August 21, 2008

BARRY'S BLOG RANKING OF THE TOP 25 MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE NONPROFIT ARTS

Hello everybody.

"And the beat goes on..........................."


WHO ARE THE MOST POWERFUL, INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN OUR FIELD????

Who sets our agendas, who controls the purse strings, who frames the dialogues? Which leaders are the most respected and highly-regarded? Who are our trend-setters, our taste-makers, our best thinkers, and established power brokers?

Below is the first annual Barry’s Blog’s Ranking of the Nonprofit Arts Sector’s 25 Most Powerful and Influential Leaders.

Is this important? Yes, in many ways it is, because these people largely determine how the debates in our sector are framed and what the agendas will be. They are the people who control much, if not most of the money, and decide where the funding goes (at least in broad swatches), what issues should be on the front burner, and what we talk about when we meet. They influence our goals and objectives, our priorities and the positions we take – and even the way we do things. In large part, they are our most experienced and knowledgeable people.

These are the people that are our public face – more often than not, those who the public sees when they think about the nonprofit arts sector’s leadership, and they are the people who, by and large, intersect with other interest groups and sectors – nonprofit, ‘for profit’ – and government. They are our spokespeople and our strategists; our thinkers and our analysts; they are the ones with influence and power. Our leadership. And ultimately they answer to us; it is 'we' who must hold them responsible.

We have no “Who’s Who” in the nonprofit arts sector, and I wanted to identify who the major movers and shakers in our field are, and indirectly identify what constitutes “power” in our field. I wonder if “power” is equitably distributed in the arts field – Geographically? Discipline wise? Gender wise? Diversity wise? I wonder about the impact and consequences of power centered where it is, exercised by those who wield it? These are legitimate inquires for us to address. I hope this list will spark discussion of the wider concept of power and influence within our field – where it is concentrated, who wields it, how it is being used and for what purposes.

I asked 75 leaders from all parts of our sector and all parts of the country – from large and small organizations – national, regional and local – and from every discipline and demographic to send me their nominations for the most powerful and influential leaders in our field. The process was anonymous and none of the nominators knew the identity of any of the other nominators. All were free to nominate anyone they thought qualified, including themselves (the only caveats being: 1) this was about arts administration and organizational leadership, and so I asked that we leave artists off this list (that’s a whole other ranking), and 2) that I was ineligible – not that I expected anyone would mention my name in any event).

Nominees could come from any area within our field. Their power and influence could come from their position, who they are, what they have done, how long they have been in the field, how highly they are respected, the fact that they control purse strings (or grants in our case) or whatever criteria the nominator choose.

Each nominee needed to have the capacity to exert influence in, and on, our field (either as a whole or on some distinct section therein) – how we arrive at policy, what agendas are set, who is considered an expert or not, what research is important, where money is spent, how we fundraise and market etc. etc. etc. Some nominees may be universally highly respected, others may have more than their share of detractors – the criteria is power and influence – not popularity. This really wasn’t a beauty contest. Nominators might strongly disagree with someone but still recognize that the person is powerful and influential.

45 of those I asked for names responded and while this was by no means anything other than a subjective exercise, there was a fair representation of our sector in terms of who responded. I then asked five people to help me prioritize the names of those nominated, and the result is the final list below.

This list is, of course, incomplete and flawed. It is just an attempt to identify who is perceived as being powerful within our small world. No insult is meant to anyone whose name is not on the list, and I am sure there are any number of people whose names should be on the list.

Here then is Barry’s Blog’s 25 Most Powerful & Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts:

(Note: There is a “Bubbling Under” section listing other leaders in our field who didn’t quite make the list but very well might have).

TOP 25 MOST POWERFUL & INFLUENTIAL NONPROFIT ARTS SECTOR LEADERS:

1. BOB LYNCH - PRESIDENT & CEO OF AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS
Consensus number one on majority of responses. Flush with cash from the Ruth Lily gifts, Bob has guided expansion of Americans for the Arts initiatives into advocacy, business, research, alliances, arts education, marketing and emerging leadership – building the nation’s largest and strongest arts service provider organization. Clearly the premier spokesperson for the arts sector in America. His seemingly laid- back, diplomatic style belies real ambition for the organization. A true political player – smart, savvy, and boundless enthusiasm.

2. MARION GODFREY – PEW FOUNDATION
Highly respected senior foundation leader much in demand for her thinking acumen and big picture analytical skills. Depth of experience adds to her bona fide creds. She is a voice of authority.

3. BEN CAMERON - DORIS DUKE FOUNDATION
Former TCG head now at Doris Duke Foundation. Power and influence come from oratory skills and keen analytical insights. Much in demand speaker. Huge network of fans. When he speaks, people listen.

4. DICK DEASEY – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARTS EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
Long standing arts education leader. Knows the arena as well or better than anyone. Gets out into the field rather than staying office bound. If arts education is, in reality, a separate and distinct sector, he is the head man.

5. ALAN BROWN – PRINCIPAL WOLF BROWN CONSULTING
Likely the most respected independent consultant in the whole arts & culture field. Hugely influential. Respected by arts organizations, funders, artists and other consultants. Current guru of audience development theories.

6. SAM MILLER – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LINC (LEVERAGING INVESTMENT IN CREATIVITY)
Pioneer in the burgeoning area of direct artist services. Persuasive case maker, detailed thinker. Very focused. Global traveler and large network of contacts. . Both smart and realistic. Bringing the artist to the decision making table.

