RAND has a new report out on the structure and dynamics of the visual arts — a sister work to their 2001 exploration of the performing arts and their 2002 treatise on the media arts. All three are available for purchase or free download from the RAND web site. Like the previous works, A Portrait […]
The future of philanthropy
There’s a world of wonderful things in this new website and its corresponding report on The Future of Philanthropy. Thanks to the good folks at the Monitor Institute and their über-think-tank, the Global Business Network, we’ve got a full-fledged exploration of the dynamic forces shaping philanthropic efforts over the next decades. Better yet, the extraordinarily […]
Gifts of the Muse
In February 2005, the Wallace Foundation released its long-awaited report (at least, long-awaited by me), Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts. The 100-plus page study takes a hard look at all the benefits we claim for the arts — economic, social, educational, therapeutic, etc. — and works to […]
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
A rather bold attempt to capture the core canon of cultural knowledge required of an advanced American citizen. With section entries from The Bible to mythology to the fine arts, the reference could be the pocket guide for the culturally informed (although with 6900 entries, you’d have to have a wonking big pocket).
Roller Coaster Tycoon
A computer game that can simulate decision-making for the arts and cultural manager? Sure. Okay, you’re managing a theme park instead of a performing arts hall, but the experience is eerily similar.
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
Steven Johnson has a way with complex subjects, which he proves again in this fascinating book on the pattern-forming behaviors of complex systems (like ant colonies, cities, artificial intelligence software, mold spores, and other fun stuff). Believe it or not, it’s all directly relevant to the manager of arts and culture.
Big Night
In the guise of a story about an Italian family restaurant in 1950s New Jersey comes the best movie yet about arts and cultural management.
Sunday in the Park with George
Stephen Sondheim’s 1984 musical based (very) loosely on the life and work of impressionist painter Georges Seurat. The themes suggest that while great art can help us see new connections, great artists are often disconnected from their worlds and their work by the process of it.
Art as Experience
John Dewey’s astounding lecture series from 1932 on the nature of art. By no means an easy read, but jam-packed with the building blocks of the truly artful manager.
Is Art Good for Us?
Joli Jensen takes on a stubborn myth about the arts in American culture: that they make people and communities better. Jensen builds from a full range of authors, from Tocqueville to John Dewey, and maps out the history of this persistent belief in an effort to smash it apart.
