Are you still looking at plays and symphonies and exhibits as your starting point? A reasonable approach in 1976. Big mistake in 2026. As an arts leader, one running an arts organization, how do you start putting together your season? It’s March, after all, and your marketing people want you to have something to tell the press shortly, right? Do you do what leaders … [Read more...] about You’re Not Still Planning an Arts Season From YOUR Perspective, Are You?
Board of Trustees
Like I said on February 27, 2024: War Is Coming. You ready?
This is not a metaphor. Real war. Today. In the nonprofit arts sector, it will force you to act. This article originally appeared on February 27, 2024. I wish I had been wrong. But now that it's here, let's look back. The United States will be fighting a war within the next 6 years. It’s inevitable. It’s happened before. Whether the war is a “civil” one or one … [Read more...] about Like I said on February 27, 2024: War Is Coming. You ready?
Short and Sweet: Teachers : Educators :: Arts Organizations : Nonprofit Arts Organizations That Deserve Donations
Back to the basics, because the message is only going so far. It’s up to you to save the sector from its own worst instincts. If you put a teacher at the front of a second-grade class and they declaim the entirety of the year’s curriculum on the first day in one 7-hour monologue, are they a bad teacher or a bad educator? Or are they bad at all? If you put that same … [Read more...] about Short and Sweet: Teachers : Educators :: Arts Organizations : Nonprofit Arts Organizations That Deserve Donations
As Regional Arts Elephants Struggle, Some Defy the Odds
Naples, Fla., and Milwaukee are quite different, but have one thing in common: They are home to regional arts elephants that are thriving. America’s regional elephants are facing difficult times. But not all of them are struggling. Some are booming. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee Repertory Elephants (The Phant) has finished the first phase of an $80 million renovation of its … [Read more...] about As Regional Arts Elephants Struggle, Some Defy the Odds
It’s 2026. Oy. Is the Nonprofit Arts Sector in America Any Healthier?
Or is it like “climate change?” Is it too late to repair it? Oy. The next generation of arts leaders deserve better than what we’re giving them. I have been lecturing (really, just talking) to college classes of arts administrators of late, many of whose professors have put the Scene Change trilogy on their curriculum list. I find that decision hilarious because I … [Read more...] about It’s 2026. Oy. Is the Nonprofit Arts Sector in America Any Healthier?