How can you know if your state’s public schools are providing equitable and integrated education in the arts? Here’s a radical thought: actually ask them. That’s the conclusion of a cluster of state and nonprofit representatives in New Jersey, who have just launched a study of arts programming in the public schools (or see it […]
Copyright and heritage
Building on Tuesday’s post about the threat of copyright and restrictive creative contracts on new forms of expression, this article in the Financial Times exposes the flip-side of the same constraints: the challenge of bringing existing media content onto new distribution platforms. That is because the contractual arrangements that have long governed business relations between […]
Who owns culture?
Copyright maven and public rights activist Lawrence Lessig has posted a wonderful slide and audio overview of culture and copyright in the digital age. Lessig has been struggling against extended and inflexible copyright for years, and particularly the way it constricts the public access to creative works. He traces some of the earlier struggles between […]
The power of flaws
The April edition of Free Range Thinking (a short newsletter on nonprofits and storytelling, available for download here) shares an insight that should be second nature to all arts managers — the compelling and endearing qualities of flaws and imperfections. The story focuses on Character, LLC, a consulting company that revamps and refreshes brand icons, […]
Prison, purgatory, or playground
In my line of work, I often find myself in front of a group of cultural managers, walking them through a particular tool or strategy used in the commercial world, the social sector, or academia, and framing a conversation about how we might use it in the arts. One of the great joys of being […]
Being really, really, really committed to the art
News has been bumping around the web about playwright and director Jung Sung Sanabout, and his new musical exploring North Korean prison camps (listen to the NPR story here). Preparing for the controversial show’s premiere in South Korea, Jung ran into some serious funding and logistical issues, to which he responded in a rather desperate […]
The art of the start
Computer guru and entrepreneurship evangelist Guy Kawasaki has some thoughts on how to start things (companies, mostly, but other stuff too). His 2004 book, The Art of the Start, was recently recommended to me as relevant to arts organizations (the first chapter is available for free download from his web site). It’s the kind of […]
Music and Media
The Music & Media Forum, a convening I attended and reported on back in January, has just released its summary report (available for download from the project web site). The forum gathered about 60 leaders from the worlds of music performance, presenting, and electronic media for five primary tasks: Share current ideas about the issues […]
The board-of-directors disconnect
CompassPoint’s new report on nonprofit leadership trends (Daring to Lead 2006, available for download here) has lots of great insights for cultural leaders and their boards. Among the most striking of their summary conclusions is this one: Boards of directors and funders contribute to executive burnout Negative perception of the board of directors is strongly […]
The physics of friendship
Physics, by at least one definition, is the science of matter and energy and their interactions. So nobody should be surprised when that particular science strays into social analysis, as well. One particularly cool application of this physics crossover is this effort to model social interactions based on laws of the physical world. The physicists […]
