The two recent evaluation reports of the Smithsonian Institution are not the best way for the organization to enter its budget review process with the federal government. The New York Times reports (Washington Post as well) on the independent committee’s discoveries about the worklife of former chief executive, Lawrence M. Small: From 2000 to 2006, […]

The digital age has thrown all sorts of complexity into media transactions — the purchase, license, transfer, or permission to experience recorded audio or video works. This fabulous label from an early recording shows that the issue is nothing new (found on this blog entry through BoingBoing). Even back 1906, record companies were pushing the […]

While we’re all well-versed in the positive impact the live arts have on communities, families, and individuals, a new trend is suggesting at least one way that arts organizations should reduce a different kind of impact: the environmental impact of live events. Back in March, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced its initiative […]

Lots of juicy conversation is now going on in a special weblog on ArtsJournal called Engaging Art. The blog is a pre-conference conversation leading up to the American Symphony Orchestra League’s convening in Nashville next week. The conversation circles around a new book on the past, present, and future of cultural audiences, and the challenges […]

There are some wonderful and thoughtful comments now attached to my post last week about the amateur arts. Many seek to define the difference between amateur and professional, with the usual indicators in the mix: paid vs. unpaid, skilled vs. less skilled, creating for the audience vs. creating for the self. These would be clean […]

I was thrilled to see the launch of a new ArtsJournal weblog with a subject near to my heart. Flyover provides a space for four arts journalists working between the coasts and away from the major metropolitan areas of the U.S. (the folks in the ”flyover” states) to express themselves, and explore the unique challenges […]

John von Rhein offers a lovely little essay in the Chicago Tribune about the strange disdain the professional cultural world has for ”amateurs.” These are people who play for the love of the music, he says, adding the barb: ”How many ‘professional’ musicians truly delight in the music they are paid to produce?” Well, a […]

Trendwatching.com has yet another useful trend to watch in their report on ”(Still) Made Here.” In brief: ”(STILL) MADE HERE encompasses new and enduring manufacturers and purveyors of the local. In a world that is seemingly ruled by globalization, mass production and ‘cheapest of the cheapest,’ a growing number of consumers are seeking out the […]

Does business practice transform artistic expression? Theater maven and Second City co-founder Bernie Sahlins thinks so, and explains how in his brilliant keynote speech now available on-line. The speech was a highlight of the annual conference last week of my colleagues in the Association of Arts Administration Educators. And it captures the elegant interplay of […]

Here’s a final question from my series on The Getty Center convening on leisure trends and cultural organizations: Does the knowledge of dramatic shifts in the lives of your community require you to change what you do? It sounds like an obvious and leading question — of course you do, duh. But I’m not sure […]