7. CLAIRE PEEPS – DURFEE FOUNDATION
Though the Durfee Foundation based in Los Angeles is relatively small, her position as Chair of the Board of Grantmakers in the Arts has given her a large platform and influential voice in helping to shape Foundation agendas. Well liked. Term over soon.

8. DANIEL WINDHAM - WALLACE FOUNDATION
MOY ENG - HEWLETT FOUNDATION
TIM MCCLIMMON – AMERICAN EXPRESS FOUNDATION
SUE COLITON – PAUL ALLEN FOUNDATION
Four prominent leaders of Foundations with arts programs, each with large agenda, huge budget and lengthy experience in the field. Strategic thinkers. Closely watched by other foundation leaders.

9. DANA GIOIA – CHAIR NEA
Chair of NEA always in the Top Ten due to huge impact of funding in rural states and broad grants budget. Bully pulpit used well. Was effective in increasing NEA budget via working well with Congress. As his term is nearly over, his stock is now fading. Lame duck status.

10. JONATHAN KATZ EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NASAA
Long time leader and voice of state arts agencies. Wide network and deep experience. Understands the issues in depth; helps set agendas and priorities. Affable personality makes him accessible and well thought of.

11. ANDREW TAYLOR – BOLZ CENTER FOR ARTS ADMINISTRATION / UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN – MADISON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Probably the most influential blogger in the arts administration field. Travels to conferences extensively. The voice of university arts administration programs by virtue of his being President of the Association of Arts Administration Educators Enormously influential.

12. CONGRESSWOMAN LOUISE SLAUGHTER
CONGRESSMAN NORM DICKS
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
Slaughter & Dicks are the voice of the arts in Congress and the major forces behind protection of, and expansion of the budget of, the NEA. Mayor Bloomberg is the political protector of the arts in New York, and widely respected among the nation’s Mayors.

13. ELI BROAD
AGNUS GUND
Very active Los Angeles and New York philanthropic leaders, representative of the small class of very wealthy donors across the country who use their wallets to leverage local community support. Usually confine their largess to the major cultural institutions and are one reason for the health of many of those organizations. Patronage isn’t dead yet.

14. ANNE KATZ - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARTS WISCONSIN / CHAIR STATE ARTS ACTION NETWORK
Head honcho of the fledging State Local Arts Agency field, and point person in charge of the advocacy efforts. Locals continue to function as hubs in communities across the country and still wield considerable power in the aggregate. There remains a wealth of street smart experience in those organizations, and their power remains somewhat untapped.

15. LAURA ZUCKER - LOS ANGELES ARTS COMMISSION
MICHAEL SPRING - MIAMI DADE CULTURAL COUNCIL
PEGGY AMSTERDAM – GREATER PHILADELPHIA ARTS & CULTURE ALLIANCE
LEE KESSLER –ARTS & SCIENCE COUNCIL - CHARLOTTE MECKLENBURG
Best of the Class of Local Arts Agency leaders from Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and Charlotte respectively. Each a respected, experienced leader on both the local and national fronts. Each noted for their ability to get the job done.

16. ARNIE FISHBAUGH – MONTANA ARTS COUNCIL
KRIS TUCKER – WASHINGTON STATE ARTS COMMISSION
PHILIP HORN – PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL ON THE ARTS
Long time senior State Arts Agency leadership representative of rural, mid- sized and large states.

17. MARIALAURA LESLIE - MIAMI DADE COUNTY DEPT. OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS
SHANNON DAUT - WESTAF
DAVID DOMBROSKY - Director of Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon
Representative of the best and brightest of the next generation of arts leadership. Smart, savvy, insightful with new ideas to address old problems. The future.

18. KEVIN MCCARTHY - RAND CORPORATION
MARGARET WYSZMIRSKI – OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.
The two premier, long established researchers in the arts field. Their work is rigorous, academic and sets the standard for inquiry into the measurable aspects of arts evaluation and research. Their studies invariably set agendas and spur debate..

19. RICHARD FLORIDA – PROFESSOR CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY / AUTHOR
The Rise of the Creative Class and its’ implications for our field continues to provoke dialogue and controversy. A real life hero to the field, which has understandably embraced Florida’s thesis wholeheartedly. Taught the arts a new vocabulary and armed them with a big arrow for their quiver. Has become an icon.

20. NINA OZLU, RANDY COHEN, GARY STEUER - AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS
The highly energized, loyal and capable backup team for Bob Lynch at Americans for the Arts. They strategize, implement and are largely the ones behind the research, advocacy / lobbying, public policy and business & the arts initiatives of AFTA. A better team can’t be found.

21. CORA MIRIKITANI DIRECTOR CENTER FOR CULTURAL INNOVATION
DONNA WALKER KUHNE - INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT
BARBARA SCHAFFER-BACON - INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT
Three of the more prominent and highly regarded thinkers / consultants in the field. Cora, formerly the head of the Irvine Foundation Arts Program is the west coast counterpart to Sam Miller in the movement to provide services to, and build a community within, the artist field. Donna is the field’s major domo in diversity audience research. Barbara is long standing big picture thinker.

