The Artful Manager

Jeffrey Zaslow has a cute piece in the Wall Street Journal about creating a more intentional soundtrack to his daily activities through his iPod. Like a good journalist, he asks some experts on the subject of soundtracks for advice and insight — a film director, a television series creator, a major studio executive. The process […]

There’s a common theme that pops up in almost every conversation I have with funders, practitioners, and academics about the future of cultural enterprise. Here’s the motif: our mission statements and aspirations are ecological in scope, but our alliances and energies are locked to the particular channel we’ve chosen to serve. For example, a symphony’s […]

I’m finally back from a week in New York, attending more conferences, meetings, and receptions than I would care to count. Lots to spin out and explore in the coming blogs about all I discovered and discussed along the way. A large bulk of my visit (two full days) was spent at the Music & […]

Posts were a bit thin this week as I traveled to Manhattan (where I am right now) to engage the arts world in real time (or to put in some “face time,” as the corporate world might say). Many really cool discussions going on here, on music and media, and on the challenges and opportunities […]

Today appears to be my 500th post to The Artful Manager, which is a bit of a shock. I hope a reasonable percentage of those 500 have been useful and engaging. And I hope there are many more to come. As a group celebration of the milestone, let’s all browse the archives!

There’s a wonderful but still experimental image search engine called retrievr (read about it here, try it here) worth some attention. The search engine allows visitors to draw a rudimentary sketch, and to quickly find images from the flickr photo sharing web site that match. It’s not an exact science, which is what makes it […]

I’m traveling to Manhattan this week for the Music & Media Forum and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters national conference. If you’re there, as well, come by and say ‘hello.’ At Arts Presenters I’m moderating a session by four of my MBA students in Arts Administration, on the topic of "How We Make Meaning," […]

A few folks in Elgin, Illinois, have been mulling over a new concert hall or performing arts center off and on for a long while now. This Wednesday, the city thought enough of the idea to throw $100,000 at a feasibility study on the subject. The study is intended to explore the readiness of the […]

The folks at Trendwatching.com see a lifestyle trend coming around again this year, which they’re calling insperiences. As opposed to ‘experiences,’ this trend has consumers bringing more and more high-end leisure and entertainment inside their homes. Says they: ”In a consumer society dominated by experiences in the (semi) public domain — often branded, designed, themed […]