CultureHive is a newly launched website that could help Arts and Culture funders discover and share best practice in cultural marketing. It features case studies, toolkits, research, articles and more. Resources have been sourced from across the UK and beyond – from cultural organisations, audience development agencies and consultants. As part of Arts Council England’s Audience Focus program, the website aims to make everything available to access and download for free.
Grantmakers in the Arts
by Steve
From Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, writing for CNNMoney:
Most dance companies make money by selling tickets to their performances. Boise-based troupe Trey McIntyre Project has a more expansive business model: “We've decided that we have a real asset, which is the creative process itself. We're selling that,” says John Michael Schert, the company's co-founder and executive director. Companies are buying the pitch. Corporate giants such as Hewlett-Packard and Aetna have signed on, and The University of Chicago Booth Business School recently hired Schert for advice on getting inspired.
by Tommer
Today on Createquity: John Carnwath provides a detailed look at the proposed cap on federal income tax deductions for contributions that is part of the President's budget proposal, and what the effect on nonprofits might be.
In his most recent budget proposal, President Obama is seeking to impose a cap on itemized deductions in the personal income tax return – which includes the deduction for charitable contributions. This provision, part of the administration’s strategy to raise revenue to pay for government spending, has been a part of every White House budget proposal since 2009, and every year arts advocacy organizations join the rest of the nonprofit sector in opposing the changes.
by Steve
From Morgan Smith at The New York Times:
As the Texas Legislature moves to uproot the state’s standardized testing program amid an outcry from parents and school leaders, state lawmakers have focused their criticism on Pearson, the publishing and testing company that develops the tests.
by Steve
From Louis Lavelle at Bloomberg Businessweek:
Undergraduate business programs are, for the most part, no-nonsense degrees. You have your finance, your marketing, and your management—and the connection between what is taught in the classroom and the skills used on the job is pretty straightforward. But a number of business schools are beginning to experiment with something that might have been considered sacrilege a few years ago: incorporating the liberal arts—literature, history, science, and philosophy—into the business curriculum.
by Steve
From Elizabeth Blair for National Public Radio's All Things Considered:
Over the years, there have been a lot of claims about the benefits of the arts on the mind: Listening to Mozart makes you smarter; playing an instrument makes you better at math. One program — funded in part by the federal government — is putting these theories to the test.
by Janet
From Janet Brown from her blog Better Together
Grantmakers in the Arts is in the midst of presenting Conversations on Capitalization and Community in five cities over two months so my mind is a bit warped with an excess of nonprofit financial health talk. Making a profit for nonprofits isn’t easy because we fight public perceptions that we should have no profits, funding criteria that punishes profit and a professional norm that encourages any profit be spent on making the product of the nonprofit better.
by Steve
From Doug Herbert, writing for the U.S. Department of Education's Homeroom blog:
Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” April 9th was Arts Advocacy Day here in Washington, D.C., and thousands of advocates from across the country came to rally in support of arts education programs in our schools, pre-K through high school, that will solve the problem Picasso described.