22. PATRICE WALKER POWELL – DEPUTY DIRECTOR NEA
BILL IVEY – DIRECTOR CURB CENTER OF ART, ENTERPRISE & PUBLIC POLICY
NEA current deputy and long respected among the nation’s arts organizations, and the most active of the former NEA Chairs. Patrice knows everybody, and Bill (very successful author and speaker) heads the Curb Arts & Culture think tank at Vanderbilt University.

23. LOIS WEISBERG - COMMISSIONER OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS – CITY OF CHICAGO?
Long an institution (and still active) in the Chicago Arts scene, if Obama wins she may see a dramatic rise in her star.

24. ANNE IMELDA RADICE – INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM & LIBRARY SCIENCES
MARC SCORCA - OPERA AMERICA
D.C. based umbrella organization heads with influence beyond their own constituencies.

25. YOU
Very likely the MOST influential and powerful people in our sector are all the unknown local arts administrators, leaders, volunteers and supporters who toil long and hard with little acknowledgment or thanks. Whether you know it or not, each of you wield enormous power and influence within your communities, and in the aggregate you are the backbone and the core of the entire sector. YOU are the one that really has the power to set our agendas, determine our priorities, craft our strategies and approaches and guide our actions. YOU are our public face and voice and the direct connection between our sector and all of those we work and intersect with every day, and it is YOU that will, in the final analysis, determine our future.

BUBBLING UNDER:
FOUNDATION LEADERS: John McGuirk – Irvine Foundation
Rory McPherson – Wallace Foundation
Olive Mosher – Penn Foundation
John Killacky – San Francisco Foundation
STATE / REGIONAL ARTS LEADERS: Anthony Radich – WESTAF
David Fraher – Arts Midwest
Alan Cooper – Mid-Atlantic Arts Federation
Gerry Coombs – Southern Arts Federation
Rebecca Blunk – New England Foundation for the Arts
Bob Booker – Arizona Commission on the Arts
Mary Regan – North Carolina Arts Council
Randy Rosenbaum – Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
CITY ARTS LEADERS: Olga Garay – Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles
Jonathan Glus – Houston Arts Alliance
UMBRELLA GROUPS: Henry Fogel – American Symphony Orchestra League
Andrea Snyder – Dance USA
EMERGING LEADERS: John Arroyo – LA County Arts Commission
Amanda Ault – National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture

CONSULTANTS:
Diane Matarazza
David Pletner
Victoria Saunders
Ramona Baker

Have a great week-end.

And remember, Don't Quit!

Barry

July 06, 2008

AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS CONVENTION REVISITED

Hello everyone.

"And the beat goes on......................."


ADVOCACY WORKSHOP:
Before I forget, I want to hype an Advocacy Workshop I'm facilitating locally in Marin County on Wednesday, July 23rd from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Hosted by the Marin Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership. I hope a lot of arts administrators from Napa, Sonoma, and Marin will show up. It would be cool to have the start of a North Bay Arts Advocacy Alliance. Click here for registration information: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=161699

AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA
I meant to write a recap of my impressions and conversations at the AFTA conference in Philly two weeks ago, but you know how that goes --you play catch-up when you get back, new stuff happens and the alluring charms of procrastination win more than one day.

It was, I think, one of the best of the AFTA conventions in some time. First, it was their largest gathering ever - 1400+ people. Second it was organized superbly; with some very good sessions and some excellent speakers. Congratulations in particular to Peggy Amersterdam from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and her staff, and to Bob Lynch and Mara Walker and the AFTA staff for keeping things running so effortlessly smoothly.

The part I usually enjoy the most, is the chance to see old friends and colleagues that I haven't seen for awhile, catch up, exchange ideas and get energized again. I have rarely come away from one of these gatherings without some new idea or project to throw myself into, and this one was no exception. More on all that in the future.

I would like to share two things I carried away from this conference. And BTW, if you would like to read more about the conference, they asked a number of people to blog about their experiences (what a good idea)and you can access those blogs by clicking here: http://blog.artsusa.org/


The National Arts Policy Roundtable is a project of Americans for the Arts and Robert Redford's The Sundance Preserve. It is an annual meeting of an 'A' List group of people from various sectors - arts, business, government, civic, academia etc. etc. to talk in relatively general terms about very big issues. This year's focus was on creativity and business - specifically "The role of the arts in building the 21st century American workforce." The Roundtable made a number of generalized recommendations on conducting research, facilitating a dialogue, developing a vocabulary, increasing awareness and fostering more alliances.

Whereas once our sector's focus was on the general economic impact of our sector, and creativity as an economic engine, two decades plus of successfully making the case for our economic value, has allowed a shift now to creativity's impact on business, innovation, job preparedness and other factors critical to America's competitiveness in the global marketplace. This is still an economic argument, but it is targeted towards our value to business and industry.

Most certainly for all of the dozen years I have been involved in the arts & culture field, the idea of having a more solid, meaningful relationship with the business community has been high on our wish list. We've talked for a long time about a partnership with business. Of course what we really meant, was that we wanted business to support us more -- more vocally to the media and elected officials, and with more money. Perhaps it was all too apparent to corporations and companies that we were much clearer on what we wanted from them, then what we offered in return. Progress on this front has been painfully slow and one of the reasons is that we didn't clarify what we brought to the table.

