Five actions arts and cultural organizations should be taking NOW

A little more than a year ago, during the tumultuous days following George Floyd’s death, I challenged arts organiz/sations and other listeners in a TRG 30 virtual meeting to consider bold action to propel themselves forward.

I provoked that arts and cultural organizations have missions that may not be good enough anymore; systemically weak working capital; governance that limits rather than drives; weak attitudes and postures, and beliefs that place artists as creative cogs in wheels rather than central to organizational thinking.

I encouraged action, but I knew that only some leaders would get there.

And here we are today…

Stages of Grief.

I’m borrowing this title from author and my new acquaintance, Bill Deresiewicz. It’s taken from his recent article in Harper’s with that title, and I think it’s an apt description of the experiential spectrum of those of us working in the arts economy. Ours was the first sector affected, it’ll be the last one to recover; and I daresay there isn’t one professional in it who was left untouched, unmoored.

But the artists. Whoa. The artists.

Deresiewicz cites staggering statistics in his piece: by the third quarter of 2020, unemployment averaged 27% with musicians, 52% among actors, and 55% among…

We should be “dating” rather than demanding more from ticket buyers

A recent article by David Rohde about the Met and its telemarketing practices grabbed my attention this week, so I’m setting out here to add to the conversation — because it’s an important one. In his article on Medium, Rohde asserts that the Metropolitan Opera’s use of telemarketing to attempt to convert donations from “green attendees” too soon is leading to its demise. Acknowledging the challenges of a business model constrained by high fixed costs and the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, Rohde suggests that the Met “appears to attack the problem in exactly the wrong way. …

It’s a tax status, not an attitude

I’ve been thinking about the variety of business models and players in our global arts and cultural ecosystem since this pandemic began. It struck me first because it seemed that other similarly affected industries had a collective voice, like travel and restaurants. They were getting public reaction, media support. But in arts and culture and live entertainment, there are so many siloed operators. Creative businesses, all. But with different legal statuses, incentives and postures.

My breath was taken away a little when in late summer I saw that the U.K. had this “collective voice thing” better in hand. The country’s…

I’m musing about creativity in the arts and cultural sector right now…in fact, I’m a little preoccupied by it. In my last post I asked, “Do we lack the creative environment required to fuel the sector’s pandemic recovery? In a way that matches its fullest, most brilliant possibilities?”

I think the answer is “yes, we do lack the creative environment necessary.” And even with the many individual and organizational examples of creativity produced during the pandemic, I still think the answer is “yes.” So, I’m digging into why I think this, and I’ve invited you to join me.

First, I…

I’ve had a front row seat for a year.

It’s funny, because seats are definitely a thing in my professional life…maybe even a denominator in much of my lived experience. Prior to the pandemic, I was obsessed with seats. At TRG Arts, the global arts consulting company I own and operate, we’ve spent 25 years helping clients make seats attractive…pricing them, packaging them…creating demand for them. As a consulting professional, I bought airline seats way too often and arts events seats more than most. I became skilled with seats.

But how often would I have described my seat as “front…