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The Artful Manager

Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture

To be cool, or not to be

June 2, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

Marketing maven Grant MacDonald offers a top-ten list of ”basic instincts” among teens, targeted by his firm when trying to make a product or service ”cool” to the youngens. If your work involves making sackbut ensembles hip and trendy, this list is worth a look (heaven knows you’ll need the help). In a nutshell the […]

Museums and the rights of publicity

May 31, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

An interesting story on NPR yesterday explored a unique lawsuit pending against the John Dillinger Museum in Hammond, Indiana. It seems one of Dillinger’s descendents doesn’t care for the museum’s representation of Dilliinger as a murderer (certainly a thief, but not a convicted killer). Since he can’t sue them for slander, he is invoking his […]

Choreographing public space

May 30, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

An article in the Sunday New York Times describes a collaboration between architect David Rockwell and choreographer Jerry Mitchell. Together, they conceived the structure and flow of the new JetBlue Airways terminal being built at Kennedy International Airport. The intent of the collaboration was to create a space that encourages people to move well. The […]

Americans for the Arts panel

May 26, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

I’m pleased to be participating in the upcoming Americans for the Arts Convention in Milwaukee next week, and hope to see many of you there. I’m among a panel of folks, coordinated by Barry Hessenius, on the topic of ”change,” and what arts and cultural leaders might do about that ever-present and ever-increasing critter. The […]

Affective forecasting

May 23, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

Really fascinating stuff in this conversation with Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert. Gilbert is most known for his work on ”affective forecasting,” or the uniquely human ability to predict the pleasure or pain of future experiences, and to make choices based on those predictions. Says Gilbert: We are the only animals that can peer deeply […]

Separating ‘generic’ and ‘expected’ from ‘augmented’

May 22, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

Generic, Expected, Augmented

A great overview from Neill Archer Roan [link now broken] explores an essential marketing and audience experience model for arts and cultural managers. The model, originated by Theodore Levitt back in 1980, suggests why so many marketing and experience efforts in the arts fall flat: because they never rise above the generic expectations of the […]

Ping

May 19, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

One of my favorite moments of the week is the flurry of bounce-back e-mails I get every Friday morning, just after I send out my weblog’s weekly summary. The subscribers who are away at a conference, or out in the world, or taking a day off, set up their autoresponders, alerting those that contact them […]

Two conversations worth a moment

May 16, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

Just wanted to direct you to two conversations now going on-line that are worth a read: ArtsJournal is hosting a conversation among critics, focusing on the changing universe of criticism, filtering, and insight on creative works. You can read the conversation from the beginning here, or jump directly to the most recent posts. Here’s the […]

Clarity vs. Chatter

May 15, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

I had a fabulous time last week speaking with theater board members and leadership as part of the Theater Wisconsin gathering outside Milwaukee (at Ten Chimneys…if you haven’t been, you need to go). The subject of my particular part of the event was ”Clarity vs. Chatter: The theater board’s new role in knowing (or defining) […]

I need a week

May 8, 2006 by Andrew Taylor

Lots of loose ends on other projects for me to tie up this week, so I’m taking a short break from blogging. I’ll be back the week of May 15.

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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

  • Arts management as practice July 15, 2025
    Management isn't a theory, it's an evolving repertory of embodied expertise.
  • 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.

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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