But now we have begun to focus on what we have to offer. As usual with us, the first stage of our getting serious about pushing realtionships we know will be of value to our missions, is to codify the advantages invovlement in the arts means to those we are making our case to. So with government officials (and the media and wider public too), our economic arguments were that the more the arts grow the better it is for local, state and national economies. We pump money into the system, create jobs, add to tax coffers, support key industries blah blah blah.

And now we are arguing that invovlement in the arts is good for business people with bottom lines. Employees trained in arts make better workers; workers that produce more ideas, deal better with problems, work better as team players, are more comfortable with risk taking, and generally have more of the skills companies are looking for. We need more research, more concrete ideas, more specificity on our value to industry, more conversation and dialogue with business about what they need and want -- and how we can respond to those needs and desires.

We have noted (correctly I think) that businesses are beginning to wake up to the idea that creativity -- creative thinking and idea generation - are good for their companies. And so we want to capitalize on that opening and move the arts agenda along by zeroing in on what the arts do to help foster, nourish and support creativity in the business sector. Like our claims about our economic value, we will have to explain not only what we do that works, but "how" the arts accomplish the objectives important to business, and why it works.


WE GOT A LONG, LONG WAY TO GO BABE:
But while this is all exciting stuff and unquestionably we have made progress over the past decade, nonetheless things have been moving pretty darn slow on this track. There have been untold numbers of initiatives and forays into this area in the past decade - some very small, initiated by a single organization or even person, some larger but still local, some on state levels, and some national, and we are still some ways away from any benchmark success to which we can point. It's hard to remember that things take a long time to accomplish some times. This is one of them.

The session on the National Arts Policy Roundtable - led by Marian Godfrey of the Pew Foundation, with input by AFTA's Gary Steuer and others, released some key findings germane to this topic by The Conference Board which is a business & industry 501 (c) (3) nonprofit mechanism that "creates and disseminates knowledge about management and the marketplace to help businesses strengthen their performance(s)" (their definition). They are highly influential and respected within corporate America.

The Conference Board surveyed educators and business executives to sample each group's thoughts about arts education and its value to business. (click here for a copy of that report: www.conference-board.org/publications/describe.cfm?id=1452

Not surprising, the executives favor creativity. The see it as valuable, impactful, crucial. But that's a lot like waving the flag and championing motherhood. Who's against creativity? There's been enough made of cretivity in the last five years (kudos to our team for being party responsible for that), enough written about it or enough said about it in the media, that every CEO is going to be "for" creativity. That's a long way from them and us being on the same page.

See, we are still at square one with all of this. Even though we have spent thousands of hours talking about how to develop, solidify, expand and promote a relationship with business that benefits the arts, and even though we have actually made progress in the overall scheme, we are still really early in making it happen -- somewhere akin perhaps to where we were 15 years ago in making the economic argument.


NOT EXACTLY ON THE SAME PAGE, YET:
One result of the survey by the Conference Board was most telling. When CEOs and School Superintendents were asked to rank which skill best demonstrates creativity - the school superintendents choose "problem solving" (and we in the arts have long pushed problem solving as a skill we can teach and impart). But the CEOs choose "problem identification" or "articulation", and that is something altogether different. The CEO's ranked problem identification #1, the superintendents ranked it #9. And the CEOs ranked problem solving #8, while the superintendents ranked it #1. At this workshop there was some discussion of how companies believe that once a problem is identified, then resolving it in their favor is more of a technical exercise. Creativity is in the identification process and you know, from their point of view, that makes a lot of sense, because the sooner a company can identify problems, the quicker it can address them and the less potential downside there will be.

Business is still not all about taking risks, it's about minimizing them. It's not that they fail to realize risk taking is part of the competitive process, it's that to survive they must have the capacity to minimize the costs of the risk process.


VOCABULARY - "so Tonto, Kemosabe means best buds, right?"
When we talk about creativity, we mean "the arts" and how it fosters and promotes creativity. When business talks about creativity, they are primarily talking about "innovation" and "entrepreneurism." When GE changed their slogan to: "Imagination at work" - they don't necessarily mean what we in the arts take that to mean. Yes they definitely mean the generation of new ideas, for that is the lifeblood of any business enterprise, but they also mean advanced thinking in the execution of those ideas. In the process of moving ideas to reality, that process must be managed effectively and efficiently - and that management needs to be creative too. The point is that our community and the business community are yet to agree on the basic vocabulary for creativity. We mean different things when we use terms like creativity, innovation, value etc. We must now make as our next priority arriving at a consensus with business and industry on what we mean when we talk to each other, and to define what values we are looking to expand. Both them and us, not just us. Otherwise we aren't going to get anywhere.

Two things need to happen next. First we need to begin to approach our interaction with business and industry not just from the point of them ultimately supporting us, but also from the point of what can we specifically do for them. And second, the best way to begin to figure out what we can do for them, is to first agree on our vocabulary. In short, we have to demonstrate to them that we understand what they want when they talk about the value of creativity, and we can talk with them about how the arts can help them get it. Now in the long run we can hopefully expand what they think of as creativity and our role in its creation, sustainability, application, function and the like, but first we need them to understand that we understand what they are talking about ---- because we aren't yet there folks. I think it's time to move from the smart and strategic recommendations that we've come up with over the last few years, to specific, albeit small, action steps.


THE FUTURE - PREDICTIONS FROM AN EXPERT:
One of the most interesting and entertaining of the featured speakers was Andrew Zolli - a mid-thirties, well regarded and highly networked, self-described "futurist" whose keynote presentation was witty, chock full of "who knew" data, and provocative intimations as to what it all might mean.

