How Arts Marketing Can Avoid Khan’s Fate From Start Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Mon, Aug 8, 2022
by Drew McManus
Arguably, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is one of the best Trek films that managed to save the franchise. It relies on a solid foundation of cinematic storytelling that resonates with a diverse audience delivered through several timeless lessons. Case in point, during the starship battle toward the film’s climax, both ships are
A Box Office Manager’s Thoughts On Comp Tickets
Mon, Jul 7, 2022
While I’m away on July hiatus, I can across an absolutely wonderful post on social media from Tiffin Equitable Feltner, a Florida based arts administrator working at the intersection of arts and technology. They were weighing in on the topic of comp tickets and I thought it was such a refreshing response to a well-worn
July Break
Mon, Jul 7, 2022
by Drew McManus
Business is good which means business is busy. As a result, I’ve decided to take the rest of July off from blogging but will be back on Monday, August 1. Until then, I want to point out that there’s a new dedicated LinkedIn company page for Arts Admin Jobs. The response at LinkedIn has been
Just In Case You Thought Websites Were Losing Value
Wed, Jul 7, 2022
by Drew McManus
A recent report from IMACTS Experience (h/t Ruth Hartt) provides a data driven reminder about how important a website is to a nonprofit arts and culture organization. While measuring what they define as high-propensity visitors, ” folks who have an increased interest, inclination, or likelihood to attend cultural organizations,” the discovered that end-of-year 2019 vsQ2, 2022
Compensation Report Update: Hurry Up And Wait
Tue, Jul 7, 2022
by Drew McManus
Sadly, there’s no change in the status of orchestra 990 availability since the last time we checked in on June 20, 2022. Consequently, I’ve made the call to reschedule this for September, 2022. At that point in time, even if the only resource is the extracted data from the raw data in XML format, we’ll move
#TBT Can You Afford To Take That Gig
Thu, Jul 7, 2022
by Drew McManus
In what feels like lifetimes ago, I launched the Gig After Gas Online Calculator in 2008 (shout out to Jason Heath for his help then). The tool was a response to rising costs of gas prices following the housing meltdown. In hindsight it was super simple but at the time, required a good bit of
How To Apologize Like A Boss
Wed, Jul 7, 2022
by Drew McManus
While airlines aren’t something businesses would want to pattern themselves after right now, there’s a great article from inc.com by Bill Murphy Jr. that diagrams what the author describes as an effective corporate apology. He breaks everything down to five key components: Excitement Contrition Self-confidence Gratitude Confidence What’s perhaps most useful is how concise Murphy
Advanced De-escalation: When You Can’t Avoid Controversial Topics
Tue, Jul 7, 2022
by Drew McManus
In a time when stakeholders are more on-edge than ever, it pays to brush up on basic de-escalation technics. To that end, I wanted to take a moment and point out something from Kelly Leonard, Executive Director of Learning and Applied Improvisation at Second City Works, who promotes a concept he calls “thank you, because…”
#TBT Donor Advised Funds Are Still A Bad Thing
Thu, Jun 6, 2022
by Drew McManus
I wish I could say Donor Advised Funds are less of a problem now than they were several years ago, but the reality is they are much worse. H/T to Joe Patti for pointing out the article from inequitable.org by Chuck Collins and Helen Flannery that reports Donor Advised Funds are now the largest cumulative
Looking For Unicorns On A Donkey Budget