Commentary

Do You Really Want To Play “Sophie’s Choice” With Your Subscribers?

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I wanted to follow-up on one specific topic introduced in the sfcv.org article referenced in yesterday’s post in the form of forcing subscription renewals to choose or lose. If you have yet to read that article, it examines how arts organizations are navigating COVID-19 challenges. Here’s the broader context for the choose or lose subscription sales strategy: Orchestras are also facing the issue of whether, at this point to continue to …

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It’s Time To Leave Panic Mode Behind

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There’s no shortage of panic inducing discussions and news floating around. Big budget groups like the Guthrie Theater and The Met have announced or are telegraphing the punch of prolonged closures that gut most of the 20/21 season. If that weren’t enough, the timing of service organization annual conferences happened to fall right when we’re still only beginning to learn more about coronavirus. Early studies projected an apocalyptic future and those …

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A Sad Day: Lynn Harrell Has Died

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The news arrived early Monday morning that Lynn Harrell passed away. It was devastating. I’ve been fortunate enough to know and work with Lynn for more than a decade. Our work literally took us to the other side of the world and throughout those journeys, the best part was getting to know Lynn. Regular readers know that one of my pet peeves is how often “beloved” is used in marketing copy. …

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Sometimes Silver Linings Are Cathartic

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At this point, I am happy to take whatever silver linings I can find and when it comes to coronavirus shutdown silver linings, we’re all starting to see how much employees can accomplish through working remotely. We touched on this topic several weeks ago just as shutdowns were starting to roll out. Ready Or Not, Nonprofit Arts Orgs Need To Start Thinking About Working From Home Options As it turns out, …

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This Isn’t Our First Rodeo

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Originally, my post today was going to dive into some of the doom and gloom posts making the rounds about how bad things are. My day got away from me, so we’ll aim for that post happening tomorrow. What I will say now is even though organizations are decidedly in crisis mode, this isn’t the first time we’ve faced what seems like an existential threat. And just like every other crisis …

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