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Marvin Curtis talks about the extraordinary documentary, The Invisible Player

Marvin Curtis, Immediate Past Board Chair of the South Bend Symphony shares the purpose and impact behind the documentary, The Invisible Player.

Not an Arts Impact Statement, But Really Great

In the midst of a lot of other news in his first 8 days in office….funding for child care for all, reactions to tragedy, responding to threats from the federal government, and more, new New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made ‘arts for all’ a priority.  On Friday, he joined with the producers of the

John Luther Adams on “Why I Moved from the US to Australia”

A couple of my recent blogs – here and here — have saluted John Luther Adams as “among the most esteemed present-day American composers for orchestra. . . . Encountering Adams’s Become Ocean on a 21st-century symphonic program is so fundamentally enthralling that it risks cliché. It is the proverbial oasis in the

An AI “Digital Twin” for the Performing Arts

In the evolving world of AI, marketing is moving from getting messages out to engaging in dialog with the consumer. Messages get lost in the Sea of Messages. Persuasion asks what you're interested in first and engages you in opportunities.

Thoughts While Not Thinking

Stealthy quantum words phantoms of expectation and suicides of time riddle us with springs and traps.

“Ur Kind of Music?”

I cannot think of a better conversationalist about music, and about the state of things musical today, than the conductor Kenneth Woods. Ken is an American based in the UK, where he conducts the English Symphony Orchestra in Worcester and resides in Wales. He programs bravely and insightfully. He presides

Was Sid Caesar’s Cancellation a Media Parable for Today?

It must mean a lot that I can remember watching Sid Caesar’s “Show of Shows” on TV with my parents as a young child. For one thing, I don’t recall watching anything else as a family. For another, Caesar’s “Show of Shows” went off the air in 1954 and I

Cut Paste Print A History of Political Photomontage in the 20th Century

This blogpost cannot adequately display the exhaustive content and brilliant design of "Couper, Coller, Imprimer," the richly illustrated catalogue of an extraordinary photomontage exhibition at La Contemporaine in Nantes, France (running through March 14). Even so, it is hoped that this limited attempt evokes the broad historical spirit of the

It’s 2026. Oy. Is the Nonprofit Arts Sector in America Any Healthier?

Now that it’s 2026, the public expects its charities to be charitable — including your theater, opera, ballet, museum, and symphony.

Concessions prices: there oughtta be a law?

A reader, Kevin, asks if I had seen this new report by Brian Shearer at Vanderbilt University on legal remedies for high prices charged by different sorts of firms (airports, hospitals, car dealerships, etc) on “captive” consumers. I had not. I am no lawyer, and so I cannot speak to the various

The Great Renegotiation: Five Ideas about where Culture is going in 2026

If 2025 is the year that 20th Century culture models stopped working, 2026 is the year we turn to building something new.

Adrian Rodriguez talks about how to be committed to young people as they develop in the arts

Adrian Rodriguez, Director of Community Engagement, Chorus Director and Curriculum Manager of the Music Advancement Program at The Juilliard School, shares how to implement a commitment to young people as they develop in the arts.

Five Year-end Observations about the state of Arts and Culture in 2025

We posted more than 6,000 stories across all forms of culture in 2025. When you pull back and look at them in aggregate, the individual crises—the closures in San Francisco, the lawsuits in D.C., the endless op-eds about the "death of cinema"—stop looking like isolated incidents. They resolve into a

“SCENE CHANGE 3” Just Named to Kirkus Reviews’ “25 Best Indies of 2025!”

If you're serious about succeeding as a nonprofit arts organization, you're going to want to pick up the trilogy at your favorite bookstore.

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