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The Artful Manager

Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture

A naming gift without the name

October 29, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

My academic home, the UW-Madison School of Business, announced a rather unique gift this past weekend — a naming gift that defers the need for a naming gift for the next 20 years. The $85 million contributed to the school — the largest single gift ever given to the university — came from a partnership […]

Facts with a human face

October 22, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

This little student video project on the disconnect between the university classroom and its students is worth a watch for many reasons. First, it’s compelling — presenting the student research on the subject in human terms. Second, it’s collaborative, showing just a piece of what learning and expressive opportunities are available to our universities if […]

Preserving and changing at the same time

October 18, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

The CEOs for Cities blog points to a wonderful piece by Andrew Blum on the growing tension in urban planning — between local and global, between preservation and change, between scale and density. The idealized, localized, human-scale urban neighborhood of Jane Jacobs is transforming right in front of us: When I ”look, listen, linger and […]

Then I must be intangibly wealthy

October 17, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

A colleague passed along a link to this article in Reason Magazine on intangible wealth — the invisible elements that drive the visible wealth of a country and its people. According to the World Bank, tangible wealth (natural and produced capital) only accounts for a fraction of any country’s affluence. If one simply adds up […]

Your ticket price is merely the starting offer

October 15, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

If you thought you had a robust ticket pricing strategy, and you’re on Broadway, it might be time revisit your thinking. After the repeal a few months back on price caps for ticket resellers, one primary reseller has set up shop on the Great White Way (according to this article in the New York Times). […]

An new (epic) stage of life

October 12, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

David Brooks in the New York Times explores a fairly recent addition to the considered ”stages of life.” Sandwiched within the traditional childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age, ”odyssey” and ”active retirement” are the newcomers to the spectrum. Brooks specifically focuses on ”odyssey,” those wandering years after college and before structured adulthood. Given the shifting […]

What interns do vs. what interns want to do

October 11, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

The parody newspaper, The Onion, is always good for a laugh and a new view. This little fake newsbite (”Every Intern At Nonprofit Trying To Solve Refugee Crisis First”) pokes fun at the struggle to work with nonprofit interns, and juggle their big ideas against the drudgery to be done: “I don’t mind them attempting […]

Do these spreadsheets make my assets look big?

October 10, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

Yesterday, I got to sit in on a small-group discussion on campus with Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President for Social Research and Policy at Calvert. Calvert is an investment services company specializing in socially-responsible investment through their many mutual funds. As part of that investment process, Freeman’s team analyzes companies along seven social criteria, including: […]

An unpleasant argument

October 9, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

Neill Roan flags a re-emerging public conversation about the costs and benefits of charitable giving, particularly to seemingly wealthy nonprofit arts organizations. Says he: ”Shouldn’t charitable gifts go to the less fortunate?” is a policy question that those of us in the cultural sector can expect to hear asked more often and more urgently. This […]

Virtual dishes are more fun to clean

October 5, 2007 by Andrew Taylor

So I finally got around to trying my kids’ recent video game purchase — The Sims 2 Pets. In the game, you build a home and life for your virtual self, attending to your various life needs (hunger, fatigue, companionship, and so on) by directing your character’s actions. In this version, you can also adopt […]

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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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