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No Creativity Please, We’re Southern

September 7, 2016

by:

Joe Patti

You may have read about the surprising results of a National Endowment for the Arts survey on creativity that found a stark demarcation in creative activity that mirrored the traditional free and slave states.

As much as I might like to be smug about how these results confirm a belief in the superiority of the Northern denizens over the uninspired South, I really wonder how accurate this data is. Assuming the method of data collection isn’t flawed, I have a nagging suspicion that the findings may reflect a reluctance to self-identify as a creative person.

I have mentioned before how Jamie Bennett of ArtPlace America has suggested people have an easier time viewing themselves as an athlete on the continuum with Tiger Woods and Serena Williams than as an artist.

The reason why I suspected this might be a factor for this survey is because the responses from Hawaii in the personally performing or creating category was so low (34.8%) relative to the rest of the country. While I may have had difficulty selling tickets to some events while I worked there, the ratio of people I saw participating in some form of creative expression was the highest of any place I have lived.

If you were in a room with 10 people and asked who played ‘ukulele, danced hula or created lei, you wouldn’t have difficulty getting half to raise their hands. If you added participating in other cultural practices like Chinese, Japanese, Filipino music and dance, you would probably add two or three more people. In many cases, you would probably see hands raised multiple times.

Every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day there is at least one Obon Festival celebration on O’ahu, an event involving singing, music, dancing and crafts. There are multiple hula festivals, including the highly competitive Merrie Monarch. Choral music has a strong following. The Kamehameha Schools Song Contest, like Merrie Monarch, is highly competitive, heavily attended and televised across the state.

I suspect that because many respondents may not have had formal training and only fool around for friends and family, especially with ‘ukulele, they didn’t consider themselves as practitioners. Or perhaps they danced or played for decades as kids, but didn’t do it as much now so they don’t consider that as a valid part of their identity. Or because participation of the types I have described is so common it isn’t considered noteworthy.

If you were in my hypothetical room with 10 people, you would probably have to probe a bit and qualify what activities met your definition to get all 7 or 8 people to raise their hands.

While I don’t think every state south of latitude 36°30’ has the range of participation equivalent to that of Hawaii, I think there is likely a disconnect between how the NEA defined creative expression and how the respondents defined it. Participation rates may still be less than those north of that latitude, but they would probably be higher than these results indicate.

The truth may be that social and cultural factors are dissuading people south of that point from self-identifying as being creative and similar factors may be causing some people north of that line to apply a more flexible standard than the NEA intended. A map reflecting the true composition might be much more mottled.

General Musings

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Can You Deliver On The Promise of Clean Restrooms?

September 6, 2016

by:

Joe Patti

Yesterday evening I was hanging out at the local coffee house participating in a send off of an artist who has been creating murals for a public art project in the city for over 20 years now.

I got to talking to the owner of the coffee house about his management philosophy. Which, when it comes to employees, can be pretty much summarized as, cultivate the good workers and cut loose the deadwood.

He pays his employees a decent wage and involves them in as many aspects of the business as they are comfortable or interested. For example, when considering any potential new menu items, everyone participates in the preparation and pricing to make sure it makes sense in terms of the time and resources it requires.

Sometimes I don’t agree with his choices, but he always good at explaining his rationale to customers. I was on hand when a woman suggested they have loyalty punch cards like other coffee houses and he laid out the alternative approach he had chosen that provides value to the customer.

As closing time approached, the gathering adjourned to the patio so the employees could go home. I made a trip to the restroom and was confronted by this sign.

deserve restroom

When I mentioned the sign to the owner, he said it was there more for the employees than the customers. It communicated the standard of cleanliness they were expected to maintain because god help them if he got a call.

I thought it was pretty damn audacious. It doesn’t just say contact the manager if the restroom isn’t clean. It tells the customer they DESERVE a clean restroom and promises they will get it.

Question to ask yourself: Does your organization operate at a level that you can promises this standard of service?

This isn’t a literal promise about clean restrooms, it has figurative implications about the service you should expect to receive during every interaction while you are on the premises. It plays into the adage about being able to judge the cleanliness of the kitchen from the state of the restrooms, but goes beyond that.

Even with only a handful of customer contact points, it takes a lot of effort and attention to achieve this standard. If you really sit down and make a list, there are more contact points with customers than you think.

Can you tell your customers, figurative clean restrooms are hard to find, but they deserve them, and then deliver on that promise? It is pretty daunting.

Arts Facilities, Audience Relations, State of the Arts, Terms and Ideas

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Does Your City Need An Arts Bureaucrat?

September 5, 2016

by:

Joe Patti

Given the Labor Day holiday and the fact that Wells Fargo seems to think kids need to set aside their childish artistic dreams for real career choices, it seems appropriate to do a post on interesting, constructive arts careers.

