Blog Posts for Arts & 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.


Stephanie Hanson

Becoming Entrepreneurial About Our Professional Development

Posted by Stephanie Hanson, Nov 19, 2010 1 comment


Stephanie Hanson

Stephanie Evans

The other day I was standing in the check-out line at my local grocery store, when I glanced at the bright yellow cover of GOOD Magazine.  Coincidentally, the fall issue is subtitled The Work Issue, which you can read online as well.  Since Americans for the Arts and the Emerging Leaders Council just released our 2009 Emerging Leader Survey Results & Analysis report last week, I thought the magazine would be a good read, so I picked it up.

In the Emerging Leader Survey Analysis, our most surprising finding demonstrated that while the majority of survey participants expressed a strong desire to make arts administration their long term career, a much smaller percentage of them feels they have the opportunities for advancement within their current jobs.  This means the following needs to happen:  arts organizations need to make professional development for their employees a priority. (Some are already doing this really well)  Simultaneously, individual arts administrators need to begin creating their own opportunities to learn the skills they need to either move up in their current organization or move on to a higher position in another arts organization.  If neither of these happens, the arts sector stands to lose skilled leaders to take the field into the next generation.

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Alison Wade

The Awards are Over, but the Celebrating Continues! (from ArtsWatch)

Posted by Alison Wade, Nov 17, 2010 1 comment


Alison Wade

On November 4, arts and business leaders from all over the US commended twelve exceptional businesses for their commitment to the arts at the BCA 10 awards in New York City. Now that the awards are over, the black ties have come off and the awardees have returned to their respective home bases. But from Iowa to Oregon, the celebration of these exceptional businesses shows no signs of stopping.

In Cincinnati, Strata-G continues to celebrate by renewing their commitment to supporting the arts. The company is launching a campaign to offer two Cincinnati area arts organizations their marketing services, pro-bono, for a full year. "Being nominated for and winning the BCA 10 award further reinforced in us the role that business can play in supporting area non-profits,” Strata-G managing partner Jeff Eberlein said. “We wanted to step up once again and show our gratitude to and support worthy arts organizations.” Strata-G earned a BCA 10 award for providing over $75,000 in pro-bono services to arts organizations in 2009 alone. And in Oregon, Portland General Electric is being honored at Business and Culture for the Arts’ Breakfast of Champions, where Portland Mayor Sam Adams will re-present the BCA 10 award to PGE CEO Jim Piro. "PGE believes the arts have the power to educate, heal and create a vibrant economy and has long demonstrated a dedication to incorporating the arts in its corporate culture while also encouraging other businesses to follow suit,” said Virginia Willard, Business for Culture & the Art's executive director.

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Ms. Emily Peck

Five Items Worth Sharing on the Importance of Creativity (from Arts Watch)

Posted by Ms. Emily Peck, Sep 08, 2010 1 comment


Ms. Emily Peck

I’ve been reading and seeing a lot about creativity and innovation lately. Here are five items that I thought are worth sharing. What do you have to add to the list? What great examples are you seeing of how the arts are inspiring creativity in your communities?

  1. In an article in Fast Company, Nike CEO Mark Parker talks about the dinners he regularly hosts with artists to kick around ideas.  
  2. At our annual convention in Baltimore, Jonathan Spector, President of The Conference Board, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2B0bSBCvJY) spoke about the role of an arts education in instilling the creative thinking which is needed to bring about the productivity and innovation which everyone business leaders is looking for these days.
  3. CEOs interviewed in The 2010 IBM Global CEO Study list creativity as the most important leadership competency needed to manage in an increasing complex world.

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Valerie Beaman

What do Ballet and Baseball Have in Common?

Posted by Valerie Beaman, Sep 01, 2010 2 comments


Valerie Beaman

“Not much,” thought the staff of the Fort Wayne Ballet when Karen Gibbons-Brown, artistic/executive director, first raised the idea of partnering with the Fort Wayne TinCaps baseball team for National Dance Week.

Her idea was to create a series of baseball trading cards featuring the dancers paired with ball players and linesmen from the ballet’s sponsor, Indiana-Michigan Power as a promotion for the ballet company. The point of the cards is to show that everybody dances. 

“Dance has the reputation of being elitist, standoffish or only for special people. Well, everybody’s special. Everybody can dance,” Gibbons-Brown said. “Dancing is a part of my life…but we are ordinary people.”

The baseball players were intrigued to see their moves replicated by the dancers, or maybe it was vice versa.

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