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The Artful Manager

Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture

Learning how we learn

January 4, 2008 by Andrew Taylor

Next week, I’m traveling with a group of my MBA students to the Arts Presenters conference in New York, where they will be presenting a special session commissioned by the association. This will be our third go-around in this initiative, in which we unleash a group of curious graduate students on a key trend, question, […]

The continuing rise of contrivance

January 3, 2008 by Andrew Taylor

As the political theater season kicks into full swing in Iowa tonight, I’m struck by the pervasiveness of contrived events — events designed and delivered specifically to be reported on and YouTubed and blogged. Way back in the 1960s, historian Daniel Boorstin labeled these as ”pseudo-events,” voicing concern even then about their impact on our […]

Here’s what our production line looks like

December 13, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

Manufacturing and production companies in the commercial sector spend a whole lot of energy understanding, analyzing, and rethinking their production lines — the people, equipment, and processes that make their products. Without understanding the nature and challenge of the process in great detail, they figure, they can’t deliver on the promise of their product in […]

Making arguments rather than complaints

December 12, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

Many of us in the arts are concerned and confounded by the state of the arts in our public schools. While some districts have made positive strides, others are stuck in a downward spiral driven by federal testing requirements and constricting resource streams. But, of course, being concerned and confounded has little positive impact on […]

When even local isn’t local anymore

December 10, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

My local alternative weekly, The Isthmus, recently profiled the face and voice of a persistent trend in local radio — the random shuffle with the human persona. While the idea has been in play for several years (here’s a story from back on 2005), it’s rare to actually hear from the human behind the facade. […]

A ruckus on rankings

December 6, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

When faced with a complex and important decision in our lives, how do we choose? How do we filter the available options, weigh their various merits and costs, and navigate the series of decisions and actions required to move on? It’s a question at the core of cultural management, even though our community’s choice to […]

Why we should care about Guitar Hero

December 5, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

KCRW’s The Business radio program has a great segment (about 20 minutes in) on the continuing rise of rock-performance-related video games like Guitar Hero and the hotly hyped Rock Band from MTV. While the addictive games may seem more like mimicry than musicianship to some (the goal is to click the correct buttons on your […]

Support the contents or the box?

December 4, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

The Guardian‘s Lyn Gardner offers a humble suggestion for a proposed levy on tickets to support London’s West End theater infrastructure: such money should support the contents before it supports the box. Says Gardner: In recent years, far too much public money has gone on capital projects and keeping the lavatories working in subsidised theatres, […]

Easily distracted

November 27, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

Sorry to be missing my daily posts this week (and last). Other pressing projects are occupying my brain. I hope to be back in business next week.

Dancing at the edge of nonprofit

November 19, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

The New York Times has a story on the increasingly permeable boundary between nonprofit museums and for-profit galleries that represent the artists shown within them (also covered by my blog neighbor CultureGrrl). At issue is a series of recent museum exhibits, where the galleries representing the exhibited artists provided significant financial and logistical support. Asks […]

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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 bother of bylaws July 8, 2025
    Does your arts nonprofit's map for action match the terrain?
  • Minimum viable everything July 1, 2025
    Getting better as an arts organization doesn't always (or even often) mean getting bigger.
  • The rise and stall of the nonprofit arts June 24, 2025
    The modern arts nonprofit evolved in an ecology of growth. It's time to evolve again.
  • Connection, concern, and capacity June 17, 2025
    The three-legged stool of fundraising strategy.
  • Is your workplace a pyramid or a wheel? June 10, 2025
    Johan Galtung defined two structures for collective action: thin-and-big (the pyramid) or thick-and-small (the wheel). Which describes your workplace?

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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