I am a big fan of futurists - I find the very exercise of looking at data and today's realities and trying to hypothesize as to what all the current reality might morph into down the line to be fascinating. As Mr. Zolli freely admitted - more often than not we all get it wrong. All futurists love demographic, and especially population data, and Mr. Zolli was no exception. Here's a few facts: By 2050 there will be 9.2 billion people on the planet. We're looking at a steady 40 to 50% growth rate -- in Africa the rate is 120%, only in Russia and Europe is the rate on the way down. For the first time in history, we are on the cusp of being truly urban - more people living in cities across the planet than in rural or suburban areas. There is also a fundamental shift from the western to eastern worlds. So for example, London is currently one of the top Twenty Cities by popultion in the world. By 2020 it won't even be on the top 20 list. And by 2020, the number three biggest city in the world will be Lagos Nigeria. By 2025 there will be far fewer people on the planet who are in the middle of their lives, and far more either older or younger.

What good is all this information to us? Well, here's one example: as older people may need to stay on the job longer to maintain their own longer life spans, that fact may mean we will be looking towards boomers who would otherwise be retired to fill some of the nonprofit arts leadership posts that will go unfilled because there aren't enough people in the younger cohort available to fill all the jobs that will need people. Ironically, maybe the solution to some generational succession challenges will be the older generation. If older women - who outlive their husbands - begin to increasingly move in with their daughters or daughters in law, that may change the nuclear family dynamics. How does that affect us?

America is headed towards a national no majority ethnic group. Whites may be the largest group, but they will not have a majority (no group will)by 2050. What will this mean to the arts provision of "content" in the future?

For the first time ever in America women outnumber men in college. Can the glass ceiling last much longer? Does this impact financial support for the arts in future?

We are seeing the rise of social networks, because it seems the smaller the community, the better and more meaningful the communication. Networks become the water cooler of the future. Too big and there goes any meaningful converstion around the water cooler. Haven't the arts been doing that for awhile? How can we do it better will be one of the primary challenges we face in the future of audience development.

Zolli suggested that we are in the midst of a change in public attitudes on some fundamental levels. For example, America is moving towards re-evaluation of brands based on citizenship criteria. There is a growth in people's evaluation of the cultural implications of a company's actions as a core of its brand. Thus a favorable brand identity is based increasingly in part on social, environmental and other stewardship questions. Won't that be good for the arts in making arguments to the business community that involvement with us will be good for them on multiple levels? (see early discussion on business and the arts above).

I suppose the most significant shift is that we have begun to make major shifts in almost everything. Faster than we can manage, our lives our changing. In just the past six months, the price of a barrel of oil has fundamentally changed the world. And where will it all lead? Who knows? If America were at war with Iran over something like nuclear capability, some experts predict that it is not inconceivable that oil could temporarily rise to $300 to $400 a barrel! Then what would happen around the world?

Then again, other experts insist the oil crisis is largely the result of speculation and manipulation (that the demand in China isn't yet as large as some would have us believe, that American demand is already down, etc.) Where the truth is in all of this is elusive.

We are looking at food shortages and riots in some places already. There are other actions, seemingly small on their face, that might have equally monumental impacts. Most of these large issues do not impact us in the short term - not individual organizations -- then again do they?

Is the oil crisis good or bad for the arts. I've suggested on many occassions that I wish we had think tanks to deal with these big issues on behalf of the arts field as a whole. These issues are simply too big for any one organization or region to deal with in any meaningful way. Perhaps we need a National Arts Policy Roundtable with a full time staff that didn't meet just once a year to talk in broad terms about a single issue, but one that worked day to day to see the implications, problems, obstacles, and opportunities for our sector in large trends and developments. Isn't that exactly what other industries do - both in the private sector and even in some quarters of the nonprofit world?


POLITCS:
The report from the Arts Action Fund - the PAC arm of AFTA was encouraging. For the first time in a Presidential primary contest, several of the candidates adopted pro arts positions - from Obama to Huckabee - Hillary Clinton, Governor Richardson and others acknowledged the value of arts & culture and committed to support. There is actually an Obama Arts Policy Committee. The McCain camp is apparently also interested in developing their own arts & culture policy position and hopefully both parties will include support for our sector in the campaign platforms at their conventions. Candidates from both parties - at all levels - are beginning to include support for the arts, and recognition of the value to our society that arts & culture offer, as part of their campaigns. To insure this isn't just rhetoric, we need to be active players in this election year. If you care about arts funding and government support, you need to consider how you can best impact the system.

This election year presents extraordinary opportunites for the arts to make significant advances in establishing itself with widespread, broad based congressional support. Someday perhaps every state will form their own PAC and we can at long last harvest the massive potential of our field to wield real political power. Not until we have that power will we ever be safe from funding cuts. Think about it please.

I would like to thank Nina Ozlu (and Jay Dick)for inviting me to sit on the convention session on advocacy.

It was a very good conference.

COMING SOON:



BARRY'S BLOG FIRST ANNUAL RANKING OF THE MOST POWERFUL AND INFLUENTIAL LEADERS IN THE NONPROFIT ARTS.

Have a great week everybody.

Don't Quit
 
Barry

June 03, 2008

Barry's Blog - RACE & GENDER - Time for a New Look?

