A Time of Change!
A Time for Change? (Part I)
by Steven A. Wolff

Leaders of America’s arts organizations are exploring new opportunities and confronting new challenges every day. In the first part of a two-part series on changes in our industry, we will examine four of eight themes, or "areas of change", that we believe affect every arts and culture organization and the way they do business. As we travel across the country to conduct research, assist in planning new endeavors, and help develop policy, we are privileged to visit with arts and community leaders and observe how the sector is responding to change. To be successful, arts leaders require professional expertise, an acute awareness of the markets in which they work, and leadership skills to manage change.

We invite you to read this brief commentary and add your comments to our blog, "A Time for Change," using the link provided at the end of the article.

1. The changing definition of arts and culture
Since 1982 the National Endowment for the Arts has been surveying Americans participation in the arts (available on-line in pdf format), examining seven benchmark activities: jazz, classical music, opera, musicals, plays, ballet and art museums.

In 2007, this list appears to be an obsolete and narrow definition of the arts largely based on traditional Euro-centric assumptions. Today, events from Orlando’s Fringe Festival to Spoleto in Charleston, the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Def Comedy and Poetry Slams, drumming circles, book clubs and YouTube are all acknowledged as arts and cultural activities. One national arts leader recently noted, "if you look carefully, each and every American is participating in the arts each and every day." How do we address such a broad definition of arts and culture in understanding our market(s) and providing appropriate programming?

2. Redefining the value of the Arts and Culture
In the 1990’s, many arts and culture organizations used economic arguments to make the case for their existence and advocate for funding and support. However, as the Rand publication "The Gifts of the Muse" argues, the benefits of the arts are both instrumental (e.g., economic impact) and intrinsic (e.g., personal meaning), and maximum value is achieved by considering both. The value and impact of the arts is broad, increasing economic benefit to the community, fostering educational achievement, empowering individual expression, and enhancing communities’ competitiveness and success by enabling and encouraging creativity and ingenuity. How can the arts and cultural sector best leverage this broader-base of intrinsic benefits and positive impacts?

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3. Blurring of the for-profit and non-for-profit sector
Market driven for-profit corporations are increasingly pursuing opportunities to generate and present content that has traditionally been the purview of mission-driven non-profit arts and culture organizations. Examples include music festivals that range from Bonaroo to Burning Man. Blockbuster museum exhibitions like the recent King Tut showcase or "Body", have accompanying ‘rock star’ marketing campaigns and ticket prices, and Broadway’s hybrid musical extravaganzas like Riverdance. It’s not a big leap from Amateur Night at the Apollo to American Idol. How do we take advantage of for-profits "infringement" on the arts and cultural world? Do we accept their involvement and just move one, or somehow take advantage of their contributions? How does their involvement affect our business?

4. The viability of our delivery system
We have invested heavily in building facilities to house our arts and cultural treasures, and to accommodate our theater, dance, opera companies and symphony orchestras. In general, these types of cultural facilities support a passive connection between the art and the audience. Action within the facility is largely based on ‘sit and listen’ or stand and look’ activities. Typically, others with vast experience and expertise (e.g., curators, artistic directors, maestros, etc.) decide what is to be performed or what is displayed. Is this still appropriate given our expanded understanding of arts and culture?  

Join the conversation
These themes and subsequent questions are some of the challenges we are grappling with everyday. Take a minute and join the conversation. Go to blog.ams-online.com and contribute your thoughts to our blog "A Time for Change." The discussion will stimulate new ideas, and encourage us all to think creatively about the challenges ahead. We will report on your contributions and complete the summary of the additional four areas of change in our next issue of Insights, where we will explore:

• The changing tastes of the consumer
• The non-profit arts organization business model
• New expectations for governance
• Our shifting population

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