This is a different side of the NEA’s  “Art Works” slogan and the Artists in the Workforce study, a more engaging window into the lives of artists … and yet one that encompasses a group of people and will (hopefully) speak to the bigger picture of what life as a working artist is like, from an artist’s perspective and from the perspective of  his peers, competitors and collaborators–people who mostly went through bachelor’s degree programs and then took on a further commitment of time and resources to be working artists.

I am very excited to see the results of Zheng’s research. The exhibition opens May 21 with a reception from 6pm to 9pm at the Marina Abramovic Institute West, 575 Sutter Street, San Francisco.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Yosi Sergant, and reading the debate on Jeff Chang’s blog. I’ve been thinking a lot about politics, and provincialism, and wondering if it is possible to write an interesting blog anymore if you are The Administration.

Why do we become The Administration? I say this, half-joking and half-horrified, because a grassroots leader I know is referred to that way by her staff. “The Administration” refers to just one person.

I know a lot of emerging leaders who want to be the director of an organization someday. I don’t know any who want to become “The Administration.”

Sigh … in a perfect world the Yosi Sergants would wield ongoing power and have infinite connections to serve their mission without joining the NEA. But that is a tough row to hoe. In a perfect world we’d all be making art in the service of an insurrection, by the people for the people. But in this world, we can’t even use the word insurrection without having to defend it. And the most talented insurrectionists I know are also talented at finding money and administrations to back them up.

Back to the blog–I guess I’m feeling a little doubt these days about what’s safe and what’s fair. I’m not giving up the blog. But it merits more thought.

And on “emerging leadership” … I’ll be giving a very short talk on behalf of the San Francisco Bay Area Emerging Arts Professionals as part of Friday Nights at the de Young, this Friday night. If you are wrestling with these same issues, come join us–it will be good times!

With that in mind, Claudia La Rocco’s New York Times article about negotiations between the 92nd Street Y and choreographer Pavel Zustiak is a fascinating look behind the scenes of a contract dispute.

In BRAVA’s lobby, the playwright had posted photos and biographies of wartime poets who inspired him. Looking at that wall of photos, it struck me that I knew and loved poems by most of the male poets on the wall, but could not quote or name the title of any poems written by the women. 

After all this time, women writers still aren’t in our canon. Do we think about that as often as we should? Journalist Laura Collins-Hughes does. I recall a conversation we had when I was working at the O’Neill Theater Center … she noticed that the O’Neill had selected a majority of women playwrights for the Playwrights Conference, and wrote a story about it. Now, she has written an article about the significance of a Pulitzer shortlist “bursting with women.”

Given the scarcity of arts features these days, it is even more significant that Collins-Hughes seizes upon this subject matter. Here’s hoping it is linked far and wide.

But a funny thing happened on the way to submitting that grant application. I started getting excited about marketing again. Specifically, the potential for breaking open a tired old myth (Full-Time Marketing Director + Hotshot Publicist=Stellar Attendance) and doing things more efficiently and effectively. I used to scour the newspaper and online listings for interesting things to see and do, but here in San Francisco, that means sifting through 435 listings on a lazy Sunday, and those are by no means comprehensive. The grassroots innovators rarely show up in the newspaper anymore, and the most compelling invitations come from artists, curators and collectives.

I get dozens of Facebook invitations each week and I’m still not sure I know a single person under forty who can entice even fifty people to an arts event where there’s not free booze. How large is the disconnect between new technology and true relationship building when it comes to arts participation? I hope the gap is narrowing, but I fear there is a schism that puts small and mid-size arts organizations at a disadvantage.

As a friend reminded me this weekend, going to the theater (or any arts event) is an adventure that requires effort and risk … and in an era of empty pockets and full schedules, the best publicist in the world can’t compete with word of mouth when it comes to filling a room. Logic would say that facts and accuracy count for more than opinion, but science is proving that wrong.

So … whether or not I attend Boot Camp, I am left with a few questions:

• Can relationship building with technology be taught? Who should do the teaching?
• How can Institutions (defined as: more formal organizations, often with more formal relationships and more liveable compensation to artists) blur the lines between marketing and art-making without sucking up all of the time + energy of artists, aka making them “jump through more hoops” just to have a show?
• What are the intergenerational  aspects of new technologies in marketing (positives and negatives)?

And, on a very micro-level … what does this all mean for my organization’s database, website, budget, et cetera?

Any answers out there? Advice, links, book/study recommendations welcomed.

