When methodologies clash in search of the truth.
A Healthy Arts Ecosystem
Guiding principles for a better world.
What am I worth to you?
Earlier this year, the New York Times reported on the controversy over the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Theatre’s policy of not paying its performers. UCB is almost universally considered the leading improv theater in New York, and attracts much of the top talent. It’s not a small side project, or an isolated community; it shapesRead More
Audiences at the Gate published in Grantmakers in the Arts Reader (and why it’s still relevant)
Readers who have been with us for a while will recall that in 2010, Daniel Reid and I wrote an article for Edward P. Clapp’s 20UNDER40 anthology called Audiences at the Gate: Reinventing Arts Philanthropy Through Guided Crowdsourcing. The article contends that traditional models of philanthropy, in which a single program officer or a handfulRead More
Art and Democracy: The NEA, Kickstarter, and Creativity in America
(This article was first published on NewMusicBox on April 4, 2012. I’m grateful to Molly Sheridan, Kevin Clark, and Frank J. Oteri for their helpful comments on previous drafts.) Every once in a blue moon, an arts policy story breaks into the mainstream media—and as with most poorly understood subjects, it’s usually for some profoundlyRead More
Corporate vs. Government Influence on the Arts
Britain’s Independent has a short feature on the growing influence of corporate arts sponsorships in the wake of recent cutbacks from the government. While the article doesn’t offer much in the way of data or even examples demonstrating the purported trend, writer Emily Jupp does manage to get some beautifully candid on-the-record quotes from corporateRead More
The Critical Supporting Role of Curation in Making Innovation Possible
(This post was originally published on Americans for the Arts’s ARTSblog as part of the “Emerging Ideas: Seeking and Celebrating the Spark of Innovation” salon going on this week. Read the other contributors’ posts here.) Through the work of the Emerging Ideas Committee this year, I’ve become acquainted with a wealth of new approaches toRead More
TEDx Talk
“Never Heard of ’Em”: Why Citizen Curators (not Daddy’s Money) Should Decide Who Gets to Be an Artist.
Supply is Not Going to Decrease (So It’s Time to Think About Curating)
A response to NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman’s controversial comments about the arts market.
Audiences at the Gate: Reinventing Arts Philanthropy Through Guided Crowdsourcing
(This article originally appeared in 20UNDER40 anthologyi edited by Edward P. Clapp, and has been republished with permission.) Spurred on by major technological advances, the number of aspiring professional artists in the United States has reached unprecedented levels and will only continue to grow. The arts’ current system of philanthropic support is woefully underequipped to evaluate thisRead More