I’m in Maine at the moment, preparing for a week-long visit to Colby College to think about and talk about audiences and the arts. At conferences and other arts conversations, there’s certainly a lot of talk about how audiences are changing. The assumed contract between artist, audience, and community seems under renegotiation — pushed in […]

I’ll be in Waterville, Maine, most of next week, in residency (kinda) at Colby College, discussing issues of art, audience, and business with students, faculty, and cultural leaders. Should be an interesting visit, graciously hosted by the fabulous Lynne Conner, who’s research on the history of audience behavior has opened wonderful conversations from coast to […]

Social anthropologist and ”chief culture officer” Grant McCracken has some great thoughts bubbling in his recent blog posts. He’s wondering out loud about finding ways to capture and share the narratives and histories of the objects we wear, use, and pass along. His most recent post wonders if attaching such stories would make recycling and […]

I’m pleased to notice a new blogger among the ArtsJournal crew, James Undercofler, who recently joined the faculty at Drexel University’s Arts Administration program after an illustrious career in symphonies, conservatories, and cultural nonprofits. His State of the Art blog will focus on the particular challenges of the nonprofit structure in supporting and advancing artistic […]

I’ll be blogging elsewhere on ArtsJournal this week, as part of the ”Expressive Life” week-long blog discussion convened by Bill Ivey and featuring a ragtag bunch of big thinkers. Since his work as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Bill had been increasingly frustrated with the public and policy discourse about arts and […]

One of the more metaphorical moments of my two-performing-arts-conference visit to New York City this month is captured in this photo. I took it in the Times Center during the first day of the International Society for the Performing Arts congress after several days at the Arts Presenters conference. The symbolism? Something’s broken in the […]

The folks at the Fine Arts Fund in Cincinnati were clearly getting tired of the standard public conversation about arts and culture, particularly as it relates to the public responsibility to support the arts. So, they decided to look deeply, listen deeply, and reframe the way they were going to talk about it. Better yet, […]

The rhetorical power of similes lives in their connection of dissimilar things (through ‘like’ or ‘as’…remember your grade school grammar?). They infuse meaning and nuance into a conversation or communication by changing our frame of reference in intriguing and surprising ways. For example, when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes ”Holmes looked at him thoughtfully like […]

Sorry to all who keep coming back to the blog or checking your feeds. My New York trip was busier than expected, and the arrival home found many projects waiting eagerly. I’ll work to get back to the blogging next week. Lots to explore from my experiences in the big city.

I’m traveling to New York tonight to participate in both the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference and the International Society for the Performing Arts conference. Both promise different perspectives on the state of the live performing arts. And both offer the glorious opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends from around the world. A […]