantime, I’m pleased to point you in a completely self-serving and self-involved way to a feature in September’s Madison Magazine about the business of art, and the transition of the degree program […]

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About Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor is a faculty member in American University's Arts Management Program in Washington, DC. [Read More …]

ArtsManaged Field Notes

#ArtsManaged logoAndrew Taylor also publishes a weekly email newsletter, ArtsManaged Field Notes, on Arts Management practice. The most recent notes are listed below.

RSS ArtsManaged Field Notes

  • The strategy screen May 6, 2025
    A strong strategy demands a clear job description
  • What is Arts Management? April 29, 2025
    The practice of aggregating and animating people, stuff, and money toward expressive ends.
  • Outsourcing expertise April 22, 2025
    Sometimes, it's smart to hire outsiders. Sometimes, it's not.
  • Minimum viable process April 15, 2025
    As a nonprofit arts organization, your business systems need to be as simple as possible…but not simpler.
  • Do what you say you will do April 8, 2025
    Commitments are easier made than met. So do the math.

Artful Manager: The Book!

The Artful Manager BookFifty provocations, inquiries, and insights on the business of arts and culture, available in
paperback, Kindle, or Apple Books formats.

Recent Comments

  • Barry Hessenius on Business in service of beauty: “An enormous loss. Diane changed the discourse on culture – its aspirations, its modus operandi, its assumptions. A brilliant thought…” Jan 19, 18:58
  • Sunil Iyengar on Business in service of beauty: “Thank you, Andrew. The loss is immense. Back when Diane was teaching a course called “Approaching Beauty,” to business majors…” Jan 16, 18:36
  • Michael J Rushton on Business in service of beauty: “A wonderful person and a creative thinker, this is a terrible loss. – thank you for posting this.” Jan 16, 13:18
  • Andrew Taylor on Two goals to rule them all: “Absolutely, borrow and build to your heart’s content! The idea that cultural practice BOTH reduces and samples surprise is really…” Jun 2, 18:01
  • Heather Good on Two goals to rule them all: “To “actively sample novel experiences (in safe ways) to build more resilient perception and prediction” is about as useful a…” Jun 2, 15:05

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