The last week or so has seen a number of blog posts from some of my favorite thinkers in the arts addressing Big Questions about arts structures in very serious ways. (The picture is related to this post's title. Not to the bloggers!) I am not going to repeat what they said, but I'd like to highlight the issues they raise. First, Adam Huttler, the Fractured Atlas guru, responded (in Swimming Downstream in the Current of History) to Michael … [Read more...]
First Contact
Several weeks ago at the Association of Arts Administration Educators' Conference in California, I had the pleasure of attending a plenary session/performance by Luis Alfaro. He is a "renowned . . . performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist;" a MacArthur Fellow–a truly brilliant one. But one story he told had a brief phrase that gave me mental whiplash. He was talking about an encounter at a box office he had had and … [Read more...]
The Words We Use
Visitor, audience Customer, consumer These are some of the words that we in the museum and performing arts world use to describe those who take advantage of the work we offer the public. Over the last two months of conference immersion I have been hearing and thinking about all of them a good deal. One thing they have in common, from my point of view, is that they separate us from them. With the first two it is understood that they come to us, … [Read more...]
Art Is Not Fundamental
Now that I have your attention . . . . I have just concluded an eight week marathon attending five conferences across the U.S. and beyond. At each, something leapt out at me for blog posting. (Indeed, I think I milked the American Association of Museums Conference for four entries.) There are still some left to craft and inflict upon you. However, today, the last shall be first. At the Americans for the Arts Conference in San Antonio last … [Read more...]
At Last
At long last, Building Communities, Not Audiences: The Future of the Arts in the United States, is available for purchase. The paperback is available by clicking this link for CreateSpace. (It's also available at Amazon, but my accountant will be happier if you use the CreateSpace link.) The ebook version is available at Kindle. The Nook and iTunes accounts are getting set up and will carry the ebook soon. (Update: iTunes store version should be … [Read more...]
Make Yourself Indispensable
My hometown newspaper, the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal, is one of the papers Media General is selling to Warren Buffett's BH (Berkshire Hathaway) Media Group. There was recently an article in the paper about that sale and Mr. Buffett's communication with the publishers and editors of the papers the Group has purchased. The general take was that the new owners intend to be "hands off" in terms of editorial policy. But there was one sentence in Mr. … [Read more...]
My Excellent Singapore Adventure
Regular readers of this blog know that I do not "journal" here. I attempt to maintain a myopic focus on issues related to the arts and community engagement. Therefore, I had not intended to write about my trip to the other side of the globe. That travel was related to my work as an arts administration educator. I was asked to address the inaugural meeting of the Asia-Pacific Network for Cultural Education and Research. I am, though, virtually … [Read more...]
Signs of Engagement
While I'm on a roll with posts dissecting the meaning and nature of engagement (Engagement Is, Audience Development “vs.” Community Engagement, Audience Engagement-Community Engagement), I've got some more issues to raise (or repeat). I have made much of the fact that substantive community engagement (as opposed to audience engagement) is extremely rare among established arts organizations. In an effort to stave off arguments about that, here are … [Read more...]
Audience Engagement-Community Engagement
[Note to new readers: This is a very old and widely read post. In the interest of providing up-to-date information about thinking on this topic, you can find updated definitions of terminology related to community engagement and related arts management tools on the ArtsEngaged website here.] OK, I lied. I said I wasn't going to post while in Singapore, but I worked on this on the way here and I can't make myself wait. Last week, Karina … [Read more...]
Audience Development “vs.” Community Engagement
[Note to new readers: This is a very old and widely read post. In the interest of providing up-to-date information about thinking on this topic, you can find updated definitions of terminology related to community engagement and related arts management tools on the ArtsEngaged website here.] Earlier (in Engagement Is) I introduced a chart I ran across last month at the American Association of Museums conference, prepared by Candace Tangorra … [Read more...]