One of the most beloved and respected people in the arts & cultural community of Phoenix, Arizona is Kyle Lawson. Beginning in 1977, and for more than 30 years, Kyle wrote about arts and entertainment in Arizona, first at the Scottsdale Progress, then The Phoenix Gazette, and finally The Arizona Republic. He was awarded the very first Lifetime Achievement Award by the Arizona Governor's Commission on the Arts and a similar award from the … [Read more...]
The Drive to Audience Avenue
Please let me invite you to visit the new and just-launched website of my company, Audience Avenue: www.AudienceAvenue.com. If your priority is audience-building, then you'll be happy to find a central location for new ideas, practical applications, important resources and the connection of similarly interested people from throughout the arts & cultural sector. In my hopes & dreams, this is the first step toward the idea of a Massive … [Read more...]
Resolutions for a Happy New (Fiscal) Year!
"White. A blank page of canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities." The very last line of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George expresses the kind of optimism that deservedly arrives with the start of every new project & every new year, even a new fiscal year. A fresh start. A clean slate. Square one. Tabula Rasa A New Beginning There may be nothing more empowering to the human mind than the chance to start … [Read more...]
Please Sir, I want some more… Budget
Moooooore? You want more? Let's face it, there are moments when the typical nonprofit budget process can descend to Dickensian depths of oppressiveness, misery and hopelessness. So let's take a moment to dream up a DIFFERENT story ... something joyous ... one in which all of the other parameters of your organization's budget remain the stable, AND... The reply to your request is, "Why, yes! Gladly. Here you go! Here's an increase to … [Read more...]
Who is your “Chief Relevance Officer?”
Whose job is "relevance?" Does the word appear in any job title on your company's organization chart? Does the word even appear in the job description of any position in your organization? Will you argue that "relevance" is the obvious province of your organization's artistic director or curator since it is they who are responsible for interpreting and advancing your organization's artistic mission? With all due respect to artistic … [Read more...]
Would YOU call these “Tough Times”?
I'm not, by nature, a pessimist. So I was struck by the reply of a respected colleague to an e-mail I sent that included the sentence, "As you well know, these are very tough times for the arts & cultural sector." She replied, "Interesting you say these are tough times. I don't hear that very much." Wow. Let's take a moment to take stock of where we are, shall we? I invite you, dear ArtsJournal blog readers, to respond: Would YOU … [Read more...]
Gymnacafatorium
The word rolled off his tongue so easily, I almost didn't catch it. Steve Martin is the Managing Director of Childsplay, the renowned professional theatre company here in the Phoenix area whose chosen audience is children. We were discussing the evolving nature of the cause of “audience development” and the various implications of its growing number of metaphors – pathways, on-ramps, entrances, channels, passages, approaches, avenues, … [Read more...]
The Most Important Theatre Company
In the Greater Phoenix region, Actors Theatre isn't the oldest, largest or even most popular professional theatre company. It's just the most important. And this morning, Actors Theatre announced: "...the Board of Directors and Management have decided to take a PAUSE to assess and redesign our business model and to consider all options to “take control of our future.”... We are not closing. We are stepping back because we need to change … [Read more...]
Crista Cloutier: On Empowering Creatives
Crista Cloutier travels the globe teaching her original workshops, The Working Artist, The Working Creative & The Writer’s Life. More than a teacher, Crista is a nurturer, emboldener and coach to career-focused individuals engaged in all sorts of artistic and creative pursuits. Her website is: www.theworkingartist.info. In this interview we explore how the “marketing” and “audience development” challenges of individual artists compare to … [Read more...]
Adrian Peterson, Raffi & the Pursuit of Perfection
I have the greatest respect for Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Viking's running back who improbably returned from major knee surgery to complete an incredible season in which he fell just 9 yards short of the all-time rushing record for an entire season. Oh so close. It made me recall my closest brush with marketing "perfection." As the marketing director of the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts in the late 1990's, we had the … [Read more...]