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
Executive Director
Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Water Is Wet. And Cultural Crossover Doesn’t Work Unless You Center Your Full-Time Intent Downstage of the Footlights.
Incidentally, it’s my birthday today. So, hey – I have the perfect gift all figured out. Just click on any image you see… You had a nifty idea. Combine hip-hop with one show this season. Then they’ll subscribe to your theater, symphony, or ballet forever more. Neato. Nifty ideas that come from a place of desperation and vainglory never turn out very well. I know. … [Read more...] about Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Water Is Wet. And Cultural Crossover Doesn’t Work Unless You Center Your Full-Time Intent Downstage of the Footlights.
Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part Two)
A two-part column about you, your nonprofit arts company, and the power of your choices (Continued from last week) Last week, we talked about people-pleasing. I urge you to read that piece before this one. Among the two choices we utilize as humans in unconscious reaction to dissonance, attack, or unreasonable pressure is the idea of “fight.” If you’re on the job, … [Read more...] about Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part Two)
Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part One)
A two-part column about you, your nonprofit arts company, and the power of your choices In these heady days where the mere act of watching RuPaul’s Drag Race self-qualifies you as an expert on the LGBT community (it doesn’t), where putting a “We support the Black Community” manifesto on your arts organization’s website self-qualifies you as an equity activist (it doesn’t), … [Read more...] about Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part One)
The Con Is On – Raising Emergency Money at the Expense of Everyone Else Is Not a Heroic Act
Especially when you leave the premises just before the devastation and claim victory I can’t believe that this is not only still happening, but that you’re allowing it to happen. The San Francisco Bay area is geographically and demographically large. Stretching across nine counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and … [Read more...] about The Con Is On – Raising Emergency Money at the Expense of Everyone Else Is Not a Heroic Act