I’m sure it’s disrespectful and heretical in a thousand different ways, but I’m still rather fond of this counterfeit art competition with the following rules: You will take any famous painting or artwork (any period is fine) and alter it in such a way that it is obviously a forgery, as in the themepost. As […]

Last month, I was invited to speak to a group of science outreach folks on my campus about cultural facility development, and the many sandtraps and surprises we’ve discovered in the arts. There is a ”new constellation” of science facilities currently opening or under construction at UW-Madison, and this group is working to understand how […]

A web discussion at SocialEdge, a program of Skoll Foundation, is exploring the idea of strategic storytelling — or the promise and challenge of creating more compelling narratives about our work. While all agree that narrative is a powerful force in conveying purpose and meaning, it also has a controlling side that should lead us […]

Since metrics are the mantra of public education these days (No Statistic Left Behind), it’s been difficult for arts education to maintain a stake in the larger conversation. Without hard numbers about the current state of arts education, neither policy-makers nor parents could argue in anything but vague and emotional terms. Thanks to an astounding […]

In the quest to define and advance ”scientific literacy,” SEED Magazine has hosted an essay contest for the best answer to the question: ”What does it mean to be scientifically literate in the 21st Century?” Both the first and second place winners are worth a read. Both have relevance for leaders in the arts. In […]

This week’s weblog conversations about intelligence, authenticity, and evolution found a fitting closure in the YouTube video featured on ArtsJournal.com yesterday. The overview of Theo Jansen and his extraordinary work with kinetic sculpture and hand-crafted biology is just the thing to remind us about the energy, insight, and mind-transformation our colleagues in the arts can […]

I’m slogging my way through the fascinating economics book Culture and Prosperity by John Kay (known as The Truth About Markets in its original UK release). Kay offers a thoughtful and detailed overview of how markets work, or don’t work, and how economists have succeeded and failed at describing that functionality over time. He’s also […]

I know that a weblog post on a four-month-old article may be equivalent to a baker’s “day-old bread” bin. But if the bread still feeds a hunger, I figure it’s worth the offense. And Bill Breen’s article on authenticity from Fast Company has lots of caloric value for arts and cultural managers, even if it […]

David Brooks has a great Op-Ed in the New York Times (requires subscription, probably) on the diminishing influence of I.Q. as a measure of intelligence. While the conception of the intelligence quotient had some basis in observable fact, Brooks suggests that it was always a bit inelegant and opaque in describing such a complex characteristic. […]

The CEOs for Cities blog flags a growing question in community redevelopment: Is our common wisdom about revitalizing lagging cities actually true? The entry builds on this article in the Boston Globe, questioning the perceived success of Lowell, Massachusetts, which has long been a model for other efforts nationwide. Says the Globe: On key economic […]