You might think that a conversation that was, at least in part, fodder for an article titled “Theatre is in freefall” would have left me depressed and submitting resumes for corporate jobs. So, why am I energized and excited about the future? First of all, I always adore big picture conversations with smart people like […]
Tag: arts industry
Failure to Communicate – A Case Study
Yesterday, I read the American Theatre article on the mess at New Dramatists. I’d like to examine this as a case study on communication (or lack thereof). I started sharing my thoughts on communication a little over a week ago, but boy is the ND situation ever a neon sign highlighting multiple things at once. […]
The Reckoning is Here
I’m taking a quick break from the blog series that grew out of my workshops at SWTC to highlight the signs that the nonprofit theatre reckoning is here; the reckoning many of us saw coming at the beginning of the pandemic…but was blissfully delayed by SVOG funding. Yesterday, I read this article on Williamstown Theatre […]
Artists and Administrators: we really are all on the same team
I’m not sure why Mike Daisey’s article from February 7, 2008 has been making the social media rounds again, but I’m reminded enough of the ire I felt when I first read it in 2008 (and saw his production of “How Theatre Failed America” during NPAC in Denver that same year) that I am back here […]
Enlightened and Inspired Funding from the Nonprofit Finance Fund and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
In nonprofit theatre, folks spend a lot of time talking about how the “model is broken.” That phrase is bandied about referring to the production model, the business model, the funding model, you name it. Within all the broken talk, there are a few brave souls actually testing new models. The Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) and the […]
Are public competitions good for arts funding?
Over the past month or so there has been a lot of talk (online and off) about competitions like Chase Community Giving. I missed my chance to add my voice on the 2AM Theatre blog a few weeks ago because I go to sleep too early but last night’s tweet from Lincoln Center regarding American Express’ […]
Fiscal responsibility: the sine qua non of general operating support
During the last few weeks of complete radio silence on this blog, I’ve been getting my brain wrapped around my new position as Managing Director at The American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA. Thank you all for your patience with me! Just because I haven’t been writing doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking and tweeting […]
Is your ideal customer on your Board?
I’ve been thinking more about this ideal customer idea and how it relates to the non-profit arts. We actually have an advantage over for-profit ventures, we could have our ideal customer as a key advisor. We could have them on our Board. But, do we? We spend so much time thinking about what slots we […]
You are not for all markets: Embracing niche marketing
In my last post I talked briefly about creating the profile of what John Jantsch calls the “ideal customer.” (Yep, another post inspired by The Referral Engine) In the theatre world we tend to shy away from the idea of creating one customer profile because we like to think that, if we could just get […]
Everyone is on the team, or, Marketing is not a dirty word
If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I’m reading The Referral Engine by John Jantsch (and LOVING it). The book is about how to build a system that gets your company consistently talked about and recommended by all who come in contact with it. In the theatre we don’t often think about our […]