I'm a Dancer. No, not "that" kind of dancer.

So, there’s this post, on Huffington Post. Written by an NEA fellow, of all people. About dance being the poorest art. Now, I think this is quite possibly true. What I take exception to is how she starts her examination.

“I've come to a conclusion about dance and money: if dancers did not sometimes sleep with rich people, American dance as we know it would cease to exist. Absurd and degrading as this conclusion is -- can you imagine the same being said of any other art form?” Sorry? Come again? Well, this explains why I have no money! I’m not sleeping with the right people!

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Let's Review- Week of 9/12

We’re back to school, back to class, back to routine.

Arts

Michael Kaiser writes a motivating post for the beginning of a new arts season.

Seth Godin shares the alternative to failure- create.

Non-Profits

I’ve been writing about community and collaboration lately. Kivi Leroux Miller has a great post about promoting other non-profits, and why “curating content” for your supporters is a smart move.

Don't Forget- this is the last weekend to catch Neil Simon's The Good Doctor at Hedgerow Theatre! It's a great show!

Let's Review- Week of 7/4

There was lots of good stuff out there this week. Here’s a quick guide.

Theatre

Courtesy of 2amt- Don’t be afraid to fail. And, if you’re going to fail, fail gloriously. See also, Spiderman- Turn Off the Dark.

Non-Profits

9 questions every organization should ask their board members and every board member should be able to answer. Try this at your next meeting. I think I’m going to.

Seth Godin

The Attention Economy- “Attention is a bit like real estate, in that they're not making any more of it. Unlike real estate, though, it keeps going up in value.”

A Blog You Should Read

The Road Lots Traveled- (And not just because she’s my sister.) Valerie Perry writes about her life working on a cruise ship. Yeah, it will make you jealous. But she’s pretty funny. This week’s post include sea turtles, shipwrecks, Spanish lessons and laundry.

Let's Review- Week of 6/27

Arts

Joe at Butts in the Seats asks if we can buy art at the price we are selling art. Interesting questions for artists and arts marketers- how involved are we in supporting/buying the work of others? Have we blocked ourselves by our pricing?

Adam Thurman at Mission Paradox asks, Are you the right type of crazy?


Arts Funding

Part 1 of a 4 part series on writing grants from Jessica Journey.  This one I think is the most important- What are they asking here?

I wrote on this earlier this week, because of my new development position. This is a great perspective from a philanthropist on some of the problems in funding art. I can’t wait to get Part 2!

Auditions

Personal Branding Blog uses a SAG conference on auditions to make personal branding comparisons.

Writing

I like to write. And I do it fairly well. Seth Godin provides some rules for writing well. Be sure to note the last one!

Funding for Arts and Culutre

Photo by David Beyer. Used by Creative Commons License.

I’ve recently been hired as a very part-time Development Officer for the theatre where I choreograph, teach and perform. Having run a non-profit dance collective, and now serving as Grants Manager for a family foundation, this work is really comfortable for me. And I’m pretty good at it.

Last night, I had to go before the board, to be formally introduced. Most of them know me. But most of them know me as a dancer and choreographer. They don’t know the other parts of my background. I think they were surprised. And hopefully impressed.

They asked a lot of questions, mainly regarding, how much could we expect to be granted, how stiff was the competition, what was the plan. This is  my answer.

If we apply for, and are awarded, every grant we could possibly be somewhat related to, we could receive a likely $30,000 per month. However, I think that’s a bad idea. It’s much better to target grants that you fit perfectly. It doesn’t waste my time, or the reviewers. Then we also don’t get around as the dumb people who just apply for everything, willy-nilly, and don’t read the requirements.

The competition depends on the category. Right now, arts and culture funding is STIFF. With budgets being cut all over, many foundations are realigning their giving priorities. For many, this means going to more quantifiable returns, like organizations providing direct services, rather than those providing warm fuzzies. However, because of our historic status and reputation, we are in a good place. We are less risky of a grant than a start-up. And our willingness to collaborate or co-present is a definite plus. This will be a difficult, but not impossible area.

Education funding is a little easier to come by, and more foundations are still doing it. Our problem is that our education program currently has no evaluation process. Again, that quantifiable return is so very necessary.

What is important to remember in philanthropy is that it is an investment. The foundations don’t expect their money back, but they do expect a return. They don’t just give out money to be nice. I mean, they do. But that’s not the real reason. They are looking to have some sort of impact or legacy. They weigh the risks. They look for results. And for many of them, because they are business people, they are looking for numbers and data. We have some things going for us. We also have some things we need to work on. And I believe our development numbers this year are going to be better than they were last year.