It was a gloomy day for staff and leadership at the Overture Center for the Arts yesterday, as they sought to hack large chunks out of their 2009 budget by cutting 25 percent of the ”authorized” workforce (leaving four vacant jobs vacant, and eliminating 11 others). Probably not the first or the last significant arts […]
The distributed symphony
The blogosphere is bubbling with discussion of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra project, announced earlier this week, which offers opportunity for on-line video auditions, inclusion in a media mash-up of a new work by Tan Dun, and the prospect of performing the work live in Carnegie Hall in April 2009 under the baton of Michael Tilson […]
Defining the goal, defending the essential
During the recent conference in Dublin, there was an odd silence in the room when one of the closing plenary participants asked about policy (it was Emily, actually), and how the changing landscape of new technology and new audiences might inform future policy for the two major forces sitting next to me on the panel […]
Stuff I said in Dublin
I’m back from my fantastic conference experience in Dublin, full of new insights and fresh questions about cultural policy — over there and over here. And spinning with possibilities to advance the hopes and goals of the Irish arts ecology, even in the devastating economy to come. But in the meanwhile, I wanted to share […]
The Metaphors We Manage By
I’m in Dublin Castle at the moment, diving into a day-long conference on new technology and new audiences. Early on should be an interesting debate/discussion between Charles Leadbeater (he of ”we think” and the transformative power of collaborative expression) and Andrew Keen (he of ”cult of the amateur” and the negative impact of such expression […]
Guinness and whisky, but first a little snooze
Just arrived in Dublin in preparation for a conference tomorrow. My blogging activity will be entirely dependent on my wireless access, my sleep patterns, and my consumption of various local spirits.
Wanna get to Carnegie Hall? Got 10,000 hours?
Malcolm Gladwell has yet another book, this time on Outliers, the men and women whose success or abilities lie well beyond the norm. In an excerpt published in The Guardian, he suggests that one indicator seems common to all such extraordinary people — practice. He points to research and case studies that talented people become […]
Enabling and rewarding your critics
There’s more and more conversation out there (at least that I’m hearing) about embracing and enabling audience members to connect around your content and contribute their own perspectives. Whether through discussion circles, on-line forums, or post-event coffee hours, the larger idea for arts organizations is that their job is to build community around content, rather […]
Shacking up
Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones explores an increasingly common consideration for facility-dependent arts groups in a down economy: sharing space instead of building or owning their own. Says Jones: Given the economic downturn, sharing of space may turn out to the new paradigm for Chicago cultural institutions. But even though the benefits of splitting costs, […]
Learning to speak and listen…
I spent this past Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia with my fellow members of the Association of Arts Administration Educators board, of which I’m currently president. It’s a group of some of the smartest, funniest, and warmest folks you’re likely to meet…all earnestly committed to advancing the field by preparing extraordinary leaders for it. Our […]
