Good people making strained decisions because they keep thinking it’s about HOW they produce art, not WHY Seattle Rep is laying off 12% of its workforce. ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) and Seattle Shakespeare are working out a merger. Bellevue Art Museum (Bellevue is a wealthy, somewhat conservative, mostly White and Asian suburb of Seattle – sometimes referred to as … [Read more...] about The Seattle Arts Scene Today: Full of Hopes and Full of Fears
Arts and Culture
Nonprofit Arts Leaders: To Change Your Organization for the Better, You Actually Have to Change
Don’t let your dominant response default you into driving into that wall. Let’s say you’re driving to an important meeting. There are a lot of complex issues to be discussed. Short-term problems. Long-term problems. Your company, no matter what kind of company it is, utilizes an overabundance of processes, even when things are running smoothly. But you have tasks to do, … [Read more...] about Nonprofit Arts Leaders: To Change Your Organization for the Better, You Actually Have to Change
Sometimes There’s a Pretty Good Reason to Swim Upstream
For nonprofit arts organizations, the choice to use the art as a final product is the easiest way to swim downstream. Oh, before I forget. If June 30 is a special date for your company and you need/want/are being forced to raise a bunch of money before then with a big campaign, here’s an email to print out and show your various bosses: Don’t force people to give … [Read more...] about Sometimes There’s a Pretty Good Reason to Swim Upstream
Mission Grammar for Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Flick the Prepositions and Cut the Nonsense
Your community requires “Why,” not “How” – and the slogans have got to go Let’s make this short and impactful. Well, impactful anyway. Get the prepositions, whether they’re attached to a phrase or not, out of your mission statement. And the slogans, too. Not only are they unnecessary, but more than that, these words set up your nonprofit arts organization for … [Read more...] about Mission Grammar for Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Flick the Prepositions and Cut the Nonsense
For Live, Functioning Artists, The End Comes Not With a Bang, But an Email
In the never-ending, fruitless search for economy, actors are being replaced by algorithms The “race to the bottom” in today’s economy is well-documented. It has always been well-documented, railed against, and ultimately won the day. From the obscenity of 400 years of enslaving Black people to prop up a weak economy in the United States to a smaller vulgarity of … [Read more...] about For Live, Functioning Artists, The End Comes Not With a Bang, But an Email