entrepreneurship

On Entrepreneurialism and Publicness (or Whose Theatre is it, Really?)

February 20, 2017 by Diane Ragsdale 2 Comments

This essay was originally published in Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts by the Pave Program in Arts Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University. Many thanks to Linda Essig for permission to syndicate it on Jumper. On Entrepreneurialism and Publicness (or Whose Theater Is It, Really?) by Diane Ragsdale But democratic society — in it, the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may. In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves … [Read more...]

Diane Ragsdale is an Assistant Professor in the College of Performing Arts at The New School, where she also serves as Program Director for the MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship. Alongside her post at the New School Diane teaches on the Cultural Leadership Program at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada and teaches a workshop on Cultural Policy at Yale University for its Theater Management MA. She is also a doctoral candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam (in the Netherlands), where she lectured 2011-2015 in the cultural economics and sociology of the arts programs. Read More…

Diane Ragsdale on The Changing Face of Arts Engagement: My remarks at the Stratford Festival Forum: “Carey - Yes, I am sorry our paths did not cross! Thanks for weighing in with these reflections. Great to…” Aug 30, 05:18
Diane Ragsdale on The Changing Face of Arts Engagement: My remarks at the Stratford Festival Forum: “Hi Jerry - Thanks for sharing and yes, I'd love to know more. I am a big fan of Mike…” Aug 30, 05:17
Jerry Yoshitomi on The Changing Face of Arts Engagement: My remarks at the Stratford Festival Forum: “Diane: Thank you very much for making and then sharing these vitally important remarks. New business models are necessary. It…” Aug 29, 01:55
Carey Perloff on The Changing Face of Arts Engagement: My remarks at the Stratford Festival Forum: “Sorry I missed you at Stratford, Diane! My favorite theater in North America, even when you're directing in the snowy…” Aug 26, 12:47
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"Surviving the Culture Change", "The Excellence Barrier", "Holding Up the Arts: Can We Sustain What We've Creatived? Should We?" and "Living in the Struggle: Our Long Tug of War in the Arts" are a few keynote addresses I've given in the US and abroad on the larger changes in the cultural environment and ways arts organizations may need to adapt in order to survive and thrive in the coming years.

If you want a quicker read, then you may want to skip the speeches and opt for the article, "Recreating Fine Arts Institutions," which was published in the November 2009 Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Here is a recent essay commissioned by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts for the 2011 State of the Arts Conference in London, "Rethinking Cultural Philanthropy".

In 2012 I documented a meeting among commercial theater producers and nonprofit theater directors to discuss partnerships between the two sectors in the development of new theatrical work, which is published by HowlRound. You can get a copy of this report, "In the Intersection," on the HowlRound Website. Finally, last year I also had essays published in Doug Borwick's book, Building Communities Not Audiences and Theatre Bay Area's book (edited by Clay Lord), Counting New Beans.