In Which I Have A Belated Realization by Joe Patti

The lovely people at my state arts foundation sent me some information about National Endowment programs today that I thought I would share. The first is that there will be a webinar for the…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:49am on April 11, 2012☆⚑

Should Arts Organizations Sanction Electronic Devices by Joe Patti

Let me just preface this entry by saying I am pretty much old school when it comes to attending performances. I don’t have any problem sitting passively in a dark room watching a perfo…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:18am on April 10, 2012☆⚑

Honor Your Ancestors Today by Joe Patti

I am rather busy and have fallen a little behind on my reading and pondering for the blog. As an alternative, I thought I would make note of some interesting art. Today is the celebration of…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:57am on April 5, 2012☆⚑

Charm Offensive (Minus The Offensive) by Joe Patti

I was reading the Western Arts Alliance (WAA) Spring Newsletter today and there was a letter from Alliance President John Haynes (page 2) giving his view of what audience engagement is reall…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 3:32am on April 4, 2012☆⚑

Dramaturgy Is Everyone's Responsibility by Joe Patti

When I was studying theatre as an undergrad and grad student, there was one role in the theatre most of my fellow students never got a clear definition of, that of dramaturg. Most of our pro…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:58am on April 3, 2012☆⚑

Intrinsic Value As A General Value by Joe Patti

Recently there has been a sentiment that the arts community shouldn’t use economic benefits as an argument for supporting the arts. I agree with this because there are a lot of problem…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:37pm on March 28, 2012☆⚑

With 10,000 Friends Like These, You Don't Need Enemies by Joe Patti

One of the things that makes me cringe uneasily is seeing non-profits running social media “follow me” campaigns where they make the push for the next multiple of 5000 milestone …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 5:17pm on March 27, 2012☆⚑

Foundation Data Wants To Be Set Free! by Joe Patti

Last week Lucy Bernholz posted a collection of links on Philanthropy 2173. One of these was a video of a talk she gave last June on how the information foundations collect is as important to…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:46pm on March 26, 2012☆⚑

If Only It Were This Easy To Add Sugar and Spice To My Acting Ability by Joe Patti

There was a story in FastCompany last December about a company called uFlavor which will allow you to custom mix soft drinks both online and through their vending machines. You design everyt…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:07am on March 22, 2012☆⚑

iPad Will Make Your Performance…Forgettable by Joe Patti

One option for preserving the performing arts is often mentioned is a greater use of multi-media either in a performance or as a medium to transmit the performance. However, reading an artic…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 3:38am on March 21, 2012☆⚑

Info You Can Use: Short Term Space Naming by Joe Patti

I apologize for not making an entry as usual last Wednesday. I was deeply involved with a fund raiser that evening. So far we have seen some positive results which I would attribute to a com…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:26am on March 20, 2012☆⚑

Mini-Granting Is Awesome by Joe Patti

It may just be serendipity (or you know, Google controlling my every life experience) but I keep hearing about this group called the Awesome Foundation. First it was a story about the Seattl…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 3:41am on March 14, 2012☆⚑

What If I Had Only…. by Joe Patti

One of the perennial challenges arts organizations face is attracting a younger audience and the tendency of audiences to commit so late that you wonder if there will be one for your event a…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:49pm on March 12, 2012☆⚑

Unrelenting Pursuit of Excellence by Joe Patti

I am a little caught up with life issues but I noticed a movie I saw at the Hawaii International Film Festival last October is opening in wide release this weekend and I wanted to mention it…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:13am on March 8, 2012☆⚑

Transcending Expectations by Joe Patti

Back in December I wrote about the production of First Person: Seeing America we were hosting. I had described it as something of a live documentary with the narration, images and music all …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:43am on March 7, 2012☆⚑

Info You Can Use: Many Views of Shakespeare by Joe Patti

Ah March, when a young man’s thoughts turn to love…or backstabbing betrayal. Those cynics among us might says love and betrayal are pretty much the same thing. However, I was mos…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:04am on March 6, 2012☆⚑

Big Data May Be En Vogue, Little Data Still Has Plenty To Offer by Joe Patti

Apropos of my post yesterday about using big data to customize information to the interests of individuals in your community, I happened to come across an interview with Jamie Bennett who is…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:48pm on February 29, 2012☆⚑

You're Sharing Too Much Information About Me With Me by Joe Patti

We are planning a reception next month so a few weeks ago we were checking the website of a printer we often use for postcards to get pricing for invitations. The next day I got a call from …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:39am on February 29, 2012☆⚑

Arts Funding and Diversity in Oregon by Joe Patti

The Oregonian reported this weekend that the city of Portland would start to tie arts funding to the diversity of the art organization’s board, staff and ultimately audiences. Specific…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:52am on February 28, 2012☆⚑

An Idea Eight Years In The Making (And Hopefully Not Nine) by Joe Patti

Thursday is the 8th anniversary of this blog. I made my first post on February 23, 2004. I wouldn’t normally call attention to an oddly numbered anniversary (though 8 is considered aus…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 3:04am on February 23, 2012☆⚑

What Values Matter In Arts Grad Training Programs? by Joe Patti

This weekend Scott Walters quoted an extensive comment made on another blog about the value of MFA acting programs. The gist is, students are ill served by the programs which need to focus o…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:54am on February 22, 2012☆⚑

Info You Can Use: Point Some Strong Light At Your Brainstorm by Joe Patti

Hat tip to Ian David Moss at Createquity who linked to a New Yorker article on brainstorming in one of his “around the horn” summaries. The article talks about how the whole idea…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:17pm on February 20, 2012☆⚑

What Must They Think Of Us by Joe Patti

In diplomacy terms, soft power is a nation’s culture and values as opposed to their economic and military power. Some institutions like McDonalds and Apple cross some of the boundaries…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:49am on February 16, 2012☆⚑

Stuff To Ponder: What About Engaging Arts Organizations? by Joe Patti

Taking up where I left off yesterday, one of the last things I mentioned was that arts people might have an easier time shifting their perceptions to be more inclusive of what constitutes ar…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:46am on February 15, 2012☆⚑

What Is Art? What Is Craft? Whadda I Care? by Joe Patti

Philosophy professor Mike LaBossiere has an entry on Creativity Post in which he discusses the issue of defining art. He cites one of the creators of the Penny Arcade web comic, Jerry Holkin…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:59am on February 14, 2012☆⚑