Welcome to a new academic year. Thank you for visiting the website and subscribing to this blog. Please feel free to also use the content in the Learning Resources section of the website. Let me know if any of the links need attention. As you know, website links are perpetual maintenance devices.
I hope this mix of articles can be put to use in class discussions or could become research topics for you or your students.
First off, the Minnesota Orchestra’s recovery from its labor woes in 2012 offers an opportunity for students to explore how resilient arts organizations can be.
Second, I thought the article by Monica Montgomery offered valuable insights on how museums can be more effective in achieving diversity.
Third, the daily posts from the Nonprofit Quarterly are a great resource to use in class. Over the course of week, it is possible to find stories posted about a wide range of arts and culture organizations as well as gain perspective about the nonprofit sector. The story about the Met Museum’s financial woes is a good example of an article that could be tied to a number of difference chapters in Management and the Arts.
Fourth, I came across Scotland’s 10-year cultural plan when I was looking for examples of how the creative industries help support the economic viability of a country. The PDF version of the plan could be the center piece for a lively discussion about arts advocacy and economic development.
And last but not least, I thought the rescue story about the Arizona Theatre Company could be used in a discussion on how to prevent arts organizations from getting themselves in these predicaments in the first place. The miracle rescue stories about arts organizations typically have interesting histories associated with them. Fiscal emergencies seldom surface out of nowhere. This story could lead to a fascinating team research project. It could be interesting to unpack the history of the decision-making processes that led to the need for the financial triage.
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European tour will be Minnesota Orchestra’s final ‘first’ on the comeback trail
By Graydon Royce, Star Tribune, AUGUST 13, 2016 — 8:16PM
Finally, they are ready to meet the world.
The Minnesota Orchestra departs Thursday for a nine-day European tour, a high-stakes affair that is the ensemble’s first visit across the ocean since the 2012-14 lockout. Audiences and critics will be eager to hear whether this is the same band that delighted London audiences in 2010.
“This tour is the final piece of re-establishing the Minnesota Orchestra to its previous, historic stature,” said President and CEO Kevin Smith. “We’re ready for critical attention and to evaluate whether this ensemble is the same, or maybe even better.”
With stops in Finland, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, the tour could be called “the last first” in the orchestra’s reboot.
Challenging a monolithic culture
The arts sector talks a lot about diversity, but what can actually be done to achieve it?
Arts professional magazine, July 21, 2016 by Monica Montgomery, Co-founder and Strategic Director of Museum Hue. Link – www.museumhue.com
As a sector, we talk a lot about diversity. Building a diverse workforce is ultimately about building the strength of your organisation. A multi-ethnic culture brings together different ideas and perspectives that increase an organisation’s ability to evolve and relate to a wider audience.
We have a responsibility to our organisations and our audiences not only to talk about diversity but to take action. We need to acknowledge there is still a problem and that it requires action. As a black female museum director, I often find myself alone in a room of white faces. In 2016, that’s ridiculous.
We need to challenge monolithic culture. If you find yourself in a room where decisions are being made and everyone is white, non-disabled and heterosexual, then it’s important to acknowledge what is absent and challenge it. The only way to change things is to use your power and influence to bring more diverse perspectives to the table.
Plebian Nonprofit Troubles Go to Scale at the Met
By Jim Schaffer | July 20, 2016, Nonprofit Quarterly
Nonprofits that suddenly find themselves in a hole they have dug themselves that will be difficult to crawl out of are a dime a dozen, and it’s always excruciating to manage a painful turnaround and your public credibility at the same time. When you are a closely scrutinized, world-class cultural institution like the Met…well, the whole process becomes that much more intense.
Brian Boucher, a senior writer for ArtNet News, sums up the escalating financial and perhaps leadership troubles at the storied Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York museums are capital-intensive institutions with lots of fixed costs and a recent tendency toward investing heavily in build-outs and exhibitions that bring further fixed costs. These endeavors, described in “Museums as Vanity Purchases and the Problem of Nonprofit Obesity,” are favored by many large donors but can leave the organization in a pickle if, for instance, the economy takes a downturn at the wrong time or if a projection regarding the fit of exhibition to audience is less than entirely accurate.
10-Year Cultural Plan for Scotland
Unlocking Potential, Embracing Ambition – 2014-2024
The 10-year plan sets out a shared vision for the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland. The plan also sets out our ambitions for the next 10 years, underpinned by the priorities that will frame our work over the next three years. Gaelic and text only versions of the Plan can be found in the Resources section, along with Gaelic and Scots versions of the Pocket Plan.
A shared vision
We want a Scotland where everyone actively values and celebrates arts and creativity as the heartbeat for our lives and the world in which we live; which continually extends its imagination and ways of doing things; and where the arts, screen and creative industries are confident, connected and thriving.
Nearly a thousand people working in the arts, screen and creative industries have helped shape this vision through consultation, conversation, feedback and dialogue.
LINK TO PDF OF THE PLAN: http://www.creativescotland.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/25500/Creative-Scotland-10-Year-Plan-2014-2024-v1-2.pdf
‘Ecstatic’ Arizona Theatre Company reaches $2M goal
By Kathleen Allen, Arizona Daily Star, Jul 18, 2016
Arizona Theatre Company has raised the $2 million necessary to keep the organization on stage, the group announced Monday.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Michael Kasser, a member of the ATC board of trustees. Kasser had guaranteed $1 million from Tucson if Phoenix could match that.
Last week, the board decided to give notices to employees on Monday. Soon after, many donors began to open pocketbooks rather than just give verbal support.
“It mostly happened on Friday,” said Kasser. “We had the cooperation of both mayors (Tucson’s Jonathan Rothschild and Phoenix’s Greg Stanton), who were very supportive.” With their help, and the work of the board, substantial donations came in at the last minute. “It was so heartening.”
Kasser’s commitment to ATC goes back nearly two decades, as both a contributor and an audience member.
“I personally think we could not afford to lose such an important cultural icon,” he said when explaining his support.
ATC has tried to crawl out from under its crippling debt since 2013, when poor management and a fractured board put the company in jeopardy.