Hello everybody.

"And the beat goes on....................."

RACE AND GENDER - TIME FOR A NEW LOOK:
Like many of you I have been following the ups and downs of the Democratic Presidential race, including the issues of race and gender – both the insightful and carefully thought out comments on these issues, as well as the mindless, and at times, offensive rhetoric that has also been heard.

Barack Obama's nomination is an historic milestone in our country's history and shows that we have come a long way in terms of equality of opportunity. As is Hillary Clinton's extraordinary support. We have a long ways to go to be sure, and it remains, of course, to see what the future holds, but I think this nomination is something of which the country can take pride irrespective of November's election. Perhaps not yet the promised land Martin Luther King dreamt about, but another step up the mountain.

Change seems to always be about taking one step after another.

Because race and gender are increasingly prevalent on the media radar screens (unfortunately, as often as not, for all the wrong reasons), I wonder if this isn’t a good time to see if there aren’t some issues attendant to those broad topics that our sector should take another look at.

While much of the thinking in America still sees race and gender issues (at least in politics) as a potential, if not real, problem ---in the arts sector, I believe we have long thought of the diversity of race and gender as an asset.

So this blog is devoted to asking some questions of ourselves about what race and gender issues (as the same may apply to our field) might deserve more attention. I think there are three areas that might benefit from an examination: Art and Artists, Access and Audiences, and Administration (or Leadership).

Let’s take the RACE issue first, and by race, we are talking about what our sector calls multicultural diversity.

Art and Artists
I think there has been a long period of basic consensus in our field that it is critical to the health of a vibrant arts & culture sector to promote, nourish, and sustain the continuing growth of a wide and deep multicultural arts component as part of the totality of what we offer to America. In California, for example, every culture on the planet is represented as part of the population, and each of those cultures has its own individual artistic heritage and legacy as currently practiced to contribute to the whole. Elsewhere across the country, we are as diverse a society as anywhere on the planet, and it seems to me there is near unanimity that we all benefit enormously from every single culture being represented as part of our arts and culture future.

The first question that occurs to me is: “How are we doing in terms of supporting and facilitating the growth and health of that diversity?” When I was Director of the California Arts Council and the agency had a relatively healthy budget, when the Governor and Legislature were both supportive of insuring that we provided direct support for multicultural organizations, we had programs that did just that. We not only supported multicultural arts organizations as a separate category deserving of special attention, we tried to be directly supportive of multicultural artists, and of the various parts of the whole of multicultural arts – including Latino, African-American, Asian Pacific Islander and Native American arts so that each constituency would have a seat at the table and an umbrella service organization to represent their interests as sub-sections of the larger whole. We thought there were a host of reasons why it was important to do whatever was possible to nurture and nourish the growth of multicultural arts. I believe that same feeling was echoed by virtually every state agency across America.

Now, of course, California is entering the fourth or fifth year of virtually no real per capita state support (California continues, alas, to rank dead last), and much of the money that previously specifically supported multicultural arts organization growth no longer exists. I am sure many of the foundations that have at least tried to take up some of that slack, together with most of the municipal agencies – cities and counties that have maintained grant programs for diversity – continue to recognize and champion support for multicultural arts organization growth, health and survival. But is it enough? We continue to grow, the economy shrinks – are the multicultural arts communities growing, shrinking, or simply holding their own? Are the needs that were previously identified and acknowledged being met? Are there new and different needs that have arisen? Are those being met? Can we meet old or new needs in the current climate?

I don’t think we know. There has been no statewide attempt (or national that I know of) that has tried to take a look at multicultural arts provision of late – to even map what exists in 2008, and to compare what exists today with what existed five years (ten years) ago as a means to assess where we stand, what has been or is being lost, where the growth has been, what is needed to address various old and new challenges and obstacles, and to take advantage of current or coming opportunities. We haven’t any basis or study to analyze the health of this part of our sector at all really. I think we need more research and data – both for practical reasons and to help us make new arguments for new support.

In California, I suspect that the lack of state funding, coupled with the collapse of the economy, and rising fuel costs and the impact of fuel costs on inflation, has hit the multicultural arts sector particularly hard. I know too that foundations have been aware of this fact and have tried to address the needs of the multicultural community, and with encouraging success, but I suspect it isn’t really enough. So what has been the impact? Where do we stand? What is needed? And how can we address the issues – of both multicultural organizations and individual artists?

Having been in the proverbial political hot seat at one time, I acknowledge the argument that all boats must rise and that we must address and protect all sectors of the arts universe, but I think there are compelling reasons why we must make sure that the growth, capacity and stability in the multicultural arts field that we collectively worked so hard to establish and promote over a decade or longer, doesn’t now recede so that we lose a lot of the ground we had won.

While race may yet divide us politically (and one hopes to the smallest possible extent at this point in our existence), I believe most of us believe race and diversity in the arts & culture sector can unite us and make each of the other sub-parts that much more vibrant and alive. Though I know there isn’t unanimity on the proposition that individual arts organization territoriality and the “what’s in it for me” attitude really doesn’t serve us well, I think here in California (and elsewhere) we made great inroads into thinking of ourselves as a “community”. I suspect that many multicultural arts organizations and even individual artists are feeling the pinch particularly hard right now – though I accept and acknowledge that belt tightening and downsizing and other unpleasant decisions are facing everyone in the arts.

