Blog Posts for working with business

Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.


Patricia Nugent

From Passion to Business

Posted by Patricia Nugent, Oct 22, 2019 0 comments


Patricia Nugent

In the past, we saw art as a passion—not a business. But today, with the popularity of online shopping sites like Etsy and the growing number of community arts and craft shows, more and more artists are creating a thriving business from their art. Couple that with more creative outlets for musicians and actors, and it’s no wonder why dynamic arts communities are scattered throughout the country with growing opportunities for artists to become entrepreneurs. To help support and guide artists in Akron, Ohio, Summit Artspace is helping these highly right-brained individuals with the business side of things. In fact, evolving with the needs of the artists, this nonprofit community art center organization is revamping its strategic plan and mission in 2020 to focus on connecting artists and artist-serving organizations to the community and to the resources they need to thrive professionally, creatively, and financially.

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Ariana Rockefeller

Why I Support the Arts: Carrying on a Rockefeller Family Legacy

Posted by Ariana Rockefeller, Oct 02, 2019 0 comments


Ariana Rockefeller

My grandfather, David Rockefeller Sr., founded the Business Committee for the Arts in 1967 with a mission: to inspire business leaders to support the arts in the workplace, in education, and in the community. He believed that when businesses partner with the arts, it facilitates a mutually beneficial and inspiring collaboration. Today I carry on the philanthropic traditions and values exemplified by my grandparents by recognizing a responsibility to be an active and engaged participant in the community, both at home and globally. I am honored to be presenting Gensler and Access Gallery with the David Rockefeller pARTnership Award at the 2019 Arts and Business Partnership Awards on October 3. 

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Dr. David V. Mastran

Business Spotlight: CEO Shares the Language of Music

Posted by Dr. David V. Mastran, Sep 26, 2019 0 comments


Dr. David V. Mastran

I am both a businessperson and an artist, which helps expand my perspective and set my business apart. The challenge, on the business side, is that because profit motive is the driving force, the most creative work often doesn't receive the recognition or appreciation it deserves from businesses. The tendency for most businesses is to stick to a proven, profit-driven formula. I'm not saying that profit-driven formulas are wrong, but we should also be allowing room for creativity, innovation and growth—not just in the arts, but in every aspect of business. Businesses should want to hire creative people, people who can create solutions without predefined answers. We need businesses to understand that the arts can and will help them achieve their objectives—even if those objectives are not always related to the arts. We need to frame the arts in a way that businesses can find value in them as well. Having this business background helps me be a better advocate for the arts.

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Will Bonfiglio

From the Barre to the Boardroom: The Power of Arts-Based Learning for Business Professionals

Posted by Will Bonfiglio, Sep 12, 2019 0 comments


Will Bonfiglio

Arts education certainly doesn’t have to (and really shouldn’t) end after high school. At least that’s our belief at COCAbiz, the arts-based business training division of COCA-Center of Creative Arts in St. Louis. COCAbiz provides immersive arts-based training, programming, and consulting for business professionals. We are constantly exploring how to unlock creative energy and build skills to meet today’s business challenges by providing leaders with new tools, techniques, and perspectives from the arts. COCA’s Executive Director, Kelly Pollock, wrote about COCAbiz for Americans for the Arts back in 2011, suggesting “businesses might be more innovative and achieve greater success when they give their employees all of the tools that the arts and the creative process have to offer.” She’s right. As we round out our first decade of COCAbiz, we have learned that arts learning is powerful and needed with business professionals. In a world where automation and technological dependence are becoming the norm, human creativity still reigns as the ultimate competitive advantage.

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Edward Karam

Employees Matter: Why Leading Arts Organizations are Embracing Financial Wellness in the Workplace

Posted by Edward Karam, Aug 26, 2019 0 comments


Edward Karam

Content presented by the Institute of Financial Wellness for the Arts (IFWA).

If you’re an employee of Veterans United Home Loans, one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” on Fortune magazine’s 2019 list, you might be invited to a crawfish boil or a party “welcoming the seventh employee named Emily to a department.” Hilton, the hotel company, provides massage chairs for workers on break. And many companies routinely offer stock bonuses for innovative ideas. But for arts organizations operating on lean budgets, those employee perks are impractical. Young actors, dancers, musicians, and arts staffers have more pressing needs than crawfish boils, and one of the aims of the Institute of Financial Wellness for the Arts (IFWA), launched in 2018 and expanding nationally this year, is to provide advice on handling money to artists of all stripes.

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Mr. Paul Kinley

Business Spotlight: Architecture Firm Builds on the Arts

Posted by Mr. Paul Kinley, Aug 23, 2019 0 comments


Mr. Paul Kinley

The arts are core to what we do at Opsis and our relationship to, and support of, our local and diverse arts community helps us make connections with members of our local and regional community that we might not otherwise be able to do as effectively. As a result, Opsis is well known in our local arts community as an available supporter, participant, and resource. Opsis is a firm filled with people for whom the arts are as personally and professionally important. Folks come to us because we value the arts as a fundamental priority and integrate the arts into our practice with every opportunity. We partner with arts organizations to help raise money, plan and design facilities (often pro-bono or at cost), and we invite creatives into our office for monthly lunch-hour talks that demonstrate this focus and accelerate the exposure of our staff to other creative people from a wide variety of disciplines.

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