Pick up a copy of the Scene Change trilogy. Scene Change 3 just received its first review, and it’s a doozy. You’re going to want at least one for you and one for your board chair.
An example-driven new map to success in the realm of nonprofit theater.
“What good is a program without results that show impact?” asks theatrical director and producer Harrison, a 30-year industry veteran who’s spent decades thinking about the essential questions people involved in nonprofit theater should be asking, such as, “What can my nonprofit theater do today to make my community a measurably, quantifiably, and tangibly better place to live?” In this latest installment of his Scene Change series, the author once again looks at various organizations that are pursuing what he views as the essential mission of community arts, which is to improve the community, using theater and other arts as means to that end. Harrison contrasts this vision of nonprofit arts organizations with the way they’re too often seen by the people who run them as for-profit commercial enterprises in which box office revenue is the most important thing. In these pages, he first breaks down the logistics of how nonprofits work and should work, from the nuances of marketing to the nitty-gritty of IRS filings. The author then examines the working methods and cultural impact of some nonprofits that’ve shaken off what he views as wrong-headed priorities and are both serving and challenging their communities. The Louisville Orchestra receives a good deal of attention, with Harrison noting that “The music is dynamic, contemporary, and bespeaks the lives of the people of the commonwealth in ways that cannot be adequately described as words on a page.” He also discusses other programs, like Out of Hand Theater (“there is no better example of using theater as a tool for community impact”) and Out of Hand’s Creative Kids program (“They’re not bussed to some fancy, frighteningly off-putting monument”), in detail.
Harrison is glowingly enthusiastic about all of this, the perfect ambassador for introducing the world of nonprofit arts to newcomers; he’s also the perfect blend of cheerleader and tough-love coach for those already in the nonprofit world who may not be keeping their priorities straight (or may not quite know what those priorities should be). Harrison’s prose reflects his expertise but is often light and humorous. He can sometimes get hung up on trivialities, as when he notes that, “for a real debate to happen and to expose local and American issues for what they are, it would have to include the niggling disagreements such as how close the word ‘niggling’ is to a vulgar one.” But the author is refreshingly willing to ask hard questions about the realities of nonprofit art groups today, reminding readers that, in addition to their missions, nonprofits have their own rules and responsibilities. Harrison’s analysis of the root of nonprofit problems—he believes they too often devolve into entities to please big donors (which “begets toxicity among donors, executives, and board leadership, and provides an elitist barrier to participants”)—is astute and characteristically pulls no punches. The author is equally frank in addressing the social issues that affect community projects, including the Black Lives Matter movement and the Covid-19 pandemic. Anyone involved in the nonprofit arts world will gain immeasurably from reading this book (and its two enjoyably opinionated predecessors).
A punchy, outspoken argument for how nonprofit arts organizations should be run.
— Kirkus Reviews, September 2025
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