{"id":1728,"date":"2026-03-12T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2026-03-04T05:26:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T05:26:39","slug":"youre-not-still-planning-an-arts-season-from-your-perspective-are-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2026\/03\/12\/youre-not-still-planning-an-arts-season-from-your-perspective-are-you\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019re Not Still Planning an Arts Season From YOUR Perspective, Are You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you still looking at plays and symphonies and exhibits as your starting point? A reasonable approach in 1976. Big mistake in 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Time is the most important variable to action. This is not the time to lazily repeat your routine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

As an arts leader, one running an arts organization, how do you start putting together your season? It\u2019s March, after all, and your marketing people want you to have something to tell the press shortly, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you do what leaders have done (and been taught to do) for decades: dream up a season that fulfills your needs to be popular and at the same time, scratches your itch to be artistic? Is that where you start? You start by planning your art based on your vision?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s 2026, folks, and no one\u2019s buying what you want<\/em> anymore. They\u2019re buying what they need<\/em>. And if you\u2019re a nonprofit<\/em> arts organization, you have no business \u201cleading the audience\u201d (a hackneyed phrase) by so-called \u201ccurating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(For-profit arts organization? Do whatever you want, as long as the money pays the investors.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, if you\u2019re not asking your community leaders what they need <\/em>before you do any kind of artistic planning, you\u2019re just as toxic and elitist as your worst donors and board members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Only the one toxic elitist in the front cares about what you want. And she’s not all that thrilled, either.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t hope for change in the results of your work if you approach it the same way every year. If you\u2019re just sending last year\u2019s budgets out to your department heads (for a large or medium-sized organization) or doing the whole thing yourself to save time and eliminate buy-in, you will almost certainly fail in today\u2019s world of nonprofit arts organizations that choose to serve their community first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Sinek famously wrote Leaders Eat Last<\/a>. <\/em>In describing the book to others, his website uses this description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

For a company to be successful, its leaders need to understand the true purpose of their organization, and use that purpose as a northstar not only in how they conduct themselves as a business, but also in how they care for those in their charge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Servant leadership is the notion that our anthropological neurochemistry makes it natural for us to protect each other and show empathy, rather than just boss others around because of our social status. In the nonprofit world, that notion extends to the true owners and beneficiaries of the work: the community itself. The community pays the taxes of every nonprofit and has a right to determine (even if they don\u2019t agree with the mission) whether the community is being served. The IRS even defines the kinds of activities it has determined allow that tax exemption<\/a>, as we\u2019ve quoted numerous times in this column (and which you can read for yourself if you click the previous link).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community, then, is the owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who the hell does business without asking the owner what they need first?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Does this answer the question? (Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because too many arts leaders (those that follow their own, phantasmagorical \u201cartistic vision,\u201d a meaningless, shadowy phrase that should be stricken from every arts leader\u2019s vocabulary) are new to the idea of asking the community what they need, there are some baby steps that can be taken by even the largest of the behemoths out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baby step one<\/strong>: ask the right person in the neighborhood, town, city, or region what they need in order to make things more equitable for all and reduce the physical and mental obstacles that keep their people back. This is not merely asking about what issues to address; it is a call to action to get those issues addressed with your leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baby step two<\/strong>: attack the inequity by partnering with organizations that do just that, finding ways for them to be funded by your work, and determining how you are going to measure success \u2014 not by what you<\/em> did (really, that\u2019s unimportant in the scheme of things), but by what the community<\/em> did in response to your art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baby step three<\/strong>: provide proof, not by your finances or counting audience members or some sort of critical acclaim, but by issuing metrics the world can measure. You can\u2019t measure art (and no one should be asking you to). You can measure impact. Do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you come to terms with the fact that your nonprofit organization\u2019s art is only a catalyst to progress for your community \u2014 and not the actual progress itself \u2014 only then can you begin to put together a season to solve a problem, not merely to sell tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Start with a blank slate and consider what the community needs, not what the artistic leader wants. (Photo by NEOSiAM  2024+ from Pexels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use your board extensively to discover your community\u2019s needs. If they\u2019re only connected to your organization because of the money that they provide, you\u2019ve got a rotten board. Similarly, if they\u2019re connected even though they can provide little money, you\u2019ve got a rotten board. These are the people who report directly to the owners of the company. They\u2019re the ones that the community has trusted to do the right things, not the pretty or artistically satisfying things. The community wants your nonprofit to succeed, just like they want all the nonprofits to succeed. They have a financial stake in your impact. Show them you care about their health and wellbeing first and foremost in tangible ways (especially to hard-pressed beneficiaries), and the community will thank you with support instead of crumpling up paper and throwing it at you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Scene<\/a>
If you want your nonprofit arts organization to thrive, just pick up this inexpensive trilogy. If not, I can let you know how to throw “Going Out Of Business” sales.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Thank you so much for reading all the way to the bottom. That takes a lot of patience. If you like what you read, would you please consider contributing to the coffee fund by clicking on the cup above these words? Or better, if you’re in Seattle, let’s have a cup together. My treat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you still looking at plays and symphonies and exhibits as your starting point? A reasonable approach in 1976. Big mistake in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,20,22,100,32,29,25,28,23,24,19,18,17,99],"tags":[57,85,10,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-1728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-culture","8":"category-board-of-directors","9":"category-board-of-trustees","10":"category-book-recommendation","11":"category-charity","12":"category-dei","13":"category-development-and-fundraising","14":"category-diversity-equity-inclusion","15":"category-executive-director","16":"category-freedom-of-speech","17":"category-leadership","18":"category-nonprofit","19":"category-nonprofit-arts-organizations","20":"category-scene-change","21":"tag-budgeting","22":"tag-community","23":"tag-impact","24":"tag-nonprofit-management","25":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Crazy-Clock.jpg?fit=1200%2C717&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1647,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2026\/02\/26\/short-and-sweet-teachers-that-teach-teachers-that-educate-arts-nonprofits-that-produce-arts-nonprofits-that-are-worth-a-donation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1728,"position":0},"title":"Short and Sweet: Teachers : Educators :: Arts Organizations : Nonprofit Arts Organizations That Deserve Donations","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"February 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Back to the basics, because the message is only going so far. 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