Jennifer Lasik, Arts Coordinator for the City of Evanston, IL makes a “Case for an ‘Arts Bureaucrat’ in City Government.”

While her boss hates the use of that term, (the real job title is Cultural Arts Coordinator), she sees the arts bureaucrat role as one of the most important parts of her job. (my emphasis)

In public performance or art installation, there is often perceived conflict between what the artists want to accomplish and the objectives of the City regarding liability, maintenance, budgets, and code regulation.

[…]

While intended primarily as a resource for the arts community, City staff has appreciates having someone who “speaks artist,” can plan and evaluate artistic projects, and listen to and fine-tune artists’ proposals to address various departmental questions and concerns. Both groups trust me to negotiate a balance between the artistic and practical aspects of the project, helping artists through the application and permit process, and cutting through some of the bureaucratic red tape that can cause frustration and bottleneck. The time and energy this position saves for both the City staff and the artists is a compelling argument for an arts bureaucrat position.

She lays out the scope of her position which makes it sound like this position, created in 2013, was the next step in a process in which Evanston was amenable. She notes, for example that:

“Public Works uses a “Complete Streets” model, which means that when maintenance or repair work is done, other goals such as public art, accessibility and sustainability are factored into the rebuild.

At the end of her post, she provides some suggestions for municipalities that don’t have the capacity for a full time arts bureaucrat, including appointing a staff person to act as an “arts whisperer” to help facilitate communications.

Advocacy, Art(ist) Education, Government Relations, State of the Arts, Terms and Ideas, Working In The Arts

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Big Boards In Big D, But Probably Not For Thee

August 31, 2016

by:

Joe Patti

There was a piece on the Dallas Morning News website about how the boards of various Dallas arts organizations were beginning to focus on greater diversity in their membership and accountability of their staffs.

The article opens by noting that Dallas Summer Musicals parted ways with their managing director months before his contract expired and the Dallas Museum of Art appeared to have a tense parting with their director.

“In the old Dallas,” says Veletta Forsythe Lill, a former City Council member and past executive director of the Dallas Arts District, “a board would have let a guy finish his term,” as in, why not let Jenkins stay eight more months, until his contract expired?

“But we’re living in a new Dallas,” Lill says, “and the new Dallas naturally carries with it a new breed of board member. The new boards want more control and more accountability.”

[…]

Today’s artistic boards veer younger and more corporate, and although older white men continue to dominate, their once-fierce hold — some would say stranglehold — is beginning to wane. Today’s artistic boards are increasingly more diverse, with women commanding a more powerful presence than ever before.

I was happy to see that boards are starting to take their governance responsibilities seriously and are attempting to make board and staff composition more diverse and reflective of the communities they are serving.

As I was reading through the article, I wondered if the boards would possess the will to evaluate how effective they are at executing their responsibilities.

When I see that Dallas Summer Musicals has 146 board members and 40 members on their executive committee, I can’t help but be skeptical about how effective such an unwieldy arrangement can be.

Reading the following, I suspected the membership numbers are largely courtesy appointments for the purpose of fundraising:

Board giving and participation guidelines: $1,000 down payment to be a general board member, coupled with raising at least $2,000 from outside donors. Must be a season-ticket holder. Executive committee members: Must make a $2,500 down payment, raise at least $5,000 from outside sources and be season-ticket holders.

Similarly large numbers appear on the boards of AT&T Performing Arts Center whose bylaws allow up to 70 members, but currently has 55; Dallas Museum of Art which has 73 board members; and Dallas Symphony Orchestra which has 68 members, 20 of which are on the executive committee.

In January I wrote about San Diego Opera which was revived after a stakeholder revolt fought the board’s decision to cease operations. The board membership went from 53 to 24. One of the key issues they identified as having contributed to their inability to adapt to the changing economic and social environment in San Diego was the “Get, Give or Get Off” board membership policy.

The San Diego Opera was one of those organizations where having a large number of people on the board was a function of fundraising. You pay x amount of money and you’re on the board, and no one wants to alienate any of those folk with contentious conversations that cause discomfort. But that is certainly not a good modus operandi for an organization facing the whitewater of the twenty-first-century cultural organization. And, it was not only the business model that had to change but the governance model, too.

Yes, yes, I know everything is bigger in Texas. With a funding model that includes 40 executive board members bringing in $7,500 each and the other 146 board members bringing in $3000 each, Dallas Summer Musicals may not experience issues that require them to be more nimble and responsive.

For everyone else, everywhere else, it is worth considering if a move toward a leaner, more nimble board might be the best course to meet the organizations long term challenges.

For your listening pleasure, “Big D” from The Most Happy Fella.