Curiosity Satisfied By A Strange Answer by Joe Patti

I am not sure how I came across the article, but this Fall I came across an interview on The First Peoples Fund website with master traditional folk artist Kevin Locke. In the course of the …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:24pm on February 23, 2022☆⚑

Come For A Haircut, See A Van Gogh by Joe Patti

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone running an arts venue that many attendees are over the mask wearing thing. At my venue, we actually had a more conservative mandatory policy fo…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:54pm on February 22, 2022☆⚑

Haven't Seen You Around Recently by Joe Patti

I'm happy to say that things are starting to get back to a place where I feel like I can start blogging again. Hopefully it will stay that way. I really underestimated how difficult things w…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:42am on February 22, 2022☆⚑

On Hiatus by Joe Patti

Apologies to my readers. The departure of some staff and absence of others has placed me in a situation where I can no longer post regularly. Hopefully this will resolve itself soon and I ca…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 3:12am on November 30, 2021☆⚑

Do You Need To Feel Transcendent Or Sleep Better Right Now? by Joe Patti

Ruth Hartt got a bit of a kick from the post I made last week where I termed her use of stock video footage and other clips to create an video marketing piece as a "Franken-Ad." She tagged m…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 5:06pm on November 18, 2021☆⚑

Yes, But When She Said It, It Sounded Brilliant by Joe Patti

Vu Le posted this week about a well-observed phenomenon he termed "Outsider Efficiency Bias."  He defined this as basically having an outsider like a consultant come in and be lauded for …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:18pm on November 16, 2021☆⚑

The Medium As Important As The Message When Asking For Help by Joe Patti

Dan Pink shared a link to a study that was conducted on perceptions of the most effective way to ask others for help comparing face-to-face, audio/phone, video (ie Zoom), and text (SMS, Emai…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:06am on November 16, 2021☆⚑

What's Been Learned So Far About Offering Virtual Theatre by Joe Patti

American Theatre released results of a survey about virtual theatre offerings during Covid this week. Respondents represent 64 organizations from 25 states. As you might already imagine, the…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:06am on November 11, 2021☆⚑

Focus On Product vs Process by Joe Patti

On Museum 2.0 Seema Rao asks why museum educators are so undervalued in the context of a question she was asked about the difference between a Sip and Paint session and a class on marbling t…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 7:48am on November 10, 2021☆⚑

Does This Franken-Ad Have More Emotional Resonance With Audiences Than The Highly Produced One You Are Using? by Joe Patti

Last month, Trevor O'Donnell directed his readers to a post by Ruth Hartt discussing how to market the arts in a way that focuses on solving the "problems" people have rather than focusing o…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:24am on November 9, 2021☆⚑

Looking To Public Art To Revitalize Cities Post-Covid by Joe Patti

Somewhat in line with my post yesterday about the growing number of basic guarantee income programs for artists, Artsjournal.com had an interview with the mayor of Toronto, John Tory, about …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:48am on November 4, 2021☆⚑

Guaranteed Income For Artists Spreading by Joe Patti

Nod to Laura Zabel who tweeted a story about the guaranteed basic income for artists pilot program being started in Ireland.  The plan is to provide €325/week to 2000 artists. This …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:12pm on November 2, 2021☆⚑

All That Is Philanthropy Is Not Gold by Joe Patti

I have been following Lucy Bernholz, a self-described philanthropy wonk, for ages it seems. She writes the blog Philanthropy 2173 and is a senior researcher at Stanford's Center on Philanthr…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 5:06pm on November 2, 2021☆⚑

How Arts Orgs Used Relief Funding Is Beginning To Be Examined by Joe Patti

A couple weeks ago Hyperallergic had an article that was a critical of museums who had received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds meant to keep people employed, but instead ended up la…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:12am on October 28, 2021☆⚑

When It Comes To Work, What Is The Cost-Benefit Between Lethargy And A Sense Of Belonging by Joe Patti

Dan Pink pointed to a study (warning, ad heavy page) that suggests while office interruptions may be disruptive to one's workflow, it ultimately creates a sense of worth and belonging for pe…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:48am on October 27, 2021☆⚑

Didn't Happen As Envisioned, But It Came Out Much Better by Joe Patti

I have often viewed my professional career as having moments where I build on general ideas and concepts from earlier positions, but adapted to suit the local community. I am always wary of …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:32am on October 26, 2021☆⚑

I Hope No Arts Organization Is Doing Anything Close To This by Joe Patti

In writing posts I often draw on examples from commercial enterprises and other types of non-profits to provide interesting ideas or lessons that my primary audience of arts and culture prof…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:24am on October 21, 2021☆⚑

Concerning Trend With Regional Booking Conferences by Joe Patti

I was really disappointed last Friday when I read that Arts Midwest would be pausing their conference.  I have a hard time believing it will gear up again in the future. If you aren't awa…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:12am on October 20, 2021☆⚑

Who Gave You Your First Break? by Joe Patti

Tweets responding to UK based Arts Emergency's new campaign were filling my Twitter feed today. I have written about them a couple times before. They are essentially focused on cultivating t…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:54pm on October 13, 2021☆⚑

Composer Was A Rock Star Of Their Day? Rock Stars Aren't Even The Rock Stars Of Today by Joe Patti

I often read about classical music composers being the rock star of their day, but don't often get a lot of detail about what that meant. I just happened upon an article in Lapham's Quarterl…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:36pm on October 12, 2021☆⚑

Maybe The Cult Rules Aren't As Important As We Thought by Joe Patti

Seema Rao at Museum 2.0 shared notes from a session she conducted at the Museum Computer Network conference last week titled "Are Museums A Cult?" The answer, as I am sure you have anticipat…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:18pm on October 11, 2021☆⚑

Bach Is Raking It In On Spotify by Joe Patti

h/t to Alex Tabarrok who posted about a Classicfm.com story on how much money classical music composers would make from Spotify streams of their music. Using the estimate figure of $0.0037 (…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 7:36am on October 7, 2021☆⚑

An Orchestra Where You Don't Have To Read Music? Depends On Who Is Invited To Play by Joe Patti

H/T to Artsjournal.com which included an article about the Philadelphia Public Orchestra, (PPO) being billed as the World's First Public Orchestra. The way the article describes it, this is …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 7:24pm on October 6, 2021☆⚑

"Feels Like A Luxury To Feel Valued" by Joe Patti

Last month, NextCity had something of a preliminary update on the guaranteed income for artists programs in San Francisco, CA and St. Paul, MN I wrote about last April. Both programs started…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:42am on October 5, 2021☆⚑

Your Programming Is More Inclusive, But What About Giving Opportunities? by Joe Patti

Hat tip to Artsjournal.com which featured an article that seems to indicate it is better to diversify the donor base rather than continue to ask the same pool of donors to give more.  The…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:54am on September 30, 2021☆⚑