Same Idealism, Potential For Same Mistakes by Joe Patti

Some time back I read a piece on the Bridgespan Group’s website that made me realize that non-profits and funders/donors may adopt similarly flawed approaches to addressing social issu…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:21am on July 7, 2016☆⚑

Signals Of Quality In Arts Disciplines by Joe Patti

For the last month or so I have been trying to figure out why, depending on the discipline, different elements of an artist’s background signal quality. I realized that when people on …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:06am on July 6, 2016☆⚑

Resources From Unexpected Places-Federal Reserve Banks by Joe Patti

Okay, I know this week I posted a piece that continued my long standing assertion that talking about the economic impact of the arts is not an effective way to garner long term support and i…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:18pm on June 29, 2016☆⚑

You Too Can Help Build Public Will For Arts And Culture by Joe Patti

Long time readers will know that for the last year or so I have been a bit of an evangelist for the burgeoning effort to Build Public Will For Arts and Culture. What impresses me about the e…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:54pm on June 28, 2016☆⚑

Data Is Nice, Stories Are Better by Joe Patti

It is pretty much an accepted truth that if you want to secure funding for the arts from a government entity or foundation, you need to marshal a lot of data to prove you are having an impac…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:39pm on June 27, 2016☆⚑

Are You A Cultural Omnivore If You Take Very Careful Bites? by Joe Patti

Here is an interesting insight from Stanford University Graduate School of Business (h/t Marginal Revolution blog). According to some latest research, cultural omnivores may be as rigid in t…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:28pm on June 22, 2016☆⚑

What Does Waning Trust In Non-Profits Mean For The Future? by Joe Patti

A decision by the OneOrlando fund to distribute money they collected directly to the families and victims impacted by the recent nightclub shooting rather than through charities bears watchi…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:04pm on June 21, 2016☆⚑

Not So Simple As "Just Ask What They Want" by Joe Patti

Seth Godin has a post today that seems like it is written just for arts organizations.  Obviously, that is just my ego that views the arts as the center of my universe talking because the…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:46pm on June 20, 2016☆⚑

Emotionally Intelligent Interview Questions by Joe Patti

Back in March, Entrepreneur magazine website had an article listing 7 Interview Questions to measure Emotional Intelligence. (I have no idea why it says it was published on July 20, 2016 at …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 7:24pm on June 15, 2016☆⚑

Congress Won't Vote To Fund U.S. Department of Arts and Culture by Joe Patti

I was visiting the website of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC) today and… Wait a minute you say, there is no Department of Arts and Culture in the U.S. government, that …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 7:18pm on June 14, 2016☆⚑

When The Cool Kids Hung Out At The Museum by Joe Patti

As you may be aware, last Friday, June 11 was the 30th Anniversary of the release of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. To commemorate the anniversary, Vox had an article about how it was a gre…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 7:00pm on June 13, 2016☆⚑

Overhead Funding May Not Be Expanding, But The Conversation Is by Joe Patti

Something I had meant to mention in my post yesterday was that Priceonomics’ admiration of Yerba Buena's Dream House Raffle sounded very similar to fund raising philosophy espoused by …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:42pm on June 8, 2016☆⚑

Is It Worth Gambling On A High Stakes Raffle Fundraiser? by Joe Patti

Via the Marginal Revolution blog, I recently read a piece on Priceonomics about how the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts was using a loophole in California state law to “raise $4 millio…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:34pm on June 7, 2016☆⚑

Pursuing Better Artist Treatment Through Cultural Shift Rather Than Rules by Joe Patti

Given all the attention recently being paid to the release of Americans for the Arts’ Statement on Cultural Equity, I thought it would be a good time to call attention to the draft of …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:10pm on June 6, 2016☆⚑

Community Theatre, Beijing Style by Joe Patti

Before traveling to Beijing, I took the opportunity to arrange to meet with Beijing Playhouse Executive Director, Chris Verrill.  Beijing Playhouse describes itself as “China’…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:01pm on June 1, 2016☆⚑

Do People Support Tax Status Or Results? by Joe Patti

Whew! Memorial Day is past which means we are officially in summer. Finally some time to relax a little and gather our strength for the next season. (Unless you run a summer festival in whic…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 9:50pm on May 31, 2016☆⚑

Exploring The National Art Museum of China by Joe Patti

Last day of my China trip travelogue. There are some issues that I plan to cover in the future, but they will be more focused on policy than showing off pictures. Lord knows, I have tons mor…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:19am on May 26, 2016☆⚑

Wandering The 798 Arts District by Joe Patti

One of the big visual arts attractions in Beijing is the 798 Arts District. If nothing else, the story of the district proves that artists face the same issues in every country: The abandone…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 1:09am on May 25, 2016☆⚑

Will We Pay A High Price For Our Neglect? by Joe Patti

(Sorry about the late posting. I had some issues with inserting images which I have been unable to resolve.) The last couple weeks I have been in China on vacation. I will be writing about m…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:54pm on May 24, 2016☆⚑

You Probably Don't Know Just How Good You Are by Joe Patti

Over the years I have read a lot by Peter Drucker on his ideas about leadership and organizational management. I would probably do well to go back and think on what has said again. With that…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:39pm on May 18, 2016☆⚑

Cleaving The Executive Director In Twain by Joe Patti

In plumbing the old archives to find some entries that might stand the test of time, I found an entry where I cited a suggestion made by The Non-Profiteer that social service non-profits fol…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:25pm on May 17, 2016☆⚑

Return To The Valley of Intrinsic Impact by Joe Patti

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the important thoughts Carter Gillies had about the concept of the intrinsic value of the arts. In light of that, I wanted to look back at where the idea of in…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 4:06pm on May 16, 2016☆⚑

Measuring Manager's Worth In Those Who Don't Want To Be Left Behind by Joe Patti

Years ago, I wrote about a FastCompany article, Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers. Even though it was written in the context of a for-profit company, I wrote most of the rules are universal…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:34pm on May 11, 2016☆⚑

The Few Times The Audience Is Too Demonstrative by Joe Patti

Around 9 years ago I wrote about a response someone had gotten from the head of a dance program while trying to revive an annual dance festival. The head of the program said he didn’t …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:26pm on May 10, 2016☆⚑

Creativity Shouldn't Be Euphemism For Doing More With Less by Joe Patti

Continuing on the theme of employee turnover that I wrote about last week, I wanted to harken back again to an early post I made about Johns Hopkins study saying that the non-profit sector w…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 8:10pm on May 9, 2016☆⚑