{"id":937,"date":"2016-08-03T15:43:52","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T22:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=937"},"modified":"2016-08-03T17:53:29","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T00:53:29","slug":"are-we-building-artistic-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/08\/are-we-building-artistic-leadership.html","title":{"rendered":"Are We Building Artistic Leadership?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Melbourne_buskers\"<\/a>Are the arts about selling tickets to shows or about art? Of course performances and exhibitions don’t happen if they don’t have money to be produced, but – as evidenced at an arts marketing conference where I recently spoke – the business of selling tickets seems often to determine the\u00a0measure of success rather than the art. “Art” is a positioning for selling tickets.<\/p>\n

I’m currently working on a project that involves creative people outside the arts, and many of them seem to have disdain not for art but for the formal artist class. To these tech and science people – whose success depends on creative innovation – artists’ claims to public good seem little more than strategy for selling their shows. And from the tech perspective, the public good the arts provide – next to the creativity they employ fighting cancer or inventing the next civilization-changing app – seems meager.<\/p>\n

They understand how their creativity has to have impact (and techies talking about how their products are going to “make the world a better place” have become a cliche) because their success depends on it. To those outside the arts, though, it’s often tough to see the larger value that artists talk about for their work beyond the ticket sale. And even if there is a larger value, what does it have to do with them?<\/p>\n

So artistic leadership. At a time when creativity is busting out all over and astonishing discoveries about how the world works are changing how we interact with it, are our artists central to understanding how the world is changing or are they little more than buskers trying to beckon our attention while the world goes on about its business?<\/p>\n

Image: Wikimedia<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are the arts about selling tickets to shows or about art? Of course performances and exhibitions don’t happen if they don’t have money to be produced, but – as evidenced at an arts marketing conference where I recently spoke – the business of selling tickets seems often to determine the\u00a0measure of success rather than the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-changing-culture","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Melbourne_buskers.jpg?fit=900%2C438&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-f7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":938,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/07\/editors-picks-five-highlights-from-last-weeks-aj-how-to-define-art-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":937,"position":0},"title":"Editor’s Picks: Five Highlights From Last Week’s AJ – How To Define Art Edition","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"July 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Week: In an age of artists what is the definition of being an artist?... Canadian study says arts workers are most at risk... What is R&D in the arts?... Edinburgh Festival's success shows the broadening impact of festivals... In the information age our opinions seem to be more arrogant.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":96,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/04\/do_we_need_institutions_to_mak.html","url_meta":{"origin":937,"position":1},"title":"Do we need Institutions To Make Art?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"April 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In the early '00's, the movie industry looked on as the music industry's business model was cannibalized by file sharing services. Bandwidth issues bought Hollywood a few extra years to figure out how to adapt to the digital threat. Eventually iTunes proved a viable model to sell music over the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/04\/do_we_need_institutions_to_mak.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"devolution.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/devolution.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":799,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/02\/this-weeks-top-aj-stories-2-28-16.html","url_meta":{"origin":937,"position":2},"title":"This Week’s Top AJ Stories 2.28.16","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Arguably, the dominant cultural issue of our time is the changes in how people are finding and getting culture. \u00a0In response, business models supporting culture and the kinds of culture being made are also changing. \u00a0It also underpins debates about diversity, engagement and power. Some broad themes this week: 1.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/28mag-teams1-articleLarge.jpg?fit=600%2C924&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/28mag-teams1-articleLarge.jpg?fit=600%2C924&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/28mag-teams1-articleLarge.jpg?fit=600%2C924&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":354,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/05\/power_in_numbers_there_ought-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":937,"position":3},"title":"10 Ways to Think About Social Networking And The Arts (the zen of "free" as a strategy)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"May 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Power in numbers. There ought to be a simple formula to calculate it. Is it better to have a small devoted audience or a massive casual one? It depends on the scale of what you're trying to do. TV has power because it has the ability to attract millions of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 13 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 13 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/05\/power_in_numbers_there_ought-2.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"power.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/power.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":970,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/08\/how-do-you-test-for-the-arts.html","url_meta":{"origin":937,"position":4},"title":"How Do You Test For The Arts?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"August 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a more difficult question than you might think. There's a maxim in the education world that only subjects that are tested are funded. Thus an imperative for arts education champions to get the arts included in required standardized tests. In a STEM world, the arts don't exist. 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