206 stories by "Michael Kaiser"
Yet another American symphony orchestra has suspended operations. The Napa Valley Symphony recently announced that it...
One challenge that is universally experienced is the shrinking pool of public funding for arts education. No one who works in arts education can ignore this reality.
I am often asked whether for-profit executives can make good not-for-profit executives and my response is always...
While most arts managers and board members don't turn to financial forecasts when they are looking for a lift, I...
I had the great pleasure of visiting the Museum of Chinese in America in Chinatown in New York City. There is much to...
While not every child today has the opportunity to dance, act, sing or play an instrument, there will always be a group of extraordinary people who have a need to express themselves and the …
As country after country announces substantial cuts in government arts funding -- and the economic challenges the EU is now facing should only hasten this trend there -- the need to develop …
It makes no sense to me that the arts are not embraced more emphatically by politicians these days.
I...
Last night the Kennedy Center production of Follies closed on Broadway. Follies, a musical by James Goldman and...
I spend a great deal of time writing about the imperative for arts organizations to focus on revenue. Adding revenue allows...
I have written before of the work my colleague, Brett Egan, and I are doing in Muscat, Oman where we are helping manage...
Arts management is still a very young field. Thirty years ago there were very few professional arts managers,...
The holiday season is a time for giving and getting gifts. This is what I would like to receive this year:
1. An online 'fact...
People who think the arts ecology will return to what it was when the recession finally ends are setting themselves up for major disappointment. Those who do not prepare for a new world orde…
Anyone who knows me knows I plan everything. Everything. I don't like surprise parties. I don't like to be asked to...
I am always amused (disturbed?) when someone attached to a not-for-profit arts organization (usually a board or staff...
This is the time of year when we give thanks for the wonderful gifts that we have been given, the experiences we have treasured, the people who have changed our lives.
One of the substantial changes in the arts environment that has happened with astonishing speed is that arts criticism has become a participatory activity rather than a spectator sport.
Those arts patrons, corporations and foundations that care passionately about the future of the arts in America must encourage members of arts boards to seek the training they need and must …
The ghosts of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey and too many others to name are hopefully still in residence, inspiring a new generation of artists to create great works.
Individual donors are the bedrock of American arts funding, giving more than 60% of the money received. Yet the average African American, Latino, Asian American or Native American arts organ…
Why, given so much social progress, have we failed to produce more leading arts organizations of color? I think there are two different answers.
Do not be surprised if a decade from now some of the most interesting arts projects in the world are emanating from a nation that many of us could not identify on the map.
Those organizations that mount important art, pursue aggressive marketing campaigns and build their families consistently, create an insurance policy against economic downturns and programma…
At a time when most cities are reducing investment in the arts, how refreshing it is to be in Kansas City where the arts are flourishing.
