Verdi At Bat by Joe Patti

Maybe we should be keeping an eye on Tulsa Opera. Back in August I wrote about a film that was screened in my venue about Tulsa Opera's casting a transgender person as Don Giovanni. A couple…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:54pm on November 17, 2020☆⚑

It's More Than Just Naming A Minster of Culture And Other Measures To Help Creative Industries by Joe Patti

To continue where I left off from yesterday's post about the UNESCO document, Culture in crisis: Policy guide for a resilient creative sector, the next section addresses providing support fo…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:24am on November 13, 2020☆⚑

Government Cultural Policy Making For The Unknown by Joe Patti

Last day in my series this week covering the UNESCO document, Culture in crisis: Policy guide for a resilient creative sector. Big thanks again to Rainer Glaap for calling attention to it. A…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:24am on November 13, 2020☆⚑

Saving Culture and Creativity Without Compromising Their Best Interests by Joe Patti

Very big THANK YOU to friend of the blog Rainer Glaap who sent me a link to an UNESCO document, Culture in crisis: Policy guide for a resilient creative sector. At this point I think I am go…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:24am on November 10, 2020☆⚑

Networks and Resources Have Always Mattered by Joe Patti

I recently came across an article the LA Review of Books on the book The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech by William Deresi…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:18pm on November 4, 2020☆⚑

Don't Feel Obligated To Sink More Into Bad Choices by Joe Patti

I am not saying anything new when I note that there are a lot of arts organizations which are incapable of taking much action due to Covid related legal restrictions or lack of resources. My…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:12pm on November 3, 2020☆⚑

The Past May Hold Answers, But They Are Imperfect by Joe Patti

I came across an interesting contrast in perspective about solutions for a post-Covid world last week. In American Theatre, Jim Warren, the founding artistic director of the American Shakesp…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:48pm on November 2, 2020☆⚑

Is Auto-Tune Coming To Dance? by Joe Patti

I recently saw this story about Adobe creating a new product using AI to smooth out dance movement in videos. I can definitely see the value in something like this in the Covid era. If you h…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:48pm on October 29, 2020☆⚑

One Creativity To Guide Them All! by Joe Patti

H/t Artsjournal.com which linked to an article on recent study which found artistic creativity and scientific creativity emerge from a similar source. (my emphasis) "The big change for educa…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:32am on October 28, 2020☆⚑

We Are Gonna Need A Slower Elevator by Joe Patti

There has been an ongoing conversation among the arts community that there needs to be less effort invested in selling people on an arts experience and more listening to people to find out w…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:06pm on October 27, 2020☆⚑

Inspired By A Fiction Of Your Creation by Joe Patti

In the closing plenary of the Arts Midwest/Western Arts Alliance conference, Arts Midwest CEO Torrie Allen spoke to Theaster Gates about a number of topics. What caught my attention was Gate…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:03am on October 22, 2020☆⚑

For Whom Are People Creating Art? by Joe Patti

In September, the National Endowment for the Arts released the results of an Arts Participation survey, Why We Engage: Attending, Creating and Performing Art. Much of the information about w…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 2:03am on October 22, 2020☆⚑

Dance Cyberman, Dance by Joe Patti

There was a minor uproar recently in the UK over an ad campaign featuring a picture of a ballerina with text suggesting that her next job could be cyber. The implication a lot of people saw …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:32pm on October 20, 2020☆⚑

What I Opposed In Good Times I Praise You For In Bad by Joe Patti

Recently I have been talking about how Covid times have brought a greater tolerance on the part of boards/audiences for experimentation with programming choices. I guess I have been talking …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 5:42pm on October 15, 2020☆⚑

Don't Forget Lessons Learned About Business Insurance by Joe Patti

One of the panel sessions at the recent Arts Midwest-Western Arts Alliance virtual conference was on Reopening. The one panelist that really caught my attention was Anna Glass, Executive Dir…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 5:42pm on October 15, 2020☆⚑

The Most Important People Social Distance In The Penalty Box by Joe Patti

I mentioned last week that I was in the middle of virtually attending the combined Arts Midwest-Western Arts Alliance Conference. I will probably have a couple entries of observations on par…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 5:06pm on October 13, 2020☆⚑

Budgeting More Money For Culture, Despite Covid. You Can Probably Guess Where by Joe Patti

Last week Artnet reported that Germany's 2021 draft budget held an increase in funding for cultural organizations in the country. You may recall that I made a post in May that clarified Germ…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:54pm on October 8, 2020☆⚑

Meanwhile, Next Door In Austria by Joe Patti

The title of today's post references the fact yesterday's post was about cultural funding in Germany. I hadn't planned it this way, but I wanted to draw attention to the lengths various venu…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:54pm on October 8, 2020☆⚑

Mounting A Performing Arts Conference When No One Wants To Travel by Joe Patti

Two regional arts conferences, Western Arts Alliance and Arts Midwest partnered on offering a single online conference to replace their respective in-person events. I will say right from the…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:54pm on October 8, 2020☆⚑

Be Sure Your Data Doesn't Just Mean You Are Good At Posting Memes by Joe Patti

If you have been reading my writing for the last few years, you know that in addition to employing the preceding phrase fairly often, I argue that not everything that can be measured about a…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:03am on October 1, 2020☆⚑

Artist Waits 50 Years For A Wrong To Be Righted by Joe Patti

Quick post today since I am going to link to something longer worth reading. The venue I run is associated with a university across town that made things right for an alum after it was defer…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:36pm on September 29, 2020☆⚑

The Grass Is Greener In Someone Else's Museum by Joe Patti

I just want to take a moment to brag on some museum friends and also reinforce the idea that one shouldn't discount the experiences found in small towns as of lower quality. Long time reader…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 5:32pm on September 29, 2020☆⚑

An Eye For Justice And Opera by Joe Patti

I knew Ruth Bader Ginsburg loved opera. There are stories about her and Justice Scalia's friendship and shared love of opera. A few weeks ago, I had written about the artistic director of th…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 3:36am on September 24, 2020☆⚑

Dip Your Toe, But Probably Not The Time To Take The Plunge by Joe Patti

As I was driving into work today, I heard an NPR story about the 92nd St Y, an event/education space in NYC, and how they have gone virtual during Covid-19.  According to NPR, in a typica…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:06am on September 23, 2020☆⚑

The Originality That Is Sought Is Not The True Originality by Joe Patti

h/t to Artsjournal.com (I believe) which linked to an article about creativity from the Chinese perspective, or at least perspective of the philosopher(s) known as Zhuangzi. This is a view t…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:36am on September 22, 2020☆⚑