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I continue to be thinking about basic issues for arts institutions. Here are some thoughts about core business.<\/p>\nI continue to be thinking about basic issues for arts institutions. Here are some thoughts about core business.<\/p>\n
There is a story\u2013that I have always assumed to be apocryphal\u2013of the dance company manager, newly hired in November, who observed that his troupe sold thousands of ticket and made tens of thousands of dollars with their production of The Nutcracker<\/i>. His conclusion was that his audience loved lavish ballets by Tchaikovsky. The next year he programmed Swan Lake<\/i> in December and sold no tickets.<\/p>\n
This story must be apocryphal because no one in the dance world is unaware of the fact that Nutcracker<\/i> is a cash cow and that that cow is a Christmas present to the company. Nevertheless, the manager\u2019s misunderstanding of his product, while unbelievable in this instance, does represent an extreme symptom of artcentricity, the tendency to be focused on art rather than the value art brings to people\u2019s lives or even simply the relationship between those people and the arts presented.<\/p>\n
This gets me to what I believe to be true about identifying our core business. We<\/strong> have been wrong in imagining our work as that of product presenters.<\/b> Our product only has meaning in its impact upon people. As the environment in which we work becomes increasingly hostile to the health of that product, we must focus on the people for whom our art can and should have meaning . . . and our relationship with them.<\/p>\n Our core business is as experience providers<\/b>, experiences for those in the communities around us. For those of us tending the mission-focused not-for-profit arts vineyards that means experiences which foster personal growth or social bonding and bridging opportunities<\/b>. These are experiences that serve the end of improving lives through the arts. <\/b>Perhaps most of all we need to simply turn around and face the world in which we function rather than the arts we present.<\/p>\n Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n Photo: I continue to be thinking about basic issues for arts institutions. Here are some thoughts about core business. There is a story\u2013that I have always assumed to be apocryphal\u2013of the dance company manager, newly hired in November, who observed that his troupe sold thousands of ticket and made tens of thousands of dollars with their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":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":"Core Business: The distinction between product presenter and experience provider. http:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-QZ","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}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[12,13,48,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-3285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-overview","7":"category-principles","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-mission","11":"tag-relationships","12":"entry","13":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-QZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2272,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/the-disciplined-pursuit-of-less\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":0},"title":"The Disciplined Pursuit of Less","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been waiting for some time to write about this fascinating blog post by Greg McKeown from the Harvard Business Review: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. It is in the tradition of Jim Collins' Good to Great. Indeed, Mr. McKeown's graphic looks a lot like Collins' Hedgehog Concept graphic.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Focus.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4225,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/07\/afta-thoughts-2015-self-perpetuating-boards\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":1},"title":"AftA Thoughts 2015: Self-Perpetuating Boards","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lack of board diversity reflects \"who they (don't) know.\"","rel":"","context":"In "The Practice of Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DWEM_Board","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DWEM_Board-e1435324376845.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2552,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/03\/engaging-the-third-rail-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":2},"title":"Engaging the Third Rail: II","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"March 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last time your intrepid blogger embarked upon a consideration of the untouchable heart of the arts enterprise: programming. Herein we continue the journey. ---------- From the previous post: (NB: In these posts on mainstreaming engagement, I am addressing only those individuals or organizations that want broader and deeper relationships with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ThirdRail","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/ThirdRail-300x258.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2433,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/01\/ttrash-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":3},"title":"The Trash Project","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h6ZBlYdyoeQ One of the joys of all the traveling and speaking I am undertaking is the opportunity to find out about cool examples of engagement work going on around the country. I am going to Austin for the Texas Commission on the Arts & Texans for the Arts conference, Strategies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Examples"","block_context":{"text":"Examples","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/examples\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/h6ZBlYdyoeQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":403,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/10\/quality-and-community-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":4},"title":"Quality and Community-2","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Must \"quality\" and \"community\" be mutually exclusive? Clearly I believe not, in spite of a widespread opinion to the contrary on the part of many in the established arts world. That prejudice against community is the elephant in the room I called out in my earlier Quality and Community post.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/ElephantInRoom.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3236,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2013\/10\/trading-in-the-studebaker\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":5},"title":"Trading in the Studebaker","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"October 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Frequent readers of this blog know that I am in the midst of a series of posts dealing with core mission in the arts. (The Buggy Whip Lesson: Recognizing a Mission Crisis, The Metamission of Arts Institutions, The Old Ball Game, Examining the Mission Model) I've discussed many aspects of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Studebaker-Cropped","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Studebaker-Cropped-300x143.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Attribution\"](\"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/g\/images\/cc_icon_attribution_small.gif\" "\\"Attribution\\""){kind=icon}
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<\/a> Some rights reserved<\/a> by shyuhan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"