The Leader as Artist
September 10, 2011
I’m reading a book called Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership for one of my graduate courses, and was really struck by a paragraph that I thought was worth sharing. The authors, Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, were discussing the lack of imagination that is all too common in leaders and managers, and how important imaginative thinking is in order to tackle organizational challenges. I agree wholeheartedly with them.
“Artistry is neither exact nor precise. Artists interpret experience and express it in forms that can be felt, understood, and appreciated by others. Art embraces emotion, subtlety, ambiguity. An artist reframes the world so others can see new possibilities. Modern organizations often rely too much on engineering and too little on art in searching for attributes such as quality, commitment, and creativity. Art is not a replacement for engineering but an enhancement. Artistic leaders and managers help us see beyond today’s reality to new forms that release untapped individual energies and improve collective performance. The leader as artist relies on images as well as memos, poetry as well as policy, reflection as well as command, and reframing as well as refitting.”
-From Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (Bolman & Deal, 2003)
Like this:
Why Keigwin’s New Videos are Sickening, but Smart
February 16, 2011
Keigwin + Company has been aggressively promoting their upcoming Joyce Theater premiere, called Dark Habits, with weekly videos that feature each of the dancers. Watch some of the videos below and you’ll understand the heightened anticipation. They more closely resemble something you’d see on an MTV reality series than the choreography that I’ve previously seen by artistic director Larry Keigwin.
Yes, they’re dark, edgy, and risqué. But they’re also shallow. Most of all, the videos exemplify conformity, not creativity. They’re complete sell-outs, affirming that sex sells. And that’s what makes them both effective and so atrocious. By essentially selling the dancers’ bodies, the ads are cheapening them and devaluing them in a way that is offensive, especially since these are such artistically and technically skilled individuals. I was particularly impressed when I saw them in Works and Process at the Guggenheim. Sure, maybe the dancers had fun making these videos, but why succumb to the “sex sells” concept when you can rise above it? Of course, this happens all the time in pop culture and nobody bats an eye. That doesn’t make it ok.
I wish Keigwin had more faith in his dancers’ talents, and also more faith in audiences. A snazzy, smart video that gets butts in seats doesn’t need to have half-naked dancers gyrating and strutting seductively (I should mention that I made plans to attend the performance before seeing the videos, and I’ll still attend because I’ve enjoyed their work in the past and sincerely hope that the piece will have more depth than their ads). So, Mr. Keigwin, if you or your staff are reading this, I urge you, in the future, to create videos that don’t cheapen your work. You and your company are better than that. Otherwise you’re selling out, and undermining both your dancers’ talent and your own as an artistic director and choreographer.
National Arts Advocacy Day: What You Can Do
April 13, 2010
Americans for the Arts has declared today the 23rd Annual National Arts Advocacy Day. More than 500 arts, education, entertainment, and policy leaders have gathered at The National Arts Action Summit in Washington to develop strong public policies and support for increased public funding for the arts.
Meanwhile, there are several ways that you can be a part of Arts Advocacy Day without traveling to DC. If you’re on Twitter (I am!), you can make “arts” into one of Twitter’s trending topics today by creating a tweet with the hashtag #arts or joining the Tweet Arts Day campaign. This is a fast and efficient way to spread the message through the constantly growing Twittersphere that the arts vital to our communities.
You can also participate in Why Dance Matters, a virtual event that rallies the online dance community by encouraging everyone to answer the question, Why does dance matter to you, your community, your country, etc? For more information, check out the Facebook event.
While thinking about why dance matters, I remembered Rachel Maddow’s inspiring talk on dance, art, and society last summer at Jacob’s Pillow. She had a lot of smart, witty things to say, but here’s one particularly powerful statement:
“Not just in wartime but especially in wartime, and not just in hard economic times but especially in hard economic times, the arts get dismissed as ‘sissy’. Dance gets dismissed as craft, creativity gets dismissed as inessential, to the detriment of our country. And so when we fight for dance, when we buy art that’s made by living American artists, when we say that even when you cut education to the bone, you do not cut arts and music education, because arts and music education IS bone, it is structural, it is essential; you are, in [Jacob’s Pillow founder] Ted Shawn’s words, you are preserving the way of life that we are supposedly fighting for and it’s worth being proud of.”
I also encourage you to check out Joanna Chin’s post on ARTSblog, which makes a compelling, straightforward argument for the value of the arts. She says, “Arts = Arts; Arts = Humanity; Arts = Health/Quality of Life; Arts = Civic Engagement and Social Change; Arts = Economic Vitality; Arts = Creativity/Innovation = Growth/Vitality; Arts = Cultural Tourism = Economic Vitality; Arts = Jobs & Industry; Arts = Shared Benefit.” Yet, Chin wonders if there are other ways to argue for the arts and communicate them to an audience, and invites readers to share their comments on her post.