Access and Audiences:
One of the real issues for the multicultural wing of the arts & culture sector is, of course, access to the arts and development of their audiences (both within the individual cultures and across the wider culture).

I wonder how they are faring on this plane? Are multicultural arts organizations and the artists they serve making progress or falling behind in their attempt to increase public access to their art, to widening and deeping their audiences – both from within their own communities and the crossover to other cultures and other communities? Do we know?

Certainly economic considerations, leisure time availability, competition in the marketplace, and other factors play within the multicultural communities as they do in the wider community as a whole. Everything from ticket prices to program content to marketing and media management are all issues that affect and impact the success of any arts organization or individual artist in making their art more accessible, and expanding their potential and real audiences. Everyone is trying to cast a wider net, with mixed results. Tourism is actually up and so, I think, is the public’s positive feeling towards the performing and exhibition arts. If there has been some contraction in the overall efforts of the arts in audience expansion, because of obstacles and barriers - new and old - has it hit the multicultural arts communities harder or substantially the same? Do we know? Would it be helpful it we did know?

I do wonder to what purpose some of the new and increased arts education money might ultimately help to foster and promote both multicultural arts understanding and appreciation, new creativity, access and future audience development, and hope that those goals might benefit at least in part from the arts education expenditures in the future, (though I do also recognize that even though $105 million – the California arts education allocation - sounds like a lot – it is but a miniscule drop in the bucket given the size of California’s school population, and the recent history of treating arts education as an unnecessary luxury, the first of the so called electives to get the ax in tough times, and the fact that schools across the state have the most basic of needs – teachers, supplies, instruments, space and time – all essential to get arts education provision anywhere near where it ought to be.

Administration:
Then there is the question of leadership. Within the whole of the arts sector we have a multitude of issues to face on this issue: how to provide competitive compensation; how to manage training and technical assistance provision so as to facilitate on-going learning with the goal of our administrators becoming better managers; generational succession issues; recruitment and retention of the best candidates we can attract; time management (far too many things to do in the course of a day than there is time for); protecting the institutional memory of so many people leaving the field or likely to leave in the next decade, to name but a few. How do all of these and all the other issues of professional, effective arts administration differ (if at all) for multicultural arts organizations? What special challenges and needs do multicultural organizations have that ought to be addressed? And, of course, can any such needs be addressed in our current situation?

Clearly, the future of protecting and expanding multicultural arts and all that might mean to our society’s future, lies largely in the hands of the leadership of the multicultural arts sectors themselves. But, what are we doing to make sure we provide every advantage to that sector so that it can provide leadership within its community?

Of course, many might argue that the needs of the multicultural arts communities are no different than the whole (or any other sector of the whole) of the arts & culture community – and that as we identify the needs of the whole, and prioritize them, addressing those priorities benefits everyone. I agree. But I would also argue that there is a fragility to certain aspects of multicultural arts provision that demands and deserves (in all our best interests) some special attention particularly in the tougher times.


Let’s move on to GENDER as the second issue:


Art and Artists
I don’t think gender is really an issue here. I think we have relatively equal opportunity for both men and women to be artists. Creativity is largely, in the arts sector anyway, gender blind. I suppose there might still be some general bias within the education system that continues to teach young girls that they have limitations boys don’t – but I think (and hope) that we continue to make progress in finally getting rid of that dangerous, stupid admonition.


Access and Audiences:
Here too I think Gender is less of a challenge than multiculturalism and race. By and large women have as equal (or even greater) access to arts, and to being artists, as do men. Our audiences – from dance and theater and music to museums and film - have as many women in the seats as men (perhaps even more – and maybe the Gender issue here is even how to involve more men and boys).

Administration:
It is in the area of Arts Administration and Leadership where I think Gender raises issues that we ought to address.

Though I don’t know for sure, observation suggests to me that there are probably more women running arts organizations than men, more women on staffs, but with more men running the very biggest cultural organizations. I’m not sure if that holds true in the multicultural arts organizations, but I think it probably does. In part, of course, this is a legacy from our past when the arts weren’t considered important enough for men to devote careers in the field, and the pay was so low that it discouraged breadwinners from looking to it as a steady source of income. Of course much of that reality has, or is, changing – though still, unfortunately, not completely. The arts are an industry attracting talented, smart people of both sexes from all backgrounds; everybody is a breadwinner today by necessity; and the pay is getting better (though, I think, not yet actually competitive).

Again, I don’t know, but I suspect women are paid less than their male counterparts even in our sector – at least at certain levels and in certain places - both horizontally and vertically within an organization and within the field as a whole. I know for a fact, based on the ongoing Youth Involvement Study I am doing with the Hewlett Foundation, that there is a current (and growing - due to the failing economy) problem with mid-level, mid-career women arts administrators who simply cannot afford to stay in the field and are opting out for higher paying jobs either in other sectors of the nonprofit universe or in the private sector. With increasing inflation, kids reaching college age and the looming expense of providing higher education, and even future retirement needs greater now than they were in the past, more and more women who would like to continue to pursue arts administration as a career path can no longer afford to do so. Is that or will that be true for men too? What do we do? Having mid-level management exit the field is a potentially huge problem -- for those are the leaders we have been cultivating to assume the helm of our organizations.

