Did you ever get the feeling that everyone around you is showing a version of themselves, but not their whole self? Did you start to believe that you could see this performance game in your friends and family, and that you actually knew the real self they were trying to obscure? You might even believe […]

In the endless search for evocative metaphors for business management, arts organizations seem to provide popular fodder. Way back in the olden days, the orchestra was promoted as a symbol of effective management — with expert practitioners coordinated through ensemble culture and the gentle waving of a conductor’s baton. Then, a decade or two ago, […]

I’m thrilled to point you to a new blog in the ArtsJournal firmament, written by friend and colleague Doug Borwick. Engaging Matters is an online expression of Doug’s passion for and promotion of more-connected arts organizations — organizations that are deeply entangled with the daily lives of their neighborhoods and their neighbors. Says he in […]

Thanks for the great comments, tweets, and e-mails about yesterday’s post. It sounds like the idea of modular job descriptions for small arts organizations struck a chord among those who work in such environments, and/or design and develop HR strategy for them. A few “bonus edition” ideas evolved from the initial idea of individual cards […]

My (semi-serious) proposed alternative to full-length job descriptions at small to midsize arts organizations.

Since the universe for arts and cultural enterprise is evolving quickly these days, and since I happen to run an MBA degree program that claims to prepare high-performing leaders for that universe, I spend an unreasonable amount of time trying to define what I do for a living, and how I do it. That effort […]

For those looking for ACTUAL examples of nonprofit collaboration, rather than treatises or foundation edicts on how they should work, the Foundation Center now offers a helpful database of nonprofit collaboration projects, drawn from the applicants to the Collaboration Prize (data drawn from The Lodestar Foundation). The database isn’t exclusive to arts and culture, although there […]

I haven’t been posting much this summer, and likely will continue that way. Too much rethinking and reframing of my day job to be done. I’ll be back with fresh tidbits in August. Until then, happy hot days.

National Arts Strategies has long been in the business of building capacity for arts organizations and cultural leaders. In the olden days, as the National Arts Stabilization Fund, the organization did so through rigorous financial goal-setting and incentives for entire communities of organizations. In its past decade, the organization has emphasized professional education through immersive […]