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...]

A speaker, writer, and advisor on a range of arts and culture topics, Diane Ragsdale is director and co-lead faculty of the Cultural Leadership Program at Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity. Diane also teaches a workshop on Cultural Policy at Yale University for its Theater Management MA and is 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. Diane additionally provides a range of advising, research, and education services to the arts and culture sector (in the US and abroad); and is a frequent provocateur or interlocutor at arts conferences and symposiums around the world. Read More…

Richard Linzer on On Aesthetics, Ethics, Economics, and Consequential Decisions of Cultural Leaders in the Long Now: “Diane, the free manuals that we have created on fully secured borrowing for arts nonprofits, other nonprofits, and individual artists…” Jan 11, 20:48
Jon Catherwood-Ginn on On Aesthetics, Ethics, Economics, and Consequential Decisions of Cultural Leaders in the Long Now: “Diane and Jerry – thank you so much for your thoughtful responses to my question! Excellent points regarding the opportunity…” Oct 13, 21:08
Jerry Yoshitomi on On Aesthetics, Ethics, Economics, and Consequential Decisions of Cultural Leaders in the Long Now: “Thanks to both of you for your thoughts. One of the great opportunities available through electronic communications will be the…” Oct 6, 01:20
Diane Ragsdale on On Aesthetics, Ethics, Economics, and Consequential Decisions of Cultural Leaders in the Long Now: “Dear Jon, thanks for your comment and great question! I’d also be curious what others reading the post might think.…” Oct 5, 09:20
Jon Catherwood-Ginn on On Aesthetics, Ethics, Economics, and Consequential Decisions of Cultural Leaders in the Long Now: “Thank you for this, Diane! A fantastic piece. As an extension of your analysis of the interplay among economics, ethics,…” Oct 2, 20:41

On artistic leadership and aesthetic values in a changed cultural context: A new keynote address

Last week I had the privilege, pleasure, and honor to give the keynote address at the Canadian Arts Summit--an annual gathering of the board chairs, … [Read More...]

Art for ____________’s sake. What would you fill in?

A few weeks back I was in NYC and had the opportunity to attend a Public Forum event featuring the brilliant Jeremy McCarter reading from his new book … [Read More...]

Irvine asks: Is there an issue in the arts field more urgent than engagement? My answer: Yes.

A couple weeks back the Irvine Foundation launched an online Q&A series, Are We Doing Enough?—aimed at “exploring tough questions about engagement … [Read More...]

A Q&A on the Beauty Class with Students from the SAIC

Recently, I received an email from a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, preparing for a seminar on Arts Organizations in Society. … [Read More...]

It’s creative; but is it beautiful? (My talk at the Pave Symposium on Entrepreneurship and the Arts)

In May, I gave a talk at the Pave Biennial Symposium on Arts & Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University. The theme of this year's conference … [Read More...]

"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.