To what extent is there a glass ceiling still in place in our industry? While there are women in all kinds of leadership positions within our field, is it the norm at the highest levels? Certainly well qualified women lead many major institutions, head foundation programs, occupy government seats of power, run boards of directors and come from all areas of the private sector. But is there still any remainder of inequality in our field? I’m just asking? I don’t know. But I do know that we ought to know answers to these and other questions raised herein and lying out there. Because we need the answers to questions like these if we are to make intelligent choices in terms of what strategies we embrace to address our challenges.

Fortunately, the arts & culture universe has come a long way towards establishing a level playing field based on gender. Perhaps more so than on race – but that may be true across our whole society. What are the special Gender issues for the arts & culture nonprofit universe? And what might we do to address issues that arise? These are just questions for us to consider and not ignore.

Considering race and gender – multicultural arts provision and the challenges facing women in arts administration as part of addressing all of the needs of our sector - points to the crushing need we have for an overall arts & culture sector public policy in these and other areas.

PUBLIC POLICY FORMATION:
We don’t have a single, consensus based, comprehensive, well thought out, strategic public policy for arts & culture in this country. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised – we don’t have a real foreign policy, we certainly don’t have an energy policy, we don’t have a comprehensive ecological policy – we pretty don’t have any consensus, overarching policies to deal with all of the challenges, obstacles, barriers, opportunities and possibilities for our country’s future. I would think we in the arts & culture sector could do better in this area.

Somebody ought to convene a national conference with a representative sampling of our leadership (not all the big name, important people that tangentially touch our field but who are really academicians, celebrities, business leaders etc., and not just the name recognition national leaders either (although them for sure)-- but also the average, common “in-the-trenches” typical arts organization leadership too (at least for the first go round) and begin to hammer out a comprehensive, well thought out, overarching national arts & culture public policy that addresses issues from multicultural arts provision, to gender participation; from arts education, to audience and access development; from funding, to government support; from economic development to international cooperation and collaboration; from leadership issues to business coalitions; from media coverage and so on and so on. And the process ought to somehow involve the whole of the field. It might take two or even three years to complete, and, of necessity, this must be a recurring event, because no policy, however arrived at, will be on point and relevant over a long period. Changes in circumstances dictate that public polices in any sector need on-going revision and updating.

I know there have been some very worthwhile and meaningful efforts towards this goal in the past – both localized and more far reaching; from valuable Manifestos to smaller Strategic Plans. This isn’t a new idea – and all those efforts that have already come should be used as a foundation on which to build. But I think a truly national all-inclusive policy – comprehensive (but not so bogged down in minutia and petty detail as to be crippling and exhaustive) and one that was specific, would help us to make our case better to all those to whom we wish to make our case, would garner us more public support and media attention, and provide critically needed guidelines and blueprints so that we were all of the same mind, all on the same page, about what we believed was important, necessary, immediate - and would underpin our actions and words. I think this is just another element in efforts to galvanize the arts as a community – a goal that still seems too elusive for our field. I think we continue to pay the price for not being a cohesive, united force. We continue to move in that direction, but still, too often, we go our own way and think our own self-interest trumps the good for the whole of us. I think, to the degree that attitude continues, we are harmed by failing to harness the power we have together - particularly in comparison and competition with other sectors that have put away some of their self-interest to act in concert.

Race and Gender are two subjects. How are we doing in those two areas? Is it time to take another hard look? Doubtless there are countless other subjects to examine as well. I know there is little money or time to support continuous research, data collection and analysis and planning - but it is expensive and time-consuming NOT to engage in those activities too.

I hope somebody gets us to the point of a national Arts Policy someday. I know a lot of people have been talking about it for years. We can, and should, develop mechanisms for real public policy formulation – dialogue and debate that deals across the board with the critical issues of the arts and which involves everyone. Just the process would reap enormous benefits.

And we should at least begin to get a better picture than we have now about the current status of multicultural arts provision and the challenges facing women in our leadership model.

Just my opinion anyway.


AFTERTHOUGHT
On another topic having absolutely nothing to do with anything really, I just can't help but comment on something not so important perhaps, but that strikes me anyway.

All during the contentious contest between Senators Obama and Clinton, there has been both threat and fear that the supporters of one would not support the other. Party stalwarts, fearing such an eventuality, have as staunchly and frequently as they could reassured the media and the public that on the contrary, given what is at stake in November, the party would unify behind its nominee. I think that's right, they likely will.

But the media in wanting to reduce this entire subject to a sound bite, as only the media can, began early trumpeting such unification as: "Oh yea, and everyone will sing "Kumbaya"- thereby trivializing not only the issue but, and I find this insulting, the song too.

I remember first hearing the song sung by Joan Baez at a concert in Berkeley when I was a sophmore in the 60's. And, like millions of my generation at the time, found the song hauntingly beautiful. It became one of the anthems of the 60's and the civil rights movement and the protest against the war in Vietnam. And now it is in danger of becoming the equivalent of some b.s. kind of touchy feely thing.
According to Wikipedia - which Gore Vidal insists is 100% wrong on everything, 100% of the time, the origin of the song is either a reverend in Oregon in the 1930's or it has African slave and even Arabic antecedents that go farther back. No matter, it is a song about the common shared plight of man, it is a song of all of us in it together and it is a quite beautiful song.

I hate that the media is making it synonymous with sappyness.

Have a great week.

Don’t Quit.

Barry