Scene Change

Is charitable resistance just another instance of the Peter Principle at play at your nonprofit arts organization?

Remember that war we talked about in February and March?

Just look at the US presidential election… and US nonprofit arts organizations.

Could it be that you never talked to them about your nonprofit’s charitable goals and how they mesh with the donor’s? Whose fault is that?

The well-intentioned, ghettoized program asks us: are Abe and Sophie still the ones coming, only now they’re paying less?

Presenting art is not enough, at least if you’re running a nonprofit. Something has to be done or else the opportunity is lost forever.

Artists matter more than any producing organization.

“Community” ≠ “Constituency.” And it’s certainly ≠ “Audience.” IYKYK.

Despite everything, Harvard chooses to keep the Sackler name on its museum. Why?

Assuming that your board has no clear sense of why they’re representing their nonprofit arts organization’s work, there’s a handbook for…

The seven attributes of a successful nonprofit arts organization. You gotta do all seven to win.

Plus: a bonus, non-hypothetical question for you!

Cronyism is disgusting — and a way of life for large Seattle nonprofit arts organizations

Good people making strained decisions because they keep thinking it’s about HOW they produce art, not WHY

Don’t let your dominant response default you into driving into that wall.

For nonprofit arts organizations, the choice to use the art as a final product is the easiest way to swim downstream.

Your community requires “Why,” not “How” — and the slogans have got to go.

In the never-ending, fruitless search for economy, actors are being replaced by algorithms

Incidentally, it’s my birthday today. So, hey — I have the perfect gift all figured out. Just click on any image you see…

And they’re changing Atlanta for the better every minute.

Bourbon, bats, and basketball. Mint juleps, fast horses, and “Keep Louisville Weird.” Muhammad Ali, Jennifer Lawrence, and Mitch McConnell…

If the Mellon Foundation would start to look at the next-level budgets, they’ll find transformation is the purview of better-run…

The Mellon Foundation ALMOST got it right for nonprofit arts leadership in the 2020s.

A two-part column about you, your nonprofit arts company, and the power of your choices