Apparently, the Washington Post article I profiled in April (Would you stop and listen? ) is still getting a lot of downstream play. Staff at Polysemy captured two interviews with Joshua Bell and his recent experiment as a street musician in a busy Washington, DC subway entrance. World-class musicians aren’t supposed to be street performers - or should they? Who was impacted the most?
PODCAST: The Joshua Bell Experiment, part I [Running time: 21:52]
Questions explored: What exactly is this an experiment in? Is the audience response a sign of widespread cultural decline? Is Joshua Bell no better than the average rock band just starting out? What is a “venue”, anyway?
PODCAST: The Joshua Bell Experiment, part II [Running time: 15:17]
Questions explored: Why didn’t more people in the station slow down and listen? Do we have sensory overload, and no mental space for music like Bell’s? Why did every child in the subway want to stop to listen?
Tagged with: LeadershipPublic-Art
June 15th, 2007 at 09:12am
Rebecca Borden
I have been serving on the Communications and Marketing Advisory Task Force for Independent Sector, which met today and I thought would be a good opportunity to share some thoughts on our Blog about their efforts to change public perceptions of the sector. First off, the Task Force is really a response to the recent serious of major news stories that present a negative picture of nonprofits - from the Aramony/United Way scandal of a few years ago to the most recent stories about the Smithsonian and Larry Small. Independent Sector has been doing some really interesting work on researching attitudes toward nonprofit groups. We in the arts need to be following and taking advantage of this new research and the findings. What they found is that approximately 82% of American adults volunteer, donate or advocate with a philanthropic organization. This group is what they consider the “engaged public.” Among this group, those who think nonprofits are “on the wrong track” has steadily declined over the past year, from 32% to 24%. Most interestingly, the percentage who are “not sure” is consistently extremely high - now at 41%. The folks at Harris Interactive, who do the research, feel this is an extremely high “no opinion” response, and basically means millions of Americans are easily swayed by whatever negative story happens to be in the news. The other interesting finding: There are five qualities that the public rates as highly important in a nonprofit that are also rated as relatively poorly delivered - Selfless, Efficient, Accountable, Effective, Results-Oriented. The public already gets that we are committed, caring and passionate about what we do, so we don’t have to work as hard change any hearts and minds on that front, though we certainly should take opportunities to reinforce our existing strengths in those areas. Independent Sector recommends that all nonprofits adapt their communications to especially emphasize these qualities. Here are some other important aspects of the “message framework” they are developing:
- the phrase “nonprofit community” seems to resonate best when describing the larger sector (not words like charities, philanthropies - or sector)
- find ways to illustrate the key values listed above
- use plan language - nothing lofty, avoid jargon
- don’t denigrate business or government - emphasize that all three sectors are needed
- Offer collaboration and solutions to problems, not complaints
- emphasize people, not organizations
- tell our stories, and move from describing what you do to what impact it has on people
While this research does not separate out the arts, as IS begins to roll out this messaging campaign (which is targeting not just the general public, but Congress as well), arts groups would do well to think about how their messaging can reinforce this effort. These findings also reinforce what we learned in our National Arts Policy Roundtable about how the arts are perceived - that we need to be telling our stories better, and emphasizing the impact we have on the people we serve. Among all segments of the nonprofit community we especially have a tendency, I would posit, to use lofty and potentially alienating language in describing our work. Independent Sector’s annual conference, where a lot of this messaging work will be shared, takes place October 21-23 in Los Angeles. I’ll be there, and it would be nice to have some more arts folks participating. [Also, see the article about Arts & Economic Prosperity III on their Web site!]
Tagged with: AdvocacyBusinessPartnershipsPolicyResearch
June 14th, 2007 at 10:57am
Gary Steuer
While I am in Wisconsin and South Carolina this week, several partners are unveiling their local reports across the US. One such example is the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington’s press conference in DC on Monday afternoon. The Cultural Alliance sponsored the AEP3 report for Greater Washington, including: the District of Columbia; Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland; Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia; and the city of Alexandria, VA.
Jennifer Cover Payne, President of the Cultural Alliance, and her staff did a great job of putting together Monday’s event. They began with a performance from a local viola student at the Levine School of Music in DC, then welcomed my colleague, Chief Counsel of Government and Public Affairs Nina Ozlu to the stage to speak about the study findings. Nina did a great job detailing the national and local findings for Greater Washington, including presenting a wealth of comparative data for similarly sized study regions. An impressive panel of local leaders followed Nina, including: Kwasi Holman, President and CEO of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation; Victoria Isley, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the DC Convention and Tourism Corporation; and David Robertson, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Each contributed valuable insight on how to use the study findings in building cultural tourism, forging alliances with legislators, and their own community development efforts.
The event was attended by over 80 people-what a success! Congratulations to Jennifer and her staff for a great launch!
Tagged with: BusinessEventsResearch
June 14th, 2007 at 09:01am
Randy Cohen
From left to right, top to bottom:Participants of the 2006 National Arts Policy Roundtable at the Sundance Preserve; Americans for the Arts President & CEO Robert L. Lynch with Eric Rogers, the 2007 Selina Roberts Ottum Award Winner, at the 2007 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention in Las Vegas; Jenny Holzer’s FOR LAS VEGAS commissioned by Americans for the Arts for the 2007 Annual Convention in Las Vegas; Wynton Marsalis testifying on Capitol Hill as part of the 2007 Arts Advocacy Day festivities; Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch with Robert Redford at the 2006 National Arts Policy Roundtable event at the Sundance Preserve; Haluk Akakce’s Skys the Limit presented by Fremont Street Experience for the 2007 Americans for the Arts Convention
Photographers: Jill Orschel (NAPR photos), Sylvain Gaboury (Annual Convention Photos), Jim Saah (Arts Advocacy Day photos).
Tagged with: About-UsAdvocacyBusinessEventsLeadershipPublic-Art
June 13th, 2007 at 12:25pm
Chad Bauman
June 6 marked the release of the local study findings of Arts & Economic Prosperity III. We were able to partner with the Illinois Arts Alliance, the Arts & Business Council of Chicago, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to announce the Chicago data as well as signal the release of local data for the 156 local partners.
The announcement event took place at the Chicago Cultural Center, a building that is itself a work of art and across the street from the great Millennium Park. The morning began with Ra Joy, Executive Director of the Illinois Arts Alliance, and I briefing 100 members of the arts community with a special preview of the Chicago data and a call to action about how to apply them.
This was followed by a national press conference to announce the findings. The press conference featured compelling remarks from: Robert Lynch, President & CEO, Americans for the Arts; Jonathan Fanton, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, (read his remarks here); Lois Weisberg, Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of Chicago; and Diane Swonk, Senior Managing Director and Chief Economist for Mesirow Financial. All passionately conveyed the cultural and economic value of the arts, both in Chicago and nationally.
Following the press conference, a panel of local leaders talked about how the arts drive tourism, business development, and strengthen the community fabric. The impressive group, moderated by Bob Lynch, included: Dorothy Coyle, Director of the Chicago Office of Tourism; Ra Joy, Executive Director of the Illinois Arts Alliance; Paul O’Connor, Executive Director of World Business Chicago; and Arthur Sussman, Vice President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
In addition to Chicago’s data, June 6 was the national release date for all of the local study partners. More than 100 stories appeared in newspapers across the county including numerous editorials. Visit our website for a sampling. And keep checking back with ArtsBlog for more updates On the Road to Prosperity!
Tagged with: BusinessEventsResearch
June 13th, 2007 at 10:48am
Randy Cohen
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