The job posting now on-line for the President & CEO of Madison’s $205-million Overture Center for the Arts includes multiple essay questions along with the resume and reference requirements. Two questions, in particular, are worth a moment for any manager of a large, professional-grade cultural facility: Describe what you believe to be the central role […]
Defining success
For various reasons — as a board member, a staff member, an advisor, and such — I find myself in the middle of four separate strategic thinking efforts among four separate organizations and initiatives. Although these are non-similar organizations, with very different purposes and governance structures, the conversations have been strikingly similar. The most vexing […]
What might nonprofits looks like in 2016?
Some interesting thoughts over at Social Edge about the future of nonprofits, NGOs, social sector organizations, or whatever we might be calling them in 2016. According to the intro, a decade from now, these organizations will: Be mobile Offer instant transparency and social impact measurements Become rapid response social opportunity networks Access free, on-demand technology […]
A bit too ubiquitous
If you hadn’t yet realized that Apple iPods were everywhere, or soon will be, then take a look at the new iPod player ”slash” bathroom tissue dispenser. It just goes to show that there are markets, products, and services yet to be exploited. All we need is a large marketplace with relatively affluent and lifestyle-focused […]
Calling the question
Andrew Adler in the Louisville Courier-Journal touches on a question that’s bubbling up a lot these days, not just in the arts, but in the entire social sector: given all the talk of need and crisis and funding, where’s the public conversation about the value and content of cultural activity? Says Adler: …simply saying we […]
Opera vs. cheese
Just time for a short post today, pointing you to yet another cool and addictive prototype from Google, Google Trends. This system allows you to view the relative frequency of searches for up to five terms, plotted along a timeline. Says Google: With Google Trends, you can compare the world’s interest in your favorite topics. […]
Of mission and motion
There are lots of conversation starters in this short article on change and refocusing at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Arts Center. The three-year-old arts center is discontinuing its theater productions after the current season draws to a close, and focusing their efforts on other work. ”Everything [we do] is really successful, except the theater season,” says […]
Here comes ”crowdsourcing”
Wired magazine has a piece on yet another trendy word construction made possible by the on-line world. Crowdsourcing includes any effort by a commercial enterprise to leverage the scattered talents of large groups of individuals on the web. Many firms are finding the technique extraordinarily powerful in building stock photo archives, writing or testing bits […]
Gift or purchase?
Arts organizations have always explored the boundary between charitable gifts and fees for services. It’s one of the inevitable struggles when you receive significant revenue from both earned and contributed sources. But if we needed a warning about violating that boundary, we have a wonderful poster child in academic athletics. Take, for example, the University […]
Conversations to come
I’m just digging out from a wonderful time in Milwaukee, participating in the Americans for the Arts convention. More thoughts and comments coming soon. But it was a real pleasure sharing the stage with the little improvisational ”think tank” assembled by Barry Hessenius — including me along with: Bob Lynch, President and CEO of Americans […]
