Changing the Way Nonprofit Arts Organizations Do Business is Hard. Aw.

No, you don’t get to mount that show you’ve always wanted to do.

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Artistic leaders with nonprofit organizations are notorious for wanting to do “that show” that no one has yet done well. Or do an exhibition of “that artist” whose work was never appreciated before they rediscovered it. Or that lost symphony by Whatshisname.

On behalf of your community, the one you pledged to help by securing a 501(C)(3) from your state in order to perform charitable acts, I don’t care.

In fact, no one cares about…

…your obsession to do Shakespeare’s Henry VIII because it’s never been successful because you’ve never done it (especially when you take into account that this was the play that destroyed the original Globe Theatre.)

…your compulsion to mount pencil-sketched napkin drawings by Andy Warhol because, in your esteemed opinion, that’s what art is.

…your inability to enact the very simple task of pay transparency because your new hires make more than your current hires, even though they’re doing the equivalent job.

…your reticence to go further and achieve pay equity by making salaries go up (or, in some cases down) in order for everyone to make exactly the same, easily livable wage.

…you and your company’s pronouncements, declarations, and manifestos about how you’re leading the industry in thinking about implementing DEI strategies. (What’s that slogan for Nike again?)

…your company’s dire financial straits.

…your artists, both in production and administration, losing the opportunity to work in jobs that they love, were educated to do, and have fun doing.

…the positive economic impact of your organization due to the fact that, like any entertainment option in the commercial sphere (movies, ballgames, arena concerts, etc.), the people who go pay for parking, food, and sometimes babysitters, enhancing the economy.

…your claim (having done no research on your particular organization) that you enhance kids’ educational achievements because, nationally, after-school arts programs tend to enhance educational achievements.

…any past production, except, one hopes, as a pleasant memory.

…your inability to mesh with board members who are looking out for the community’s needs and may internally (never externally) disagree with your company’s direction.

…who your donors are.

…who your audience members are.

…who you are, regardless of who you are.

…who your stars are/were (Quickly: who won the Best Actress Oscar last March? Who won the Super Bowl in 2022? Who won Wimbledon — either men’s or ladies’ singles?).

…the trouble you’ve seen, and incidentally, nobody knows your sorrow, either.

We can use the just-completed election for some interesting — if inordinately manipulated — data on what people care about. The manipulation comes from the media, politicians, pollsters, and of course, the publicists that represent them all. Check to see where the arts comes up.

According to an old CBS News article, the top four issues were food and shelter for the needy, research to cure disease, disaster relief, and animal welfare.

(Note: on the fourth most answered issue, Emily Listfield said, “Animal welfare came out above education, religious donations, the environment and human rights.” Hey, Sarah McLaughlin, it’s working.)

According to a 2020 report in WorldAtlas, the top ten issues were poverty, healthcare, climate change, racism, gun control, immigration, terrorism, education, discrimination, and crime.

And in May 2022, fivethirtyeight.com reported that the highest priority issues concerning Americans were inflation (by a mile), political extremism, gun violence, immigration, government budget and debt, climate change, race and racism, foreign conflicts and terrorism, COVID-19, economic inequality, healthcare, election security, education, taxes, opioids, abortion and lack of access, unemployment, and national disasters.

Not one poll even suggested that Americans give a flying rat’s patootie about the arts, artists, or arts organizations, nonprofit or otherwise.

Instead, the community is likely asking, what do the arts organizations care about us? We gave them the ability to be exempt from some taxes in order to help the community solve some of these issues. Even one mitigated issue would be meaningful. How have arts organizations helped? Exactly how?

Exactly how does that dramatization of Shakespeare’s The Phoenix and the Turtle solve any of the aforementioned issues? Who does it serve when Carrie, the Musical is to be restaged? How do hungry people eat Wellington’s Victory by Beethoven? And do the collected cocktail napkin sketches done by a drunk Salvador Dali somehow stop people from using guns to murder other people?

So, when you shout to the gods in pain because money is scarce, the NEA is not enough, the corporate community just wants to make a buck, and no one understands your art, just know that it’s not that no one understands. We understand. We just don’t care.

Because, clearly, you don’t care about us.

Here’s a 2-step process to gain the trust (and the funding) from your community.

Step 1: Care about your community’s problem.

Step 2: Solve or mitigate that problem.

It’s easy. We’re waiting.

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Based in Kirkland, Washington, Alan Harrison is a writer and speaker specializing in nonprofit organizations, strategy, the arts, and life politics. His columns appear regularly in major publications. Contact him directly at alan@501c3.guru.

If you’re feeling generous or inspired, just click on the coffee cup above. You don’t have to, of course, but if you can afford it and find some value here, please provide the desperate need for caffeine.

Alan is always looking for good opportunities to write and consult for nonprofits that need a hand. And, of course, that elusive Perfect Opportunity™.

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BIG NEWS: Alan’s new book, “Scene Change: Why Today’s Nonprofit Arts Organizations Have to Stop Producing Art and Start Producing Impact” will be published in September or October by Changemakers Books. Pre-orders in the late summer. Booking speaking engagements now – let me know if you want me to visit your boardroom, bookstore, or conference!