Please let me invite you to visit the new and just-launched website of my company, Audience Avenue: www.AudienceAvenue.com. If your priority is audience-building, then you'll be happy to find a central location for new ideas, practical applications, important resources and the connection of similarly interested people from throughout the arts & cultural sector. In my hopes & dreams, this is the first step toward the idea of a Massive … [Read more...]
Resolutions for a Happy New (Fiscal) Year!
"White. A blank page of canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities." The very last line of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George expresses the kind of optimism that deservedly arrives with the start of every new project & every new year, even a new fiscal year. A fresh start. A clean slate. Square one. Tabula Rasa A New Beginning There may be nothing more empowering to the human mind than the chance to start … [Read more...]
Nonprofit Organizations Need a Black Box
Onerous headlines in Phoenix and Tucson this week as Arizona Theatre Company, the only resident company in the US that serves as a two-city operation, is reportedly ending its current fiscal year with a $1 million deficit. I have nothing but respect and compassion for the management & Board of my state's preeminent professional theatre company. I remain hopeful and confident that they will work hard to restore the organization's financial … [Read more...]
Silly Little Mistakes
"Silly little mistakes add up." When our kids were in grade school, that's how my wife and I impressed upon them the need to double (and triple) check their tests and school assignments before submitting them. Silly little mistakes reveal gaps in our thoughtfulness. They are places where we give back points for no purposeful reason. Each is (at best) a nugget of carelessness and (at worst) an unconditional moment of surrender. Over … [Read more...]
Please Sir, I want some more… Budget
Moooooore? You want more? Let's face it, there are moments when the typical nonprofit budget process can descend to Dickensian depths of oppressiveness, misery and hopelessness. So let's take a moment to dream up a DIFFERENT story ... something joyous ... one in which all of the other parameters of your organization's budget remain the stable, AND... The reply to your request is, "Why, yes! Gladly. Here you go! Here's an increase to … [Read more...]
The Rising Ick Factor
This really isn't news: That credit bureaus monitor our actions and marketing agencies score our consumer propensities is well known. That we routinely sign-up for mailing lists and make all sorts of on-line purchases without bothering to even read the privacy policy, is commonly accepted. That Facebook, Google, Amazon and who-knows-how-many other on-line systems track our clicks, preferences and patterns to deliver fundamental parts … [Read more...]
Be More Entrepreneurial
In a recent post, I wrote, "Stakeholders are demanding that non-profit arts & cultural organizations “be more entrepreneurial” – which is, too often, code for, “figure out a way to operate in which you don’t have to keep asking us for money." Literally, of course, that would be the uncharitable meaning of the phrase. Today, let's try for a more charitable interpretation. Suppose that such stakeholders are simply pointing out the … [Read more...]
Massive On-Line Library of Arts Marketing Resources
You'll never have to start "from scratch" again. Have you heard of the massive on-line library that collects, evaluates, catalogs and shares high-quality/non-proprietary work samples among nonprofit arts & cultural organizations? Recognizing that 1) so many of the administrative, marketing and fundraising staff of arts & cultural organizations arrive at their positions from OUTSIDE the sector and without any specific arts & … [Read more...]
Jeff Williamson: Sustainability Through Adaptation
Jeff Williamson has been one of the most successful and thoughtful leaders of the Greater Phoenix arts & cultural community for as long as I've been working in the field. A life-long conservationist, Jeff grew up on farms and spent his career trying to integrate the interests of people and nature. He was appointed CEO/President of the Phoenix Zoo in August 1996 - and President of the Arizona Zoological Society in 2007. In 2011 he was named … [Read more...]
Who is your “Chief Relevance Officer?”
Whose job is "relevance?" Does the word appear in any job title on your company's organization chart? Does the word even appear in the job description of any position in your organization? Will you argue that "relevance" is the obvious province of your organization's artistic director or curator since it is they who are responsible for interpreting and advancing your organization's artistic mission? With all due respect to artistic … [Read more...]