In Which Edward, Adam, and Barry Save the Arts

I spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about sustainability in the arts.  Why is the model for most arts projects, productions, organizations, broken?  How can we fix it?  Is anyone willing to do that work when their ingenuity is much better-rewarded elsewhere?

I got really lucky this year when these musings went from second most-frequent topic over drinks with Flora* to an actual professional project, promoting a wonderful book called 20UNDER40.  The book, part of a larger project whose mission is to give emerging arts leaders a voice about where this industry is going, to create a dialogue between arts professionals of all ages, is an anthology of 20 incredibly smart essays about what could, and should, be next.  You can get it at www.20UNDER40.org or the usual online book suspects.

An interview with the author/aggregator, Edward Clapp, was posted yesterday on Barry's Blog, which is fantastic for getting the word out to people in our field.  He has a lot of wonderful, insightful things to say about the state of the arts and how we might create an environment where young people might want to stick around instead of bailing for a decent paycheck.

That writeup led me to this excellent, excellent interview with Adam Huttler, who runs Fractured Atlas (where I contribute as marketing blogger).  Adam not only has smart solutions I wholeheartedly agree with, he's on the ground every day making it happen.

Jihadists Done Messed With the Wrong Mayoress's Hometown

At first, I was like - wha? Thwarted terror plot in Portland?  That's not cool, jihadists.  Not cool.  Portland is maj amazing, as anyone who knows me knows I know.  Please redirect your anger at Houston or Butte.

Then I read the front page coverage in the NY Times and was more like,

This m*****f***** went to my high school?!?!

And worst of all, while my baby brother was there.  In other words, while this kid was indoctrinating himself with jihadist propoganda, he was going to school each day seeing faces of people he thought should be dead including my own brother and other people I personally know and love.  And then, a few years later acted on a plot to kill thousands of people in my hometown.  This kid grew up a few miles from where I did.  His parents probably shop at the same grocery store as my mom.  Our paths have undoubtedly crossed.

My Issue With Cathie Black, or, Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

Well, well, well!  A situation where Bloomberg completely disregards the rules and acts like a billionaire businessman whose latest toy is a board game called Who Wants to Run New York City, can you imagine???

Yes, you can, because if you're been reading this blog or clicking on the Bloomberg tag at right, you know I am no fan of my city's current mayor (illegally serving a third term just because he felt like it).  And finally a large group of people are calling him out for his typical behavior, most recently manifested in his appointment of Cathie Black to NYC City Schools Chancellor(ess) - a publishing exec with zero education experience.

Am I saying it's impossible for her to be good at this job?  Of course not.  But when I'm hiring, relevant experience is at least as important as managerial skills.  I do think it can be innovative to bring someone in from a different industry, but there has to be a connection.  And this connection should not be "industry that is failing miserably with little hope for the future."

But my real issue with Black is the same as my issue with Bloomberg: what, other than ego, is the incentive for her to succeed?  Her kids are in private school.  She has no ties to public education.  And I'm guessing she's taking a big salary cut.  So, like Bloomberg, whose livelihood comes not from his city salary of $1 but from private holdings, this can only be a hobby to her.  What will drive her when the going gets tough and the solutions aren't as cut-and-dried as a for-profit corporation?  How can her thinking, her impulses, her modus operandi, possibly consider the good of the children first and foremost (not to mention teachers, unions, communities, government workers) when her whole career has been about the bottom line?

Where I've Been & Where I Blog

Hey peeps - sorry I've been away, but it's a good sign when my posts are infrequent, at least for me, as it means my business is doing well.  Or Jezebel is killing it with their posts and taking up all my surf time.  Also,

this is where I blog on the regular about things professional (rather than political).

On Restoring Sanity

Watched the highly entertaining Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear today at Brooklyn Bowl (best. venue. ever).  If you missed it, definitely catch some clips online (or seeing as Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, maybe they will replay it ad nauseum as is the MTV Awards model).

Jon Stewart's closing remarks summed up what I've been moving toward for awhile now - the need for us all to be more tolerant, patient, gentle with one another; to sensationalize less; to listen more.  I get very impatient with those who don't see things the same way I do sometimes, but that isn't logical, it's emotional.  So I think it's time to put a bit more effort into sharing this crazy country with my fellow patriots.

This would be a good time to cue that cheesy montage video they show at airport immigration.  No?  Okay.

GOP Fearmongering Propoganda Film of the Day

Join me for viBenefit on October 19

In my series of nail-in-the-coffin moments in my journey from performer to former, one of the most positive was sitting in the audience of a play written & performed by the girls of viBe, which brought my revelation: I'd rather do all I can to support amazing efforts like this.

Co-founded by my friend and former collaborator Chandra Thomas, viBe gives inner-city teenage women a chance to use the performing arts as a way to express themselves. If you're anything like me, you know that the high school years are nearly impossible to navigate without some non-academic outlet... and with the recent attention on the severe lacks in our public schools, most notably explained in the film "Waiting for Superman," we are now understanding how vital it is that we all do something to support the people who decide our future.

So, I'm proud to be on the host committee for the viBenefit, and hope you'll join me. For the cost of a typical night out, you can support the amazing work that viBe is doing in the company of fellow fun NYC young professionals - with drinks & food & gift bags included. There's no reason NOT to!!

See you on October 19th - and if you are otherwise engaged, you're welcome to contribute whatever you can on the donation page at www.vibenefit.org.

"Fair and Balanced" Elections

I had to read this sentence four times to even begin to get my head around it:

...Every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News.

Full article.

I'd Like to Make a Return...

This post from Daniel Pink's blog is so good I had to repost it verbatim.  Too bad the government's return/exchange policy isn't modeled after Nordstrom.

Every once in awhile, you hear of an idea so blindingly obvious and inarguably wise that you wonder why in God’s name it’s still a notion and not a reality.


That happened to me this morning when I heard about the Taxpayer Receipt, the brainchild of the folks at Third Way.


In a brief and readable policy paper, David Kendall and Jim Kessler propose “providing each taxpayer with a receipt that shows them exactly how their money is spent to the penny.” That’s it.


Here’s what the receipt would look like:

Is it Just Me, or is New York Getting More... New York?

Perhaps its the departure of the original Law & Order franchise, the city feeling the need to cumulatively reassert its badassness, but wouldn't you agree that thing have, as the original Real World posited, stopped being polite and started getting real?

This morning on the Q, this guys just sits down, opens his book, and pops a 20-ounce Coors Light can.  No visible judgment from other passengers, which only made me laugh harder.  Well, life in NYC ain't easy, and as Anthony points out, it's always 5 o'clock somewhere.  (Still, be a gentleman and opt for a coffee stout before noon, it's NY Craft Beer Week for heaven's sake!)

Last night on the Bedford L platform, a fight broke out and my friend B (who will remain anonymous because he probably wants to get laid again someday) got pushed onto the SUBWAY TRACKS.  Quel horror!  He's okay, a few scrapes, but that's trauma to last a lifetime.

And two nights ago, in N's luxury Manhattan highrise apartment building, a 21-year old resident was shot and killed, possibly a drug-related crime.

Let's be serious: down economy equals hard times equals rise in crime.  The whole country is at a weird boiling point, no one seems quite balanced these days.  It's bound to keep bubbling over, especially in a city like New York.