Back in April The Lancet had a brief piece by researchers of arts and health cautioning readers about the strength of research results connecting the arts with positive health outcomes. In general critiques have to do with the research methodologies of various studies. They also mention that the results of some studies aren’t as significant … Read more
I am in the process of moving so I am shifting in to “throwback” mode for a week or so. I thought I would look back at a post I made about one of Ian David Moss’ contributions of a blog salon. In his contribution Moss wrote took the view that arts education put children … Read more
Via Artsjournal.com is a piece from the Brookings Institution titled, “An unexpectedly positive result from arts-focused field trips.” After crunching some numbers as part of research being conducted for the National Endowment for the Arts, the article author Jay P. Greene writes, The surprising result is that students who received multiple field trips experienced significantly … Read more
Over the last week you may have seen mention that after 10 years in existence, Createquity will be ceasing operations at the end of the 2017 calendar year. This is a great pity. One of the goals founder Ian David Moss had as he developed his blogging project into a think tank was to facilitate … Read more
Earlier this month Ian David Moss wrote a piece challenging the arts and culture community to evaluate the language and mindset in which we frame artistic and cultural expression and practice. He make a case that: Separating our concepts of “mainstream” and “white” could allow us to treat European art forms as just one of … Read more
Last month Non Profit Quarterly suggested that organizations undergoing executive leadership transition consider the shared leadership model that many performing arts organizations employ. They note that it can be valuable to have one person focus on artistic or programmatic issues freeing the executive director up to focus on developing organizational capacity and funding. This week, … Read more
Pacific Standard had an interesting piece about the misconceptions music teachers and students studying to be music teachers have about the neurological benefits of music and music education. The study was conducted in Germany so the author the article suggests that perhaps neurologists in the US do a better job of communicating the truth about … Read more
Createquity just released a valuable tool for arts advocates. They compiled the data from all the studies they could find to provide a comprehensive report on Everything We Know About Whether and How The Arts Improve Lives. I haven’t had an opportunity to dig deeply into the data and ponder what it all means. What … Read more
There is a lot of conversation about the importance of advocating for the funding and inclusion of arts in K-12 education but according to a recent study, some attention needs to be paid to the social aspects experienced by students interested in the arts. According to a recent piece in Pacific Standard (h/t Createquity), students … Read more
Awhile back Barry Hessenius asked me to write a “What I Have Learned” essay for his blog. He noted that in the past he often featured similar pieces written by people who were approaching the end of their career. This time around he wanted to feature the voices of people who were on the upward … Read more
Createquity tweeted a piece on Pacific Standard covering a study investigating the way musical taste reflects class divisions. Despite the claim music streaming services are helping to dissolve genre labels, the study found “even among people who expressed liking for several different types of music, Veenstra found a clear delineation between “highbrow” genres enjoyed by … Read more
Last week Createquity published an analysis looking at why people in lower socioeconomic status (SES) don’t attend arts events. Their research challenges the common assumption that price, lack of time and geographic proximity are the main factors in the decision not to attend, at least among this demographic. Unfortunately, the real impediment might be deeply … Read more
Createquity may be in reruns right now while they reorganize, but they have great timing. Today they featured a post from 2011 which was something of a complement to the post about pricing and story I made yesterday. Where my post yesterday addressed using a resonant story to get people invested in paying a little … Read more
I have been keeping a Createquity post about gamification and arts events bookmarked on my web brower for while now. I liked some of the ideas suggested there and hoped to refer back to the entry for inspiration in the future. I was surprised to realize the post was actually created nearly two years ago. … Read more
Hat tip to Ian David Moss at Createquity who linked to a New Yorker article on brainstorming in one of his “around the horn” summaries. The article talks about how the whole idea of brainstorming without criticism for fear of causing someone to censor themselves is less effective at generating good ideas than having someone … Read more
Two thought provoking articles about surveying popped up on my computer today. While you may not think surveying is terribly exciting, I encourage you to read on. I promise there is no talk of statistical analysis. The first I found on the Createquity blog where Crystal Wallis recounts how the North Carolina Arts Council turned … Read more
Newsweek recently had a short piece on the increase of Pro-Ams, though that isn’t what they called it. I don’t know that there has been a precipitous increase in the rate at which people are engaging in these activities since I wrote about it two years ago, though I would grant that it probably has … Read more
Barry Hessenius is conducting a massive six week conversation about the future of the National Endowment over at Barry’s Art Blog. When I say massive, I mean it. This week’s entry is so large (and won’t be complete until tomorrow’s Q&A) that I feel guilty about addressing such a comparatively small section of it. Truthfully, … Read more
A lot of actors (particularly young ones) are disgusted by theaters using AI for marketing—they see AI as an existential…
One can pick almost any set of independent questions that have about 50% yes answers, and 7 such questions will…
I wonder how much of that effect is due to people searching directly with search engines, rather than using the…