Focus Areas
Marketing, Legal Issues, Operations (backstage and front of house), Arts Presenting and Producing, Business Models, Outdoor Festivals Presenting Contemporary Indigenous Artists, Arts and Technology, Leadership in the Arts, Collaboration (between organizations, communities, artists-all permutations), Professional Development and Training, Organizational Culture, Volunteers, University Arts Environments
About
I have been writing Butts in the Seats (BitS) on topics of arts and cultural administration since 2004 (yikes!). Given the ever evolving concerns facing the sector, I have yet to exhaust the available subject matter. In addition to BitS, I am a founding contributor to the ArtsHacker (artshacker.com) website where I focus on topics related to boards, law, governance, policy and practice. I am also an evangelist for the effort to Build Public Will For Arts and Culture being helmed by Arts Midwest and the Metropolitan Group. (http://www.creatingconnection.org/about/) My most recent role was as Executive Director of the Grand Opera House in Macon, GA. Among the things I am most proud include leveraging the architecture of The Grand to provide safe programming during Covid, producing a devised work to explore ways to address blight that didn’t involve bulldozing, producing an opera in the Hawaiian language and a dance drama about Hawaii’s snow goddess Poli’ahu.
I have been trying to think of subjects to address on ArtsHacker, but my goal is to create entries that are relatively evergreen and with Covid, I feel like so much is being rewritten in terms of process and expectation. I think the addition of Eric Rubio is awesome. He is preaching to the choir when he talks about keeping your books up to date as you rather than scrambling at the end of the year or during an audit.
Connect With Joe
Article Archive
Conversations around performances and events really can enhance the experience for people, but making it an effective and enjoyable experience can take some preparation and discipline. One of my favorite pieces on the practice was written for HowlRound by Brant Russell reflecting on his experience leading the discussions at Steppenwolf Theatre. He presented 11-ish rules that were basically aimed at having the moderator employ the lightest touch while also keeping the discussion…
Around 1600 Shakespeare wrote about brevity being the soul of wit in Hamlet. Roughly 400 years later, phone text messaging and Twitter limited us to the number of characters one could post. The fact that Twitter has expanded their character limit and most phone messaging software either provide capacious limits or automatically parse messages across multiple texts it something of a testament to our inability to briefly encapsulate our meaning. Yet there…
Preparing For A Kiss Like An Eviscerating Slash – As Boringly As Possible
A recent development in theater, television and film performance, in terms of theory and practice, is the role of intimacy director. There was a video on The Atlantic which frames it as emerging out of a recognition that performance situations were being used to provide a veneer of legitimacy to sexual assault. I don’t think anyone questions that it is of paramount concern to safeguard the physical, emotional and mental well-being of…
Non-Profits Pay Taxes On Unrelated Business Income Just because your organization is tax exempt doesn’t mean everything you do is exempt from taxes. There are a number of activities that result in what is known as Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI) which may be as much as 21%. While there are some subtle distinctions that determine what activities are taxable and which are not, program book advertising is definitely taxable. IRS publication…
I recently attended a webinar conducted by John Taylor of John H. Taylor Consulting providing updates on IRS rules on acknowledging charitable giving. Neither Taylor nor I are lawyers and there are a lot of subtleties and exceptions when it comes to tax law. There were a number of interesting things Taylor mentioned that are worth being aware of, if only to serve as a conversation starter with your accountants and attorneys….
If you have ever applied for a grant, especially from an entity or program receiving funds from the federal government, you have likely been asked to provide your organization’s DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number. You may also wonder why you need to set one up. A DUNS number has the same number of digits as your employer ID number (EIN). If your organization doesn’t have one, you may also wonder why…
When it comes to paying touring performers, there are all sorts of deal that can be made. The payment terms on those deals can get pretty confusing. There are a number of resources available online that explain these agreements. One of the best I have found is a blog post on the site Making It With Chris G. Chris Goyzueta addresses a number of common deal structures and creates a YouTube video…
Due to budget and staffing issues, as of October 1, 2018, the IRS will no longer create Central Withholding Agreements (CWA) with artists making less than $10,000. Wait, wait, wait, wait..before you click away thinking this fine Arts Hacker post has nothing to do with you, it actually might if you typically host any type of creative artist from other countries. These new regulations will make it more difficult for some artist…
The assertion that arts and cultural audiences are getting older and dying out probably reached trope status decades before the word trope entered popular usage. While this may be true and require programming and market positioning that will appeal to younger audiences, there are some very practical experiential considerations for serving older audiences to keep in mind. One of them is web design. Entrepreneur magazine had a guest post by Brian Greenberg…
Copyright and intellectual properties rights are important considerations in the arts and culture industry. The industry strives to expand the awareness and exposure of creatives, but often either intentionally or inadvertently fall short when it comes to properly compensating creators. Admittedly, knowing your responsibilities when it comes to intellectual property/copyright and contracts in general can be confusing which is why they are subject of a fair number of posts on ArtsHacker. One…
BoardSource is partnering with organizations like the Knight Foundation and National Council of Non Profits on a initiative to get non-profits to Stand For Your Mission. While the main thrust of the effort appears to be focused on mobilizing non-profits of all types to more actively advocate for their causes, by necessity it pushes boards to actively engage with their missions rather than treat it as a passive statement of aspirations. In…
Leveraging The Growing Influence & Inclusion Of Giving Circles
I wrote about Giving Circles on my personal blog last June, noting that the number of Giving Circles in the U.S. is growing. The appeal of this form of philanthropy is that it that the structure, criteria, participation, mission, etc are adaptable to the needs of your particular group. Inside Philanthropy has noted that the composition of Giving Circles are also more diverse than institutional funding organizations. As giving circles grow, they…
Even More Useful Info On Copyright And Intellectual Property
Recently the Harvard Law School’s Technology and Intellectual Property Legal Clinic recently published a really helpful guide to copyright, trademark and intellectual property rights. Now if you are thinking, “Joe, didn’t you already publish a really helpful guide to copyright, trademark