For nonprofit arts organizations, the choice to use the art as a final product is the easiest way to swim downstream. Oh, before I forget. If June 30 is a special date for your company and you need/want/are being forced to raise a bunch of money before then with a big campaign, here’s an email to print out and show your various bosses: Don’t force people to give … [Read more...] about Sometimes There’s a Pretty Good Reason to Swim Upstream
Board of Directors
Mission Grammar for Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Flick the Prepositions and Cut the Nonsense
Your community requires “Why,” not “How” – and the slogans have got to go Let’s make this short and impactful. Well, impactful anyway. Get the prepositions, whether they’re attached to a phrase or not, out of your mission statement. And the slogans, too. Not only are they unnecessary, but more than that, these words set up your nonprofit arts organization for … [Read more...] about Mission Grammar for Nonprofit Arts Organizations: Flick the Prepositions and Cut the Nonsense
Art Doesn’t Need to Be Served. People Do.
The Mellon Foundation almost got it right for nonprofit arts leadership in the 2020s. Why aren’t nonprofit arts subscribers renewing their subscriptions? Because you can’t get good seats in a coffin. You may not have heard about this, mostly because the news has not been reported as much as it should have been, but the Mellon Foundation, the meat of whose mission … [Read more...] about Art Doesn’t Need to Be Served. People Do.
Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part Two)
A two-part column about you, your nonprofit arts company, and the power of your choices (Continued from last week) Last week, we talked about people-pleasing. I urge you to read that piece before this one. Among the two choices we utilize as humans in unconscious reaction to dissonance, attack, or unreasonable pressure is the idea of “fight.” If you’re on the job, … [Read more...] about Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part Two)
Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part One)
A two-part column about you, your nonprofit arts company, and the power of your choices In these heady days where the mere act of watching RuPaul’s Drag Race self-qualifies you as an expert on the LGBT community (it doesn’t), where putting a “We support the Black Community” manifesto on your arts organization’s website self-qualifies you as an equity activist (it doesn’t), … [Read more...] about Useful Idiots, Harmless Kitsch, and Nonprofit Arts Organizations Doing the Right Thing, No Matter What (Part One)