In mid-November I had the pleasure of presenting two workshops for Illinois' Local Arts Network, an organization of local arts agencies supported by the Illinois Arts Council and Arts Alliance Illinois. These two gigs, in Oak Park and Peoria, were the shakedown cruise on a new workshop, "Mainstreaming Engagement," designed to provide artists and arts organization a chance to think through how a systemic approach to community engagement would … [Read more...]
What Is the Arts Business?
The problem with unconscious assumptions is that they are . . . unconscious. Even for me, spending time as I do questioning the status quo in the arts, the basic nature of the arts enterprise–deeper even than the "business model"–often remains unexplored. But the arguments for and against community engagement inevitably have at their root this fundamental question. What is the arts business? Individual or Community Resource? A good (and … [Read more...]
Well Rounded Organizations
A recent NY Times Sunday Magazine featured an article about child prodigies, musical and otherwise. In it there was a discussion of well-roundedness (or the lack thereof) of extremely gifted young people. The author, Andrew Solomon, says in the article, "Musicians often talked to me about whether you achieve brilliance on the violin by practicing for hours every day or by reading Shakespeare, learning physics, and falling in love. 'Maturity in … [Read more...]
When You Care Enough to Argue
Several months ago at a conference (I honestly cannot remember which one) I overheard a disagreement about the best approach for an arts organization to take in engaging with their community. Was it better to begin with the things that the arts organization does well or with the things that the community most needs done? Despite my guilt at being an eavesdropper, I was nearly overwhelmed by the conversation. First, there were two people who … [Read more...]
Brilliant Advice
I recently returned from the National Arts Marketing Project Conference in Charlotte where I led a roundtable on mainstreaming engagement (pursuing all organizational systems from a community engagement perspective) and had a book signing. I had been concerned that I might feel like a fish out of water. (A pre-conference session was entitled "Monetizing Engagement" for heaven's sake!) On the whole I felt it was a worthwhile trip for me and I … [Read more...]
Bright Spots
I wish I had written that. That's exactly the way I felt when I finished reading Alexis Frasz' and Holly Sidford's report for The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation: Bright Spots Leadership in the Pacific Northwest. (Ms. Sidford was also the author the report, Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change for the Committee for Responsive Philanthropy that highlighted the "shocking" news that most arts funding went to wealthy organizations.) But, not … [Read more...]
Public Benefit
Public benefit (or one of many closely related concepts) is becoming an increasingly important element in rating grant applications and in assessing the value of arts organizations to their communities. As I discovered in my recent work on a grant review panel for Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, there needs to be much more discussion of and, eventually, agreement about what this means. This is far too big a topic to be addressed in one or even … [Read more...]
Engaging with Palestrina
So, I was sitting there, behaving (as well as I generally can), when a sentence leapt out of my mouth unbidden. The occasion was a grant review panel, the subject was a chamber choir requesting funds to present a concert of music by Palestrina, and the precipitating topic was a discussion of the group’s response to the question about the public benefit of the activity. As is typical (and totally understandable given the state of the arts industry … [Read more...]
Humilité
When I was a kid, I adored Camelot. There, I've said it out loud. (Well, to be more accurate, publicly.) There were many moments I loved. I'm only going to mention one here. When Lancelot is introduced he goes on at great length about how perfect he is for the Round Table. A knight of the Table Round should be invincible,/Succeed where a less fantastic man would fail./Climb a wall no one else can climb,/Cleave a dragon in record time,/Swim a … [Read more...]
100 Grants
During my one week home in October I had two grant review gigs to complete. One was for the Connecticut Office of the Arts, the other for the Cuyahoga (think Cleveland) Arts Council. My job was to review a bit over 100 grant applications. My role was to represent an "arts and community engagement" point of view. It was a learning experience. First, it's heartening that arts funding agencies are taking the public seriously. In Connecticut, … [Read more...]