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.


Sheila Womble

Unscramble Arts & Education

Posted by Sheila Womble, Apr 06, 2010 0 comments


Sheila Womble

I recently moderated a panel at the 25th Annual Winter Music Conference in Miami. It’s not the first place you would think that a panel on arts education would exist and indeed our discussion rounded out a week of panels that included conversation on why DJs should dye their hair to better market themselves. I worried that we would not have an audience - especially since the event was held on the last day of the conference. Adding to my concern, it was also a beautiful Saturday afternoon, it was on Ocean Drive and the beach was literally steps from our discussion room. If individuals made it past the beach, the second hurdle was the lobby where the conference had a collection of vinyl records for sale. While waiting for the room to be set up, I perused the record collection. Who knew that Appolonia released a solo record? Then I wondered, “Who knew about our panel?”

We were seven individuals and, according to the panel description, we were ready to discuss “Why are the arts important to child development and how are interdisciplinary approaches beneficial?” Also, “How does funding affect the quality of education in the Arts?” What a cast of characters we were. We could have given Gilligan’s gang a run for their money. After all, we too had a professor (actually, more than one) and arts leaders, radio talent, and composers to boot. The panelists and I joked that if no one came, we were happy to have met each other and we agreed to take an hour to converse over lunch and the inevitable South Beach cocktail.

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Cora Mirikitani

Next Gen Leaders are Creative Entrepreneurs

Posted by Cora Mirikitani, Apr 06, 2010 3 comments


Cora Mirikitani

A study produced by research economist Ann Markusen and colleagues in 2006 (Crossover: How Artists Build Careers across Commercial, Nonprofit and Community Work) sheds interesting light on the entrepreneurial approach that California artists are taking in managing their careers. Contrary to the stereotype of artists wanting to be left alone in their studios just to make art, the majority of California’s artists were actually organizing their careers by combining meaningful activities and income across community-based, nonprofit and commercial work. California artists reported significant dividends from this mixed-bag approach – work in the commercial sector offered more visibility and higher rates of financial return; the not-for-profit sector offered aesthetic satisfaction and opportunities for artistic exploration; and the community sector offered an outlet to stand up for political and social justice goals, and to affirm cultural identity.

At the Center for Cultural Innovation, we consider an artist’s ability to manage and direct their own “portfolio careers” to be the highest form of creative entrepreneurship, and we support this way of working by offering entrepreneurial training programs, convening and networking activities, and in our direct grantmaking to artists.

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Letitia Fernandez Ivins

Emerging Leaders are Having Babies…and I Think its Okay

Posted by Letitia Fernandez Ivins, Apr 06, 2010 13 comments


Letitia Fernandez Ivins

Based on a 2008 survey of Los Angeles-based emerging leaders, work/life balance is important and I assume that this priority is shared nation-wide. According to a recent report by the Center for Creative Leadership called “The Leadership GAP: What you need, and don’t have, when it comes to leadership,” a key future gap in leadership qualities will be balancing personal life and work.

The report urges today’s senior managers to practice a healthy work/life balance as an example for the future generation of leaders. Many of us have watched our role models work long, seemingly inhuman hours, repainting the black box, writing that NEA grant or serving their population after business hours with little distinction between work and personal life.  Conversely, a number of us have been exposed to supervisors who seem to effortlessly glide from family to work life such that neither is compromised, in fact where, both dimensions thrive.

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Selena Juneau-Vogel

Finding Professional and Leadership Development

Posted by Selena Juneau-Vogel, Apr 06, 2010 0 comments


Selena Juneau-Vogel

This conversation has been percolating for a while and I know it will continue for years to come, but this chance to connect with my peers across the country in a forum supported by the Irvine and Hewlett  Foundations is especially exciting.

Irvine and Hewlett Officers: In case you haven’t heard this enough from your friends out in Cali, THANK YOU for your vision in supporting emerging leaders in the arts. We know the arts do not have a history of taking care of our own professional needs. It’s just not part of our culture—with every dollar we manage to scrounge up we buy another paint brush or pointe shoe. We need visionary supporters like you to nudge us to take care of ourselves. I hope the initiatives you’re supporting in California encourage other philanthropies to see the long-reaching potential of investing in the next generation of arts leaders.

Okay, gratitude out of the way, let me just take a moment to recognize the frame I am bringing to this blog salon. After three years working in a service organization and thinking about what arts managers want, my graduate program in public administration now gives me a chance to step back and see what other ends of the nonprofit sector and corporate world are doing in terms of professional and leadership development. I have just grazed the surface of leadership study, but let me tell you—there’s a lot out there and we, in the arts, need to take every opportunity to make ourselves a part of that conversation. We have a lot to learn and contribute.

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Mr. Michael W. Bigley

The "Emerging Crisis" - Do People Care?

Posted by Mr. Michael W. Bigley, Apr 06, 2010 0 comments


Mr. Michael W. Bigley

Michael Bigley

Every few months a trade journal or major national newspaper cites a study that indicates that a major leadership change will occur in the non-profit industry, with one generation of leaders retiring en masse and a new crop of leaders stepping in to helm this important sector.  While that may statistically be true, it begs the question: is a new generation truly ready to lead and have organizations and funders spent enough time and resources to ensure a successful transition?

I had the great privilege of serving as a founding member and past chair of The Forum for Emerging Arts Professionals, a DC area volunteer group that offered programs serving promising leaders in the non-profits arts field.  The Forum would host discussions about key issues facing emerging non-profit leaders and provide opportunities for networking and visits to local institutions.  In the course of setting up our programming, I would talk with other colleagues in the nonprofit and grantmaking communities about The Forum’s activities. At times, I would receive blank stares, or questions on why such a group needed to exist at all. At its core, the group was (and is) trying to provide a voice for emerging leaders and a forum to educate the next generation, not because we wanted to do it ourselves but because so few programs exist to help nurture those who want to lead institutions one day. 

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Ebony McKinney

The New Normal

Posted by Ebony McKinney, Apr 06, 2010 3 comments


Ebony McKinney

“… it might be smart if we consider – both as isolated, individual organizations, and as a sector – what a “new normal” for us might actually end up looking like. If things don’t (can’t) go back to the way they were, then to the extent we anticipate what changes might be here to stay, the better we might be able to adjust and adapt to some new paradigm.” --Barry Hessenius in a recent post, Will Current Cuts End Up Permanent

Shifting patterns of cultural creation and consumption, increased digital technology, changing demographics and new leadership (or organizational) models have altered the cultural landscape in permanent and previously unseen ways. The door has been opened more widely for individuals of all ages to create, connect, distribute, and engage in community-based and entrepreneurial work. Many believe that the highly adaptive “Millennials” and “Generation X’ers”, are best suited to address these tectonic shifts.

So, let’s take a minute and imagine the new normal. What does it look and feel like? What are the new rules for our organizations, for the sector, for us? Perhaps, this downturn is an opportunity for broad, creative thinking about change in the arts and culture field, it’s leadership, marketing and financial structures? What are 21st century core competencies?

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