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Selling You Everything, Including the Server That Processed Your Order

October 2, 2007

by:

Joe Patti

It looks like Amazon has decided since they have gone to the trouble of putting together a sophisticated purchasing system to sell goods, they might as well make money giving people access to their system and computing capacity.

According to Non-profit Tech blog, Amazon’s offer of access to their Flexible Payment System can be a boon to non-profits. As a person who is familiar with these types of systems, Allan at Non-Profit Tech Blog clearly sees more possibilities than do I. I suspect that the opportunities I see are too grounded in what is already being done rather than what is possible.

The benefits I can immediately see are that the system they offer uses their already familiar interface. If a person has an account with Amazon, they can use the credit card on file to purchase from you.

Because of all the options and conditions you can impose upon sales, it appears as if it would be easy to create all sorts of discount packages based on innumerable combinations of things people ordered. Helpful for subscription ticket packages as well as museum gift shops.

From what I can tell it would be a great tool to use with donors who want to spread their donation out across many months because it allows you to automatically charge people on a regular basis.

The people I think it might be a real valuable tool for are central arts councils in rural or suburban areas that fundraise for member organizations who don’t have the resources to do their own development. The Amazon tool allows for the transfer of money from one person straight to a third party.

So a donor could visit the arts council website and have their donation go into Small Town Historical Society’s bank account. The arts council can choose to have a percentage removed to help pay the IT person who keeps the donor system running if they like.

If you have a savvy IT person on staff or on your board of directors, it might be worth having them look at the entry and Amazon’s page to determine what the other possibilities might be.

Arts in an Age of Technology

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Unlikely Bedfellow

October 1, 2007

by:

Joe Patti

Well it seems that Fractured Atlas isn’t just an information resource any more. Thanks to eagle eye folks at TheatreForte, I recently learned they have started a blog as well.

As you might imagine, they have entries on a number of interesting subjects. The one that caught my eye was a little quiz Adam Huttler ran about which presidential candidate was the source of quotes on the importance of arts education, including this one.

“I tend to think that one of the greatest mistakes in education over the past generation has been that many school districts have cut their budgets in music and art programs. And in doing so, they’ve done one of the dumbest things that could ever be done that really is harmful to students in this country.”

The answer to the little quiz was Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. He made the comments before an audience at a Baptist University and based his sentiment partially on the idea that human’s reflect the creativity of the divine in who’s image they were shaped.

I was a little skeptical about his sincerity, especially when it appeared he had made the faux pas of endorsing a book he hadn’t read by encouraging his audience to read Richard Florida’s Rise of the Creative Class. As Huttler notes, the book says that creativity thrives in communities where homosexuals can live openly.

But Gov. Huckabee seems fully invested in the idea. He has signed mandatory arts education into law and made arts education the theme of his term as chairman of the Education Commission of the States. In his address he says the country is failing it’s children by perpetuating a system that only emphasizes left brain learning.

Unfortunately, most of Gov. Huckabee’s other political views put him outside my consideration. This is just another example of how one should not categorize a person entirely by a label. While people holding liberal view are often more in sympathy with the arts, I have personally lived in a state where Republicans were resisting Democrat cuts to the arts during budget negotiations. Given that the arts groups were proving to be well organized that year and the Republicans may have seen an advantage in taking up their cause when normally they might not have.

Politics makes strange bedfellows they say.* Sometimes there is benefit in considering unfamiliar bedmates.

*Though Charles Dudley Warner said it first, adapted from Shakespeare’s Tempest..

State of the Arts

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Is That What My Funder Is Thinking?

September 26, 2007

by:

Joe Patti

Earlier this month Albert at philanthropy blog, White Courtesy Telephone, did an entry on “Four Common Funder Misconceptions About Non-profits” and made a post along the same vein later in the month.

The entries offer an interesting, if not daunting, peek into the thought processes of funders. Albert encourages them to rethink their attitudes in terms of micromanaging non-profits, seeing their role as culling out the weak organizations, encouraging charities to merge and run themselves in a more business like manner.

Albert encourages funders to give applicants some slack when it comes to grading neatness.

“There’s a kind of mental trap that some grantmakers fall into. When we’re learning the ropes, we quickly realize there’s not enough money to go around for all the worthy applicants who approach us for funding…So we devise many little tests of nonprofit worthiness

State of the Arts

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What Would Your Answers Be?

September 25, 2007

by:

Joe Patti

Last week I received a questionnaire from a Performing Arts Management student at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford. With her permission, I am reposting it here. It gives some insight into what up and coming leaders are thinking.

As a theatre/company manager…

What educational background is required/expected?

What kind of experience is required/expected?

Where are the jobs? Who does the hiring?

Will there be jobs in this field in 5 years? 15 years?

What are the “big names” in the field?

What personal characteristics are needed for success in this field?

I haven’t formulated my answers yet. I am a little wary about prognosticating on the whole idea of whether there will be jobs in 5 years or 15 years. My answer will certainly be longer than a yes or no.

The question that interested me most was regarding who the big names in the field are. Folks like Joe Dowling at the Guthrie and Libby Appel who just left Oregon Shakespeare come to mind. But it occurs to me that unlike other areas of the arts, there are no managers that I ever hear people say they want to emulate.

When a design from a big name designer comes in, I have heard tech directors and designers make impressed noises. When the names of noted directors, choreographers, musicians, actors and dancers are attached to a production, it lends a degree of gravitas. Artists and even theatre managers often express an interest in working with these talented people, but rarely, if ever, have I heard anyone say they wanted to work with a specific theatre manager. I have heard people voice strong desires to work at theatres, but can’t remember anyone say they wanted to absorb the wisdom of one of the administrative leaders.

My theory is that this is because a theatre manager is effective in relation to the community in which they operate. What they do well may not translate well to other places. Knowing this, other theatre managers don’t tend to idolize too many others. which is not to say they don’t envy another’s resources and budget.

Now one may claim that directors, performers and designers must tailor their approaches to different physical spaces, technical resources and personnel. However, these people are dealing with others who share a standard vocabulary. They can send emails and FEDEX packages in advance of their arrival and progress can be made without anyone even knowing what they look like.

A theatre manager can’t administer from afar and sight unseen based on inventory lists, census data and other transmitted information. They have to walk around the facility and physically assess assets and liabilities, they have to drive around town and get a sense of the community, they have to make personal contact with people.

Now my alternate theory is that given reports I have read noting that theatre managers rarely get a chance to review the latest literature on myriad topics related to running their organization, no buzz is being generated about management superstars.

One thing I have heard often which backs up my “good management is local” theory is people expressing admiration for managers at their organization or organizations in their area. It is these managers with whom people have regular contact that they wish to emulate.

My answer to the student’s question about big names will probably encompass a bit of what I have written here as well as the names of some management theorists with whom I believe managers should be familiar.

I present these questions here as a challenge to my blog readers to consider what your answers might be to this student. And if anyone has any thoughts, I would be happy to pass them along to her.

Management Philosophy

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