{"id":1782,"date":"2026-04-02T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=1782"},"modified":"2026-02-22T06:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T06:07:42","slug":"doing-the-right-thing-with-nonprofit-arts-organizations-like-walking-in-high-heels-through-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2026\/04\/02\/doing-the-right-thing-with-nonprofit-arts-organizations-like-walking-in-high-heels-through-meat\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing the Right Thing With Nonprofit Arts Organizations: \u201cLike Walking in High Heels Through Meat\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What do you do when you have the answer, an answer that\u2019s proven, and it doesn\u2019t gibe with institutional, failing inertia?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A good way to wreck an ankle and a snazzy pair of stilettos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Some procrastinators don\u2019t know that they procrastinate. Some do, and use it to wield power within their systems. Little Donny Dingdong, convicted of 34 felonies so far, vacillates between quick action (when he wants money or paranoically wreaks vengeance against his \u201cenemies\u201d) and delay (when he owes money or is avoiding jail time), which just adds to his batshite crazy reputation, never paying his employees or contractors, and overall litigious, criminal business management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And some procrastinators are nonprofit arts leaders. Department heads and board members are always at a loss to explain why decisions are so late in coming, why the budgets include putting a hammerlock on the department heads responsible for revenues into agreeing to increases based on nothing while production heads are dumpster diving to save money for the next twenty-three person event in order to keep the expenditures down to basically nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
An executive director calculating how late the approval for the poster will be.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

I know how this works. Been there. I\u2019ve been on all sides of these negotiations. These are the discussions that kill morale and organizational functionality, all for the sake of a balanced budget for the board to approve. The board, of course, never reads the budget until the day of the board meeting so they can play the agonizing, ulcer-inducing game show, \u201cPick Your Favorite Line Item,\u201d where the discussion surrounding \u201cDepreciation\u201d takes 45 minutes every single year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussing budgets is not in itself self-destructive. What is <\/em>self-destructive is the lack of discussion, either in the budgets or in the executive director\u2019s report to the board, of the metrics that show that the company\u2019s charitable goals will be met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or even that there are any charitable goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you can\u2019t wholly blame the executive director; they are rarely asked for that information by the board. Instead, the board is completely devoted to the financial bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, most board members don\u2019t even know how to broach the subject of charitable impact<\/a>, especially when they are brought onto the board by those who don\u2019t care or don\u2019t feel that they are on the board of a charitable organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, in 2026, this is not merely about nonprofit arts organizations abdicating their duties as charities to fulfill the stated needs of their communities. That\u2019s been going on for a while now. The difference is that while the attention to charity has evolved, the nonprofit arts behemoth class has not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
If you remember nothing else, remember this. It’s 2026 and the whole industry has changed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

Let\u2019s look at Pennsylvania as an example. On February 17, Peter Crimmins of WHYY<\/a> (Philadelphia) reported that \u201cthe Pennsylvania Council on the Arts has shifted funding guidelines toward economic development.\u201d Read the whole article by clicking on Peter Crimmins name if you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arts funding from the state of Pennsylvania is changing, which could make some artists and arts organizations ineligible for grant funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is rebranding its granting operation as a new entity called Pennsylvania Creative Industries. The new granting guidelines are in line with a new strategic plan that leans more heavily into creative entrepreneurship and economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe identified five key areas that we would be investing in, including asset development, workforce development, community development, visibility and policy,\u201d said Karl Blischke, executive director of Pennsylvania Creative Industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pennsylvania, the fifth largest state in the country, a state of over 13 million people, with an annual budget of $50.1 billion (with a \u201cb\u201d), will be spending less than $10 million in arts grants in 2026. Appropriately, arts leaders are freaking out over the lack of attention and appreciation for the arts from this new state initiative. \u201cIn the Philadelphia region, about 60% of small arts organizations that had benefitted from small state grants will no longer be eligible, according to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. In York County, that number rises to 80%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a big issue involved in Pennsylvania that has caused this ruckus. The arts organizations themselves were asked by the state arts people to put their necks on the line and lobby for a larger piece of the state budget, all going toward this new Pennsylvania Creative Industries entity. Now, having received that increase in funding, the agency will no longer be issuing grants to hundreds of arts organizations across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that sucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we lobby for their funding, where\u2019s the transparency in how they\u2019re going to use that funding?\u201d said Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance President and CEO Patricia Aden Wilson. \u201cWhere\u2019s the accountability to their stated mission of empowering the arts and culture community?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could all have been avoided, of course. Had all the nonprofit arts organizations in the state, instead of competing against each other for pennies in grant money, decided instead to solve the most important public welfare issues in the state by using the arts as a tool, donors (including the Pennsylvania Creative Industries agency) would have lined up. And as the communities got less poor, more educated, with less crime, fewer gun murders, and more affordable housing by virtue of the arts teaming up with other social service and social justice organizations to shine a light on solutions, more funding would come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
501(C)(3) arts organizations doing the work of 501(C)(3) organizations? Until recently, well, it was unthinkable.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

In 2026, it\u2019s not a pipe dream. It\u2019s the answer to the longstanding problem: how to make communities feel as though their local (even the largest ones) nonprofit arts organizations care about the issues at hand instead of their own programming. Until now, the organizations have been self-defeating, filled with ridiculous notions such as \u201cartistic vision\u201d and \u201cexcellence\u201d as goals. \u201cArtistic vision\u201d is a useless, self-indulgent idea nowadays and \u201cexcellence,\u201d as we\u2019ve said many times is a baseline, not a goal. No one sets out to do work that isn\u2019t excellent. Not only that, excellence is completely subjective: my \u201cexcellence\u201d may be your \u201cgoat droppings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By concentrating on arts programming instead of arts impact, even in the education departments of these larger operations, many (if not most) nonprofit arts organizations in Pennsylvania and elsewhere have been more occupied in self-destructive, self-sieging campaigns intended to separate them from everyone except the wealthiest White folks in their regions. That includes foundation leaders, even if the humans involved aren\u2019t necessarily White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you battle against yourself, you tend to lose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nonprofit arts organizations are notorious for self-destructive actions. Self-sieging is a regular bloodsport.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Watch this space for a major announcement on May 14.<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
If you want your nonprofit arts organization to thrive, just click on the books (there’s a sale going on at Bookshop.org and you get to choose your own independent bookstore to benefit) and 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

<\/p>\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":"

…while the attention to charity has evolved, the nonprofit arts behemoth class has not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1783,"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":[21,20,22,100,40,32,25,23,24,19,18,17,99],"tags":[85,10,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-1782","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-change","12":"category-charity","13":"category-development-and-fundraising","14":"category-executive-director","15":"category-freedom-of-speech","16":"category-leadership","17":"category-nonprofit","18":"category-nonprofit-arts-organizations","19":"category-scene-change","20":"tag-community","21":"tag-impact","22":"tag-nonprofit-management","23":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Three-women-walking-in-high-heels-through-meat.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1517,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/10\/07\/a-punchy-outspoken-argument-for-how-nonprofit-arts-organizations-should-be-run\/","url_meta":{"origin":1782,"position":0},"title":"“A PUNCHY, OUTSPOKEN ARGUMENT FOR HOW NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD BE RUN.”","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"October 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\"An example-driven new map to success in the realm of nonprofit theater.\" \u2014 Kirkus Reviews.","rel":"","context":"In "Arts and Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Arts and Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/category\/arts-and-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scene Change, Scene Change 2, and Scene Change 3 - 3 books to improve your arts organization","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3-book-titles.jpg?fit=1200%2C606&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3-book-titles.jpg?fit=1200%2C606&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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