Since I seem to be on a ”’technology and society” kick this week, I might as well point to this fascinating keynote (at least to me) by science fiction author Bruce Sterling. Speaking to a conference of interface and interaction design professionals, Sterling deflates a whole series of common assumptions about the future of digital […]
Removing one more reason for institutions
Public radio’s Marketplace program had a segment on yet another social networking and collective action web site that promises to change the way we interact and organize. This one has significant implications for some of the core functions of arts organizations. The Point seeks to solve a vexing challenge for group action: confirming the critical […]
Progressive disclosure
I’m often struck by the complexity of communications and marketing in a nonprofit arts organization. Not only are arts marketers speaking to multiple audiences with radically different expectations and knowledge of the art form, but they are also doing so with limited budget, staff, and time in an increasingly noisy and cluttered environment. A core […]
On recession and expression
Yesterday I was a guest on WNYC’s Soundcheck (about 15 minutes into the audio file), to discuss the challenges nonprofit arts organizations face during economic hard times. The lead-in to the conversation was this article by Daniel Wakin in the New York Times. The Swiss bank behemoth, UBS, had decided to pull its $10-million annual […]
Comic distractions for a Thursday morning
Those who haven’t watched the Ricky Gervais BBC/HBO series ”Extras” missed a brilliantly self-mocking comedic turn by Sir Ian McKellen, describing the secrets to his acting technique: ”What I do is pretend to be the person I am portraying in the film or play.” Idiotic and compelling all at once. (Full episode info here.)
Who owns the idea of what the campus means?
Mark McVay posts an interesting dilemma for architects of new university buildings. Specifically, in the design and development process, ”Who owns the idea of what the campus means? Who speaks for the whole university?” Adding structures to a long-standing campus is a complex endeavor. Architects, and the campus stewards of the project, want something that […]
What’s your U-Index?
Jonathan Clements in the Wall Street Journal explores the connection between the way we spend our time and our sense of well-being. His reference point is a new study entitled ”National time accounting: The currency of life” (abstract here, full PDF download here). The authors asked participants to track how they spent their day, and […]
Old product, new sales channel
The Requiem has long been a significant source of major new works (and major commissions) for composers. Mozart died while writing one. Others from Tomas Luis de Victoria to Andrew Lloyd Webber have tried their hand. Thanks to the folks at Requiem for You, you no longer have to be an aristocrat to find and […]
The difference between ”feeling” and reality
Security technologist Bruce Schneier offers a useful distinction in Wired between feeling secure and actually being secure. His focus is on how the gulf between the two approaches has distorted our national security policy, and our own life choices. But his point is directly relevant to larger decision-making issues, as well. Says Schneier: …there are […]
”Business-like” is not the problem
Justin Macdonnell offers up the latest salvo in the perennial push-back against ”business” thinking in arts and culture organizations. It’s a topic that lives at the center of my working life (directing, as I do, an MBA degree in arts administration). And it’s a question to which I continually try to bring clarity, nuance, and […]
