I have been following up on the newspaper articles and summaries from Michael Kaiser’s tour, and I am beginning to wonder if it wouldn’t have made more sense to send a free copy of his book to every arts administrator.
Back in early July when the tour was announced – I wrote the following post. I state again that I think Kaiser is brilliant and one of the great leaders in the arts, and his book Art of the Turnaround is a great, inspiring read. I also know firsthand he is a fabulous speaker and can really energize a room.
So, I was a bit disappointed to read articles from Charlotte to Madison that seemed to be summaries of the book. I really do hope the discussion is going further, because it is desperately needed. But if the discussion isn’t going to dig deeper than the book, what’s the point? Now certainly one can hope the local conversations are happening and not being reported on, but is that what we really need documented?
So, I am waiting on pins and needles for Andrew Taylor of Artful Manager’s in-depth report on the Madison stop, where Taylor served as an on-stage facilitator. He gave a teaser here.
Here are some articles from that stop (thanks to Taylor for pointing me to 77 Square Arts):
- 77 Square arts: Advice for arts in crisis: Plan something exciting
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kennedy Center leader stops in state to make case for art
- Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee: Michael Kaiser Offered the Wisconsin Arts Community Good Advice
- Artsy Schmartsy: Michael Kaiser want you to do some planning, and I want to be inspired
The articles seem to reinforce that Kaiser is using Art of the Turnaround as a base but don’t report it going further which leaves so many issues on the table locally and nationally.
More from my July 1 post on Kaiser – you can read in its entirety here:
I think the reason the Arts in Crisis initiative hasn’t taken off as much as the Kennedy Center thought it would and the reason why sadly it probably never will is that a lot of organizations don’t have the necessary leadership. Not that the leadership makes bad decisions (there are certainly plenty that do) but simply there is a lack of organizations in the field that have quality, committed, and trained key leadership at the artistic, management and board level. They might have two out of the three, mediocrity in all three or more likely one bending the others to his or her will. Many organizations have to reach a crisis point to do anything about this – all of the organizations Kaiser has “turned-around” were in critical danger. Kaiser took organizations that were lost and turned them into survivors.
Kaiser in his book insists that someone must lead (it is actually rule number one), that organizations in trouble “suffer from a diffused leadership.” Don’t mistake this as a dismissal of the relationship between artistic, management, and board for one almighty, all powerful leader who all else must bow to. Quite the opposite. It is about BALANCE and ALIGNMENT between artistic, management and board leadership. It is about trust, authority and responsibility for the art, vision and health of an organization being placed in the proper hands.
Today, the companies that I observe being innovative, growing, thriving or changing the landscape seem to have some version of this balance and alignment. Those that are on the cusp of bankruptcy seem to have leadership that is unbalanced, in conflict and sometimes at war with one another. But most of the companies are in that middle area. They aren’t on the at the risk of closing and they aren’t highly successful, they just are open. As much as these company would benefit from Kaiser’s work or the work of several others out there (there are a lot of great thinkers and workers out there), those companies don’t seem to have leadership who will or can pull themselves up above the day to day to look at the bigger picture so they will simply stay flat, mediocre, unbalanced, or on the brink, choose your phrase, but they won’t reach the potential of the impact they can have. I am not saying this is wrong. It just simply is. In any industry there is going to be a continuum of size, success, and quality – it is key to the ecosystem of the industry. However there is a lot of room for improvement across the field the “top of the continuum” is not toppling over no matter what criteria you use for placement. I do think if/when we have more quality leadership structures at more arts organizations we will see an increase in arts participation and the modern renaissance of the arts will flourish!
No related posts.
Another article at http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=26735.