Taking action does not – and should not – be limited to today. Arts Advocacy Day is a reminder that advocating for the arts is an ongoing activity, whether by attending a performance, learning how to advocate and influence decision makers, networking with artists and arts leaders in your community, participating in an arts event, or reflecting on how your own arts education (or lack of arts education) has affected your life. No matter how you get involved, Arts Advocacy Day serves as a reminder that being an arts advocate is empowering and crucial to the future of the arts.
A Marketing Lesson from Rice Krispies
April 28, 2009
1930s ad for Rice Krispies
An email update from The Field brought to my attention James Surowiecki’s recent column in The New Yorker. He discusses marketing decisions made by Kellogg and Post cereals during the Great Depression as a lesson for today’s companies, which are undoubtedly pondering how much to invest in advertising and where to make cuts. Of course, arts organizations are also facing the same tough decisions. Keep them in mind when reading the following excerpt from Surowiecki’s column:
“Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back on advertising. But Kellogg doubled its ad budget, moved aggressively into radio advertising, and heavily pushed its new cereal, Rice Krispies. (Snap, Crackle, and Pop first appeared in the thirties.) By 1933, even as the economy cratered, Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it had become what it remains today: the industry’s dominant player.
You’d think that everyone would want to emulate Kellogg’s success, but, when hard times hit, most companies end up behaving more like Post. They hunker down, cut spending, and wait for good times to return. They make fewer acquisitions, even though prices are cheaper. They cut advertising budgets. And often they invest less in research and development. They do all this to preserve what they have. But there’s a trade-off: numerous studies have shown that companies that keep spending on acquisition, advertising, and R. & D. during recessions do significantly better than those which make big cuts.”
Assuming arts organizations want to end up like Rice Krispies rather than a forgotten Post cereal, cuts shouldn’t be made to marketing or programs during uncertain times. If anything, a recession provides an opportunity to invest in these areas in order to stand out from the crowd. There are definitely arts leaders who are aware of this, but still many others who fear taking risks when the future remains unclear. So it cannot be emphasized enough: without programming and marketing, arts organizations have no audience and therefore cannot exist.
The Field happens to offer a variety of upcoming career workshops that focus on marketing and publicity, which could be a worthwhile investment for individuals working in the arts.
NYCB’s MOVES and ABT’s 18/29 Club
April 27, 2009
New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre have both established special membership programs specifically for people in their 20s: MOVES and the 18/29 Club. It’s wonderful that the city’s major ballet companies recognize the need to cultivate younger audiences, but these memberships are far from perfect. In fact, they might be more off-putting than they are attractive.
ABT’s 18/29 Club requires that you purchase $30 orchestra seats to at least three performances. That’s already $90 plus a $15 handling fee. It’s understandable that ballet newcomers would be more than reluctant to drop $105 on ballet tickets, even with a “free” subscription to ABT’s news magazine. In fact, that’s more expensive than purchasing a single orchestra ticket, which can usually be bought last-minute since the Met rarely sells out, whereas the 18/29 Club requires you to place an order for all three performances in advance.
NYCB’s MOVES offers $32 tickets for seats in the third ring, with performance recommendations emailed to members based on a questionnaire filled out upon sign-up. However, the company also offers fifty $25 orchestra seats to every performance beginning on the Monday prior to each week’s performances. This is a cheaper and more impromptu option. Additionally, MOVES requires that you purchase two tickets for the spring season and two for the coming winter season in order “to remain a part of the MOVES network”. I doubt anybody in their 20s is thinking ahead to performances in winter 2010.
The only way to purchase tickets as a member of the 18/29 Club is by snail mail, fax, or in person. Why ABT hasn’t set up online ordering for this is more than a little perplexing, nor do I understand their reluctance to more fully utilize social media. To let others know about the club, the only option is to click the “tell a friend” feature on the website. At least MOVES already has a Facebook page to spread the word, and plans for MOVES meet-ups over drinks.
Both companies should be commended for targeting younger (and newer) audiences, but these initiatives are flawed. Nobody wants to commit to more than one performance, especially if they’re new to ballet and testing the waters. Plus, a membership should include more benefits besides newsletters and e-mail recommendations. Pre- or post-performance events and other community-building ideas should be considered (MOVES is on the right track with mingling over drinks). Otherwise, it’s just cheaper and easier to buy a single ticket at the regular price.