Lately Maeda re-tweets have been popping up everywhere. As frivolous as “tweet” sounds, the brevity lends itself to sharing wisdom. There are two pieces of Maeda twisdom (tweet-wisdom) that have been running through my mind all week:

-Maeda Twisdom #1: I was taught to embrace adversity by leaning *in* (vs out and away) to changing circumstances. My back aches with all of you leaning in now.

-Maeda Twisdom #2: “recalls his father’s life mantra of the Japanese aesthetic of “mada dame” (maw-dah dah-may) — “It’s not good enough yet.”

Maeda’s website, http://creativeleadership.com/, compares “Traditional Leadership” to “Creative Leadership.” The first thing I thought of when I read the list was the common theater model of having a Managing Director and an Artistic Director. And how rarely that works. The second thing I thought of was how the Creative Leadership approach and the accompanying ambiguity could be applied to financial management or a city lease (have you seen one of those? they are huge).

My third thought was not my thought at all, but instead comes from Jan Masaoka, via the Nonprofit Law Blog: “A leader may best serve his or her organization by being the type of person who the organization needs him or her to be at that time.”

Sometimes it is hard to step back from one’s organization and look at the big picture and think about the best approach. I NEVER thought that Twitter would help me be reminded of the need to do just that, but–thanks to John Maeda–it does.

I’ve blogged before about my frustration regarding media coverage of the arts. It’s an ongoing theme, but this week was a catastrophe. I wish I could send every so-called objective news journalist a copy of Artists in the Workforce, and take every parent who discourages their child’s participation in the arts to a 10-year reunion of my BFA Theater class, because we all still have our jobs! Which is unfortunately more than I can say for all of my friends with MBAs right now.

Anyway. Getting mad isn’t the solution. We need to get  really smart and really loud and frequent about communicating the value of the arts. Barry’s Blog offers some suggestions in today’s post.

On a tangential note, I attended a performance by Culture Clash on Friday night. They were hilarious. I laughed, I learned, and I enjoyed the wonderful and rare live-ness of the experience. There was a moment when one of the actors was poking fun at hipsters in the Mission District, and all of the sudden he stops and says “hey, we bash hipsters but really this night wouldn’t have been possible without all of the hipsters who worked to make it a success.” And someone in the audience hissed! And the actor shrugged and said “hey, you hiss but I don’t see you at CalArts!”

I am paraphrasing, but the dialogue made me wonder about the demographics of our BFA, MFA and other fine arts training programs. I wonder if these demographics need to change. I wonder how we can change them, and what impact that might have on media perception of the arts and arts funding. And I know that unless we work to change media perception of who participates in the arts, and of what it means to participate in the arts, the backlash will continue.

To that end, I was seriously excited to drop by hygienic.org and see that they have adopted a new ning website! I’ve had a few discussions with emerging arts leaders about whether or not ning is the way to go (requires users to become “members” to use many features–too much commitment?). But now I can see that for the Hygienic, this is perfect. The Hygienic is all about participation, and doesn’t it make sense for an organization to embody its real-life essence online? This is done to brilliant effect with the Hygienic’s new site. AND, as an added bonus, Hygienic expats like me can participate from afar. 

XOXO, Hygienic, and happy XXX!

Sidenote: Preston is an alum of the O’Neill Critics Institute.

This year, I realized that Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite holidays. Since my family is far away, and Thanksgiving is so close to Christmas, I usually spend it with the families of friends. Like so many of my favorite arts experiences, the holiday has become a chance to participate in and gain a deeper understanding of the lives of others.

Last year, Dan and I spent Thanksgiving in Paris with our friends Dave and Mila. The year before that, we were with the very large, very Italian Catuogno family (Dan’s mother’s side) in New Hampshire. The year before that, we had turkey and target practice around a bonfire in the Adirondack Mountains with my Uncle Chris and Aunt Diane.

Having been in San Francisco only five weeks, I did not expect to have much of a Thanksgiving this year. So I was very happy when the Tech Services crew from SOMArts invited me to attend unThanksgiving with them. Each year, Ernie and the crew wake up at 4:00 am and donate their time to provide a PA system for the annual ceremony, which honors American Indians and comemmorates the occupation of Alcatraz in 1969.

The community leaders asked bystanders to turn off video recorders once the ceremony began, but in this video you can hear the singing and see the sound crew rushing off the first boat to set up the system before the procession arrived at the bonfire.

Later in the day, it was off to a Castro family Thanksgiving … where the conversation was witty, the food was amazing, and the award for best holiday attire (bronze/cheetah trench, black leather pants) was a refreshing change. Not to mention one of the most happy and stress-free Thanksgiving dinners I’ve ever experienced.

Today Dan arrives from Massachusetts, so I’ll get to do a little SF hosting of my own. Can’t wait!