In last week's post, I asked whether the nonprofit art sector in the US constitutes ‘good work’ from the perspective of the artists and staffers working therein. The paragraph on ‘scrubbing toilets’ sparked quite a bit of attention and stimulated several comments on succession planning. While succession planning (or the lack of it) in the nonprofit arts sector was not the solution (problem) I was aiming at in my first post, it’s a compelling topic, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts. In 2005, Jerry Yoshitomi and I co-moderated a panel … [Read more...]
Archives for 2011
It may be excellent work … but is it good?
A few years back I heard Howard Gardner speak in a lecture series at MOMA in NYC called The True, the Beautiful and the Good, Reconsiderations in a Postmodern, Digital Era. I attended the lecture on ‘the Good’ in which Gardner described ‘good work’ (in the sense of one’s vocation/job) as work that is excellent, engaging, and ethical (for more on this idea, check out Gardner's Goodwork Toolkit). As soon as I heard the description my mind began working on a question: By-and-large, are nonprofit arts organizations doing ‘good’ (i.e., excellent, … [Read more...]
The crucial gap once filled by Florida Stage
Last week, it was announced in the Miami Herald that Florida Stage would be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and closing its doors for good. I am haunted by the thought that the American Theater has just lost an organization without fully grasping the critical role that it played. It appears that the move to a new space was a key factor in financial troubles that eventually left the company with a $1.5 million debt (significant for a theater of its size). This closing has left me feeling sad and disappointed in the trajectory of the … [Read more...]
Why not rid ourselves of the nonprofit burden?
Chad Bauman, Director of Communications at Arena Stage, has suggested in a recent post on his blog that perhaps nonprofit resident theaters should consider casting off their nonprofit status. These are surprising words given the rather generously supported theater where he works. When I suggested in my recent post L3C Cha Cha Cha (referenced by Mr. Bauman) that some nonprofits might have been more appropriately organized at the outset as L3C’s (if such a model had existed at the time) I was not suggesting that current nonprofits give up their … [Read more...]
Oh, nonprofit model. Where do we go from here?
May 16-20 I blogged for Americans for the Arts on ARTSblog. AftA brought together a group of thinkers to ponder the future of the nonprofit model. (Cue dramatic music.) In all seriousness, I'm honored to have been asked to contribute to the discussion. Here's the framing post for the discussion, written by Valerie Beaman and my three posts: L3C Cha Cha Cha, Need a new way of working? How about the old way?, and The Blurring/Vanishing/Missing Line Between Commercial and Nonprofit. And if you go to AftA's Private Sector Blog and scroll to … [Read more...]
Outsourcing Admin: Not Just for the Money Savings
In a post a few weeks back I suggested that, rather than radical innovation, the arts sector might see some pretty great results through some common sense improvements. I suggested as an example “communities of organizations forming cooperative agreements for the use of space, or investments in shared technology, or other resources.” Strategic alliances, shared services, and partnerships sure sound good on paper but, one might ask, are they paying off in practice? A couple weeks I ago I was directed to a great post on the blog of Betsy … [Read more...]
The mad, mad chase for innovation in the arts
A few weeks back, I wrote in a post that I’m beginning to wonder whether the process of adapting to a changing environment has become harder for arts organizations than it needs to be because many arts funders seem to be fixated on the idea that future success will come only through ‘radical innovation’. I suggested that perhaps we could see some pretty great results through good-old-fashioned, common-sense, it’s-about-time, just-do-the-right-thing, ‘improvements’. I'm not suggesting that 'innovation' in the arts and culture sector should not … [Read more...]
A bankruptcy and a canceled season: inevitable or entirely avoidable ends?
Recently, the Philadelphia Orchestra announced it would be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (the reorganization variety) and Intiman Theatre in Seattle let go of its staff (including its artistic director) and canceled its season in an effort to get a handle on its operations and save itself from an imminent death. These announcements (on the heels of other similar announcements) prompt a few questions: First, whenever I hear that an arts organization has had recurring deficits (often leading to the accumulation of excessively … [Read more...]
Letting go of the lifestyle to which some arts groups have become accustomed
Syracuse Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and the New York City Opera have all been in the news this past week. To some degree these three organizations share a common circumstance: the conditions under which they were created and grew over time have changed and, in recent years, they have begun to experience difficulty sustaining their operations at the level to which they (and their stakeholders) have become accustomed. These organizations are not alone in their struggles. Syracuse announced that it is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy because it … [Read more...]
Nonprofits redistributing ‘surpluses’ to patrons?
Recently I came across an academic paper examining the relationship between performing arts organizations and their patrons that includes a description of a patron loyalty program developed by the Bach Choir of Bethlehem in the early twentieth century (Kushner and King, 1994).* BCB’s model is unlike any current model I have yet encountered (though this may be due to my lack of awareness not to a lack of similar models) and it strikes me as both simple and enlightened. Here’s my summary of the 1994 description of BCB’s model in the paper: The … [Read more...]
We gather here today to … wait, why are we here?
It's that time of year--the arrival of the annual spring/summer lineup of conferences hosted by the national service organizations in the arts and culture sector. Many will soon be filing into Ballroom D at the end of the Hutchinson Concourse on the Mezzanine Level of some Conference Center/Hotel to hear leading field practitioners share their insights on Innovation in the Arts Sector. Those not in Ballroom D will be hiding out in the bar socializing, having informal discussions, and networking (also known as 'having a good … [Read more...]
sector transformation, unlikely to be kind or gentle
In 2008, Paul Light (professor of public service at NYU and author of numerous books) wrote an article for the Nonprofit Quarterly in which he speculated on Four Futures for the nonprofit sector arising out of the recession: (1) Rescue Fantasy: nonprofits saved by significant increases in contributions; (2) Withering Winterland: organizations starve themselves into a weakened organizational state; (3) Arbitrary Winnowing: survival of the largest, oldest, and best connected; and (4) Transformation: a redesign of the sector that leaves it … [Read more...]
Arts Ed: An opportunity for arts nonprofits to create shared value?
A new acquaintance recently recommended the Jan-Feb 2011 HBR article, "Creating Shared Value" by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer. The authors define the concept of shared value as "policies and operating practices that enhance the competitiveness of a company while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which it operates." The article, which is compelling, gives several examples of policies and practices that create shared value, including: food companies traditionally focused on taste and … [Read more...]
Which nonprofit arts orgs deserve these pennies?
In response to last week's post, Leonard Jacobs posted a thoughtful essay at The Clyde Fitch Report in which he made many excellent points--many of them fair criticisms of my post. I cannot adequately address all of Jacobs' points in this post, but I hope to address a few while expounding upon some of my previous comments. In my first post, I was endeavoring to both (1) discuss perceptions of the current threats to funding (which Jacobs rightly says are not 'attacks' in the sense of the culture wars) and (2) make the assertion that the … [Read more...]
Perhaps we need to rethink which nonprofit arts groups are considered leaders in their fields?
Many have written in the past week on the pending and proposed eliminations of the Kansas, Texas, and South Carolina state arts agencies (among others). For a roundup of the news on this front I recommend this post on Createquity. Some see these attacks as yet another sign that the country is filled with philistines, some see them as symbolic or purely political, and others as the reasonable end of decades of disregard by arts organizations of their communities-at-large. The arts (which in the minds of most people equates with 'the fine … [Read more...]