All stories by Diane Ragsdale on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Why Beauty in a Business School? by Diane Ragsdale

  A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about the course in beauty that I am teaching this term at UW-Madison, under the auspices of the Business School and the Bolz Center for Arts Admini…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:51AM
Thursday, January 22, 2015

Approaching Beauty in a Business School by Diane Ragsdale

In a week I will be heading to Madison, Wisconsin to teach a 12-week course in beauty for undergraduate business majors.  The course is aimed at helping students cultivate an aesthetic sens…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:30AM
Sunday, August 24, 2014

The Arts in a Civic World Upside Down by Diane Ragsdale

A couple months back I was asked to give a talk on civic leadership to a group of arts leaders participating in the fantastic UK-based Clore Leadership Programme. We tend to take for granted…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 02:32AM
Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Change in the arts sector. Can we speed it up or must we wait it out? by Diane Ragsdale

  Devon Smith has written a smart, provocative post on a debate she engaged in at the recent Americans for the Arts Conference in Nashville. It’s called We Should Allow Failing Arts …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 10:03AM
Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Beyond repair? On the loss of structural integrity … by Diane Ragsdale

There is an arts story that has been nagging at me the past couple months. It’s the recent announcement of the revised plans for the NYC Performing Arts Center planned for the former …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 03:24AM
Friday, March 14, 2014

Can arts organizations be both art-focused and community-focused? by Diane Ragsdale

Doug Borwick has a new post (inspired by comments made by Lyz Crane at the Creative Placemaking Summit) on the “central disconnect” between arts organizations and community engagement. …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 02:20AM
Monday, January 20, 2014

Artistic homes? Excerpts from a recent talk … by Diane Ragsdale

Last week I gave a brief talk in Edinburgh (at an event sponsored by Mission, Models, Money) for a small gathering of leaders in the arts and culture sector. The aim was of the meeting was t…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:09AM
Monday, January 6, 2014

Innovation to what end? by Diane Ragsdale

Happy New Year! This is a condensed and slightly adapted version of a short talk I gave in October at an event called Blowup: Innovation in Extreme Scenarios, hosted by a hub organization ca…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:59AM
Sunday, December 1, 2013

On the distinction between giving people what they want versus what they need. by Diane Ragsdale

Recently, Nina Simon has written a smart post taking aim at the “Need versus Want” distinction often used to describe the role of (nonprofit) arts organizations—as in, “Our job is no…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 11:07AM
Thursday, October 31, 2013

My Grantmakers In the Arts 2013 Conference. I’m Sensing an Evolution. by Diane Ragsdale

A few weeks back I was invited to attend the 2013 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference in Philadelphia as a Conference Blogger. I joined Barry Hessenius (Barry’s Blog) and a whole team …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:05AM
Wednesday, September 18, 2013

On tipping the dominoes then walking away … by Diane Ragsdale

A couple months back I was one of a number of people interviewed for a research project of Grantmakers in the Arts. The interview was aimed at understanding my influences as a funder (when I…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 03:10AM
Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Trying to find the money-motivation sweet spot by Diane Ragsdale

Last week, over on New Beans, Clay Lord wrote a post in which he mentioned the release of a new report on the salaries at arts agencies and used some of the findings, as well as some person…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 08:00AM
Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Taming our inner speculators … by Diane Ragsdale

A few days ago, while doing research, an article caught my attention. It was written in 1936 and it was about the birth of Theatre Arts magazine twenty years earlier (in 1916). Here’…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 03:40AM
Monday, June 10, 2013

A new talk: Our long tug of war in the arts by Diane Ragsdale

A couple weeks back I gave a talk in Australia at the annual conference of APACA (the Australian Performing Arts Center Association). It’s called Living in the struggle: Our long tug of wa…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:05AM
Tuesday, April 30, 2013

On organizations evolving: when short-term coping mechanisms become the new way of doing business by Diane Ragsdale

A couple weeks ago, one of my favorite arts bloggers, Andrew Taylor (a/k/a The Artful Manager) wrote a post whose title conveys a pretty strong thesis: Organizations don’t evolve; they co…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 02:59PM
Sunday, March 24, 2013

