April 10, 1957. St. Louis, Mo.
“The clock of destiny is ticking out…. We are not fighting for ourselves alone, we are fighting for this nation…. I just wish this evening that somebody would take a fast plane over to Washington… and say …that the civil rights issue is not some ephemeral, evanescent domestic issue that can be kicked around by reactionary and hypocritical politicians. But it is an eternal moral issue which may well determine the destiny of our nation.… The destiny of our nation is involved. We can’t afford to slow up. The motor is now cranked up. We are moving up the highway of freedom toward the city of equality, and we can’t afford to slow up because our nation has a date with destiny. We’ve got to keep moving. We’ve got to keep moving.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2014. A year of art awaits you. Predictions for the year to come…
A company you’ve never heard of will produce something special.
A famous company everyone knows will close down.
A play will shake your long-held beliefs.
A concert will move you to tears.
You’ll stop short and get lost in a painting.
You’ll attend an amazing performance that can’t be pigeonholed as theatre, dance, comedy, or music.
Another new study will come out proving that kids with in-school arts education will enjoy great test scores, not join gangs, and will have a tendency to be drug-free. Their community participation will be more extensive, and they’ll be likelier to enter college.
Despite that, in-school arts education will disappear.
Great arts nonprofits will find universally-accepted ways to quantify impact and will receive all the funding they require.
I wish you love, luck, and success in 2014. Oh yes, and art.
‘Twas the week before Christmas and all o’er the glade, the galleries, ballets, and playhouse got paid… And the board chair exclaimed, ere he took his tax break, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good take.”
Ebenezer Scrooge and George Bailey…
Langston Hughes and the Four Plaids…
Handel and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir…
Christmas in Wales and Christmas in Macy*s…
The Mouse King and the Sugar Plum Fairy…
Your local carolers, buskers, jazz artists, ornament craft-makers, and pageant participants know what it’s about. Joy, family, charity, peace, and goodwill toward mankind.
And a boatload of cash. The Holiday-Cash-Cow sings, “Moo-moo-moo, moo-moo-moo, moo-moo-moo-moo-moo.”
“But we pay for the stuff no one wants to see all year with this one production of ‘A Christmas Carol!” said a board president pal of mine.
And as one managing director famously said, “We do the mission all year long. Except Christmas. That’s where we try to make money.”
Last I checked, one of the morals of “A Christmas Carol” had something to do with, what was it again…?
No contact necessary! Never have to talk again! But wait…there’s much, much less!
As an ED, I hired many talented people who, surprisingly (given the industry – nonprofit arts organizations), did not care for interaction. One told me, “I communicate best through email. You should email me.” Her desk was thirty feet from mine.
It is the custom among many to jump to the latest innovation, a practice that is not in itself innovative. Operating technology is no less clubby than ordering at Starbucks. If a customer is unaware of the script, the club members become twitchy.
Cyber-innovation, however, offers addictive isolation as an objective. Solely to rely on it to do person-to-person activities for a nonprofit organization – especially one in the arts – is tantamount to reading directions on how to build IKEA furniture and assume that the building process will be complete without physically interaction with the tools and materials.
Just putting it out there…
I’ve been working with nonprofit arts organizations (mostly theaters) for most of the last twenty-six years. Executive/Managing Director for ten. Marketing and Development Director, too. Consultant for nineteen, the last two full-time.
Raised several million dollars (not by myself, of course!). Increased attendance by hundreds of thousands, mostly by engaging young people.
I’m now looking to regroup. Enhance one brilliant mission. Make life better.
I’m currently based in Seattle, so the I-5 corridor from greater Portland-BC would be optimal. Additionally, I’m very interested in relocating – but to the right place: Chicago, San Diego, Eastern Michigan, NY/NJ/PA, or DC would be fantastic (personal networks in those regions).
I don’t come cheap. But I’ve proven that I’m worth it.
All I need is a company looking for greatness; more than the sum of its programming.
Interested? Click here.
Technology, isolation, live theater, community, hope, and Vin Scully
Technology is not new. Nor is its ability to isolate. Man’s choice is to buy it and do so.
On a 1960s-era transistor radio, while there was an earphone jack, few used it. Sandy Koufax’ 1965 perfect game was accompanied by the hum of 29,139 transistors all tuned to Vin Scully, as if he were sitting in the adjacent seat.
Many people buy into that latest-thingamabob fervor and complain that they can’t meet people. And when they do, the people they meet seem incapable of a simple conversation. IMHO, peeps b txtg 511 & CBB w/PLU.
Live theaters have the wonderful capacity to bring people together. To share a purpose. To provide the capacity for strangers to personally interact. Not merely to entertain us, but to foment optimism. Do they? Or do they just put on plays?
Fair/Right/Just/Honest/Unbiased/Reasonable – Things Life Isn’t
I have a friend. Her name isn’t Penny. And no, it’s not me.
Penny ran a nonprofit. In fact, she has run a few, all successfully. She’s good at what she does. She has been responsible for a lot of success.
A single judgment error cost Penny her job. She didn’t steal, she didn’t kill anyone, nor did she have any negative board issues. She fell in love with a man who fell in love with her. Unfortunately, he worked for her. And the story made Page One.
Penny and Lincoln have been together for years. No wrongdoing was ever found, and, in fact, the organization exonerated her and paid her a healthy settlement. That made Page Thirty-Seven.
Penny hasn’t worked in years. Search firms steer clear. Search engines find front page news, not page Thirty-Seven news.
