Perpetually Curious

"Perspective" by Flickr user Justus Thane, licensed under Creative Commons It is the end. Wait, that's not one of the things. But it is the end of this blogging month. I remarked to a friend, "I was surprised to find out how much energy it took to write, being unaccustomed to it any more." Said friend, a writer by trade, chuckled and agreed. I didn't hit my daily goal, but I did blog more than I have, well, ever. So I'm calling that a success. So, without further ado and in no particular order, 10 Things I'm Thankful For : 1. Live theater  2. A job in live theater  3. My family who make possible my job in live theater  4. My friends who encourage my job in live theater  5. The interwebs, which make working in live theater something immeasurably different than it once was  6. The best graduate program ever for those of us working in live theater who also have families  7. Coming to terms with how I can best support live thea...

I recently graduated with my Masters in Arts Administration from Goucher College's MAAA program.  I'm not writing today to talk you into or out of applying for a graduate program in arts administration. I could espouse either side at length.  I would like to tell you, though, my personal most important lesson learned from graduate school.  Keep Asking Questions.  As time- and people- and resource- strapped arts organization administrators, we get caught in the mundane tasks of answering daily business questions. Did the press release get written? Did last week's box office receipts get deposited? Did we ever look into that children's programming?  Graduate school gives an arts administrator space to ask bigger questions. Questions like: --What if? --Why do it this way?  --What came before that I can learn from? --Who cares? --Why isn't there [insert idea here]? --Why now? --What happens if we don't do [insert action here]?...

This post was ostensibly about "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" But I don't believe in failure. At least, not in the way this question means it. Dictionary definitions of "Failure": 1. an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success: His effort ended in failure. The campaign was a failure. 2. nonperformance of something due, required, or expected: a failure to do what one has promised; a failure to appear. 3. a subnormal quantity or quality; an insufficiency: the failure of crops. 4. deterioration or decay, especially of vigor, strength, etc.: The failure of her health made retirement necessary. 5. a condition of being bankrupt by reason of insolvency. 6. a becoming insolvent or bankrupt: the failure of a bank. 7. a person or thing that proves unsuccessful: He is a failure in his career. The cake is a failure. So, what is "Success"? 1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts ...

When it is organization reflection time, what criteria do you use to make sure you're doing what you want and need to do? (This is assuming you have reflection time. If you don't, I suggest you start that right away.) One of my favorite guiding questions is a triplet: What should I stop doing? What should I start doing? And what should I continue (and/or increase) doing? These can be macro or microcosmic. Maybe your organization needs to stop. Maybe you need to call one donor every day just to say thank you (2 minute call, tops). Maybe you need to continue paying your artistic staff as much as you possibly can. Here are some of my organizational things for the next quarter: Stop: -doing the technical design work myself. -talking about payrates in a negative way -leaving strategic work for after the mundane Start: -varied networking to grow our audience -working the shiny new fundraising plan -find a pro-bono pr agency Continue/Increase -providing exce...

Since I'm covering the Orange County Arts Commission office today to accept Fall Grant Applications, I thought I'd write a little about advocacy. A lot of people get nervous when they hear the word "advocacy." Maybe it has to do with a fear of public speaking or of being rejected. Maybe it's about being scared of a perceived power imbalance. I think people are scared of "fundraising" for the same reasons. But no one should be scared of advocacy. The verb "advocate" means simply "to speak or write in favor of." Advocacy isn't rocket science. It's communication. Here are 3 tips on starting advocacy emails: 1. Know who you're emailing. The best connection is with your local representative, be that a municipal or county commissioner, or state district legislator. Start your research with where they stand on your particular interest area (the arts, obviously). Then expand to their other special areas. There may be unexpect...

A local theater acquaintance posted about her daily rituals and Forbes magazine recently published a list of 20 top-of-their-game-women's morning routines . At home, I am all about these things. At work, not as good. In order to be successful, arts organizations should build routines and rituals into the work day/week/quarter/year. Especially for smaller organizations, where employee(s) must juggle multiple work task hats: deliberate, consistent routines can help ensure that the work actually gets done. There are so many places to start or things to consider about setting up routines. Arts leaders need to have: -clear short and long term goals -strategies and tasks for achieving them -strategic thinking and professional development time -networking get-togethers -donor touches And other things to consider include: -which 8 hours out of the day are you really/do you need to be working? -familial commitments that require a flex schedule -personal "best" wor...

I found my way into theater a little later than other colleagues, according to informal conversation. I had "theater" friends in middle and high school, but I was never intrigued enough to want to join them on stage. 1 Until, that is, my local pro-am theater 2 produced the Finn/Lapine musical Falsettos. Through a series of poor teenager life choices, I served community service time at the theater while the show was going on. Luckily. Fortunately. Serendipitous-ly. If you don't know the show, it's the story of a Jewish family and their friends, many of whom are gay. Themes include being true with yourself and loved ones, growing up and the pain of adulthood, loving someone through good times and bad, and the importance of family.  I'm not Jewish. I didn't know any gay people (out, anyway). But I was moved to tears by every single performance I saw (including returning on my night off to actually purchase a ticket). I saw a story on that stage that not ...