Are we overdue to amend our default cultural policy? by Diane Ragsdale

A few weeks back, in a guest-post on Engaging Matters, Roberto Bedoya extended an invitation for others to join him in blogging about “how the White Racial Frame intersects with cultur…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:24PM
Monday, February 11, 2013

When does coaxing become coercing? by Diane Ragsdale

Last week I wrote a post on the efforts of foundations to encourage diversity (of various forms) in nonprofit arts organizations, in which I suggested that such efforts could be construed a…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 04:42PM
Thursday, February 7, 2013

On coercive philanthropy and change: Breakups may be good and necessary by Diane Ragsdale

Clay Lord has been on fire over this past week with a couple truly substantive and provocative posts—both aimed at issues around ethnic diversity in the arts. The first asserts that (1) v…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:27AM
Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Are the arts trading in happiness? If so, what kind? by Diane Ragsdale

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post on changing definitions of success in which I, essentially, asked, Can we change them? And do we really want to? In a thoughtful comment to the post (well …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:06AM
Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Can we change our definition & measures of success? Do we really want to? by Diane Ragsdale

Happy New Year a week late. I picked up a book at the university library a few days ago called Morals and Markets and have read a few chapters, which have been tumbling around in my mind wi…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 07:52AM
Thursday, December 13, 2012

I see an arts cliff, too, Mr. Kaiser; but it’s not fiscal in nature. by Diane Ragsdale

HuffPo blogger and Kennedy Center chief Michael Kaiser recently wrote a post reflecting on the financial corner that many arts organizations have painted themselves into (which he compares …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 11:08AM
Monday, November 19, 2012

Have we squandered the economic crisis and the opportunity for transformation? by Diane Ragsdale

About a month ago, art critics Sarah Thornton and David Hickey threw in the towel citing frustration, disillusionment, and annoyance with corruption in the art world. I have to admit that …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:02AM
Tuesday, October 16, 2012

In the Intersection: Partnerships in the New Play Sector by Diane Ragsdale

In November 2011, twenty-five theater professionals gathered in Washington, DC to discuss nonprofit and commercial collaborations aimed at the development of new theatrical work. In spirit (…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 03:29AM
Monday, September 24, 2012

The Dark Side II: Not In It For the Money by Diane Ragsdale

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about the recent turmoils at a few orchestras in the US which garnered several comments—all well worth reading and more interesting, in my opinion, than m…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 01:50AM
Sunday, September 9, 2012

The dark side of nonprofit-land by Diane Ragsdale

Unseemly. This is the word that keeps coming to mind when I think about the recent spate of lockouts, strikes and general discord at US orchestras. The underbelly of orchestras that has bee…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:07PM
Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Renegotiating the value of a museum by Diane Ragsdale

Over the past couple of weeks quite a few people have weighed in on the Detroit Institute of Art’s successful appeal to three counties in Michigan to pass a “millage” (a property tax) …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 06:10AM
Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Nonprofit Arts Orgs and the Boards That Love Them by Diane Ragsdale

Last week I read an article by Pablo Eisenberg in the Chronicle of Philanthropy in which he argues that greater oversight of nonprofits is needed because nonprofit boards can no longer be tr…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 02:51AM
Monday, July 30, 2012

Are we a sector defined by our permanently failing organizations? by Diane Ragsdale

A few weeks back I wrote a post responding to a session at the Theatre Communications Group conference in which an esteemed leader of a resident theater (Michael Maso) called “bullshit” …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 10:09AM
Monday, July 2, 2012

When did being pro-artist make one anti-institution? by Diane Ragsdale

I attended the Theatre Communications Group conference in Boston a couple weeks ago. On the first day of the conference Michael Maso, managing director of the Huntington Theatre, was present…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 09:39AM
Sunday, June 17, 2012

As nonprofits do we (or should we) put all art in service of instrumental ends? by Diane Ragsdale

This past Thursday and Friday I had the honor of attending a convening on global performance, civic imagination, and cultural diplomacy at Georgetown University, hosted by Derek Goldman and…

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 05:33PM
Monday, May 28, 2012

Are feasibility studies a racket? If not, then why do so many capital campaigns derail? by Diane Ragsdale

Last Friday, I read a story posted on AJ about Michigan Opera getting a one month reprieve on the $11 million it must pay to Chase Bank if it is going to avoid a possible bankruptcy related …

SOURCE: ArtsJournal at 04:37AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards