Perpetually Curious

success : 1. obsolete : outcome , result 2a : degree or measure of succeeding b : favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence 3: one that succeeds succeed : 2a : to turn out well b : to attain a desired object or end From the latin succedere : to come after, or up from below Why do we not do a better job--or any job at all--defining success for ourselves?  Why is the first definition of success one that Webster's qualifies as obsolete? An outcome or result . The first definition of succeed is literally "to come after another in rank or position, to follow after another in order". The second definition is to attain a desired end. Why don't we do more to delineate in any kind of terms what our desired end is? Why do we always default to "money" or "fame" or "status of some kind"?  I admit that I am a perfectionist with [insanely] high goals for every artistic event...

Arts Hospice: Palliative Care for End-of-Life for Arts Organizations Healthy Ecosystems in Small Cities: Why Diversity of Size and Content Matters Try Today, Buy Tomorrow: How Performing Arts Can Use Samples to Build Audience Fear-Setting in the Arts: Mitigating Risk by Developing Comfort with Fear Stone Soup: Using Collaboration to Create New Performing Arts Opportunities Pivots and Sprints: Using Corporate Process Development to Grow a Sustainable Arts Org Clothing Costumes: How What you Wear Changes Your Own Perceptions Grow Your Own: What Food Chains and Arts Ecosystems Have in Common I Can't, I Have a Kid: How to be a Present Parent and a Performer Without Losing Your Mind I'm available. 

Much has been discussed about how the Triangle needs more black box theaters, more fertile ground to grow the native, nascent nonprofit theater groups and companies. With Common Ground Theater closing up after ten years and Sonorous Road Theater’s future in question, it does seem like there is less room for itinerant groups to ply their trade. Examining the twenty-five year history of the Triangle theater scene, the same venues tend to be used over and over again. Most of productions happen in the same handful of spaces, even if made by different groups of people. For the time period in question (1990-2015), the vast majority--90% of companies who produce at least one full weekend show--do not continue to make work over a decade. Out of 24 (give or take a few) companies that have succeeded in sticking around the Triangle for a dozen years or more, only six have successfully operated their own venue. Again, the majority of ongoing theater organizations are either affiliated with ...

I'm not certain if it was something I ate or didn't eat or Divine Spirit or earth energy or what, but I sat bolt upright last night in bed with the phrase "Go Green for March" on my tongue. 2 more thoughts immediate popped into my head, plus a visual: "go", "money", and a green string tied around my wrist. Not wanting to get out of bed, I laid there, staring at the covers, thinking "I need to write this down because obviously it's important and the Universe is trying to tell me something." As I could feel this idea was all about making progress and changing mindsets, I begrudgingly exited the warm bed, plodded downstairs to find pencil and paper, wrote the ideas down, and then went back to sleep. This morning, I pulled out my cross stitch supplies, found the exact shade of green in my delirium-induced vision, and tied a bit around my wrist. Maybe you, too, have been struggling lately with these things? Perhaps you, too, could u...

I love any piece of writing that covers "creatives" and "artists." Even more, I love it when business magazines like Fast Company, Inc, and Harvard Business Review write articles about us arts folks. In one of the latest at Fast Co, author Jeff Goins tackles the idea of why you'll never do your best work alone . I want to riff on his three takeaways for the small theater and performing arts communities. Find a "Master" Goins uses the idea of Renaissance artists but this idea is also one used by Austin Kleon in his book Steal Like An Artist . However, this task may feel impossible for those of us living in smaller communities that may not have an established performing arts scene. Where are we to locate these masters? This may mean turning to online communities, diving into Youtube, or doing a lot of interlibrary loan exchanges to read what's been written by or about your chosen artists. Emulate your mentor's work. As most of my readers...

Once in a while, start with zero, not with what might be the standard right now. -- Seth Godin [ original post here ] We have a lot of calcification in the performing arts. Instead of doing what everyone else does, what if you did the exact opposite? 1. Selling tickets individually rather than in bulk form. 2 tickets, 4 tickets. Packs of 8 for half price. Actually selling one group an entire performance. 2. Size scale of performances. What would an individual/site specific performance look like for you? What about the opposite: how could you achieve a massive scale of people or space? 3. Stages. Platforms. Removing the set. Sometimes this is done because of economic reasons. What if you perform in the audience seating area and put the audience on the stage instead? 4. Engaging the audience during the performance. Not as stopping the action for an aside, or fake engagement, but as part of the action. There's a great early episode of the Dick Van Dyke show where he forgets...

Yall know I like to read every now and again.* I thought I'd go over my 2016 book highlights. So, I started the year with the intention of reading my entire backlog, which was probably 8-9 years old (the astute reader will remember my daughter turned nine in August). I achieved half of that goal, that is, I read about half my back log pile. Even if that had been all I'd read, that still would've been 18 books, so respectable for the year in this day and age of "nobody reads past college". Actually, not including books I read for classes, I recorded a total of 45 books read!! And two audio books (I discovered Tim Ferriss's podcast in mid-summer so started listening to that in the car instead). A lot of those are library books, although I think I did buy enough to replenish my TBR pile for 2017. Outstanding titles: The Society of the Spectacle , by Guy Debord. Classic French not quite existentialism but amazing views on what our society truly has become:...