Commentary

Collective Action In Action

by

The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields’ PR crisis has turned into full-blown stakeholder collective action. In the morning of 2/16/21, the Indianapolis Star’s Domenica Bongiovanni reported that 85 Newfields employees and board members released a public statement calling for president Charles Venabl’s resignation. One day later, that’s exactly what happened. If that weren’t enough pressure, the 2/17/2021 edition of the New York Times reported in an article by Sarah Bahr …

Read more

What Should We Expect From A Biden NEA?

by

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced a quartet of appointments from the new Biden administration but still no word on a chair to replace Trump administration appointee Mary Anne Carter. While there’s no shortage of scuttlebutt over who will get tapped to be the new chair, the pandemic casts the agency in an entirely new light. Simply put, does the country need a traditional NEA run by dedicated professionals …

Read more

Gelb’s Puzzling Threshold For “Best Relationships”

by

The Associated Press published an article on 1/28/2021 by Ronald Blum that examines The Metropolitan Opera’s finances. Nutshell: they saw the same drop in earned income other groups are experiencing but offset that in part by increased unearned income. In and of itself, there’s nothing remarkable there but what should catch your eye is the spin Met general manager Peter Gelb put on that story. “The good news is that we’ve managed …

Read more

The Latest Waypoint In The Met’s Ugly Labor War

by

The Met is seeing a surge in negative feedback across their social media channels in response to the executive leadership’s decision to weaponize the negotiation process. By that, we mean it decided to cut off artist and technical employees from all current wages and insurance unless they agree to sizable long-term concessions. In an attempt to bolster good will and maintain audience engagement, the Met decided to release archived recordings from …

Read more

That Odor You Smell Is Disaster Blowing In The Wind

by

As a board member, it’s difficult to get an independent assessment of the institution and its strategic direction during periods of labor distress. There’s a natural inclination to look inward and draw strength from colleagues while not letting too many outside voices become a distraction. Having said that, you know things might be getting out of hand when a marquee level voice starts questioning your strategic wisdom. Case in point, Riccardo …

Read more