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Philly Art Museum Firing Provides Insight Into Large Cultural Boards

January 28, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

You may have heard about the abrupt and somewhat controversial firing of Philadelphia Art Museum director and CEO Sasha Suda back in November. Recently Philadelphia Magazine published a long article revealing many more details surrounding that event.

Other than finding out what the heck the story was behind all that, the article reveals a lot about dynamics between large, high-powered boards of directors and the leadership teams of large cultural organizations. It also illustrates the type of leadership board chairs are expected to exhibit.

On one hand, the article depicts a board chair who is quite overbearing and controlling and wields influence even after they have left that role. At the same time, there is also a suggestion that the board chair that replaced her lacked some of the qualifications required of the role.

The article also illustrates communications within the board. As might be expected with 70 members on the full board, there were many that were disengaged from organizational governance and keeping abreast of the situation.

But there was one instance where a sensitive personnel matter couldn’t be fully described in a meeting agenda so Suda expected the board chair to engage in back channel conversations to make the members aware of what was going to be discussed. When that didn’t happen, many on the board felt blindsided. In fact, that also seemed to be the case with Suda’s firing where some board members seemed unaware that was in the works even though Suda had some indications in weeks prior.

In many respects the whole incident is something of a cautionary tale about destructive board-leadership relationship dynamics. There are lessons to be derived about how things could have been done better. The article also provides some insight into how boards are generally expected to operate in normal, very mundane, operating conditions.

Boards, Working In The Arts

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Different Ways Of Measuring Impact

January 27, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

I am always keeping an eye open for different ways arts organizations can employ meaningful measures of impact. AEA Consulting listed different impact evaluation tools and criteria being used around the world. Most of them are in relation to social impact, but a couple, like Social Return on Investment (SROI) tied to economic measures such as dollars worth of social impact for dollars invested.

Others are not tied to a currency valuation.

Participatory and rights-based models, prominent in Latin America, frame impact around cultural rights, community capacity, and social transformation. Examples include cultural impact assessments with Indigenous communities and long-running community arts networks in contexts such as Colombia and Brazil, where impact is assessed through measures such as social cohesion, leadership, and cultural citizenship rather than financial returns.

Local community-focused models, e.g. frameworks such as Singapore’s Neighbourhood Arts and Culture Impact Assessment (NACIA) link arts participation to neighbourhood attachment and social networks, combining spatial indicators with health and wellbeing measures.

Source

In terms of how data is collected, AEA lists a number of modes including

Qualitative Tools….audience and participant surveys, validated health and wellbeing scales, social capital measures, and composite indices that track neighbourhood vitality, diversity of participation, or organisational reach…

Qualitative and participatory methods… focus groups, case studies, observation, and creative techniques (e.g. visual brainstorming, storytelling) are used to capture changes in confidence, identity, and agency. These approaches are particularly important for smaller non-profit organisations, which may lack the resources to implement SROI or large-scale experimental designs.

Source

AEA said some of the commonalities they see in these approaches are focus on outcomes rather than outputs, mixing both quantitative indicators and qualitative evidence, and paying attention to who is participating and benefiting.

Long time readers know I have frequently employed a mantra that just because you can measure it, doesn’t mean the results are meaningful. While some of these methods and measures are interesting to me, there isn’t enough detail provided for me to determine if they result in data that is relevant and meaningful.

Audience Relations, Terms and Ideas

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Cultural Sector Re-Sorting Rather Than In Retreat

January 26, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

Colleen Dilenschneider and the folks at IMPACTS Experience have been dependable as always and recently provided a market outlook for arts and cultural organizations for 2026 & 2027 based on what research is telling them. (subscription required)

Two of the big general takeaways for me was: First- Use 2019 attendance as a reference point, rather than something you are striving to get back to. The operating environment has changed.

And Second:

The data does not show a sector in retreat, but a sector re-sorting.

The most important macro insight for the visitor serving sector is in 2026 and 2027 is that demand is not collapsing; it’s fragmenting along structural lines. The organizations that are doing well are growing stronger, and the organizations that have been struggling are generally facing increasing and compounding challenges.

Source

While the data shows certain disciplines will see modest to marginal improvements (zoo, aquariums, gardens, history museums/sites, live theater) and others will remain flat or see a small improvement in engagement (children museum, natural history museums, science centers, symphonies, opera, ballet.), they warn readers not to interpret that as a set destiny. These are general indications. Every individual organization is different.

They talk about the self-reinforcing death spiral that can occur when organizations cut back on capacity because they don’t have visitation. Among the things they encourage organizations to do is trying to maintain that capacity.

Additionally, they repeat the importance of findings released over the last year which I have covered. Including reducing the friction of finding information and purchasing admissions.

The fact many visitors appreciate value added experiences rather than discounted ones.

They note that while international travel is down, domestic travel to cultural destinations remains robust. However, you may recall that last month, they qualified this noting people are trying to squeeze their experiences into fewer days and cultural organizations need to have a plan to meet those needs.

Audience Relations, Business Models, Info You Can Use, Working In The Arts

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Permission To Be Creative

January 21, 2026

by:

Joe Patti

h/t to Anne Smith who posted this video on Linkedin of Ethan Hawke talking about giving yourself permission to be creative.

For me the big impactful statement he makes is that everyone thinks arts and creativity don’t matter until they encounter a moment of great sorrow or joy and need to get their bearings. Suddenly, they wonder if their experience is unique in the world or if others have gone through the same thing.

So you have to ask yourself: Do you think human creativity matters? Well, hmm. Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about poetry. Right? They have a life to live, and they’re not really that concerned with Allen Ginsberg’s poems or anybody’s poems, until their father dies, they go to a funeral, you lose a child, somebody breaks your heart, they don’t love you anymore, and all of a sudden, you’re desperate for making sense out of this life, and, “Has anybody ever felt this bad before? How did they come out of this cloud?”

Or the inverse — something great. You meet somebody and your heart explodes. You love them so much, you can’t even see straight. You know, you’re dizzy. “Did anybody feel like this before? What is happening to me?” And that’s when art’s not a luxury, it’s actually sustenance. We need it.

Source

One of the big challenges for those of us that operate in the artistic and creative space is to convince people that creative experiences aren’t just for those moments of overwhelming joy or sorrow, but can be part of your everyday expressive life. Especially, as Hawke says, if you are willing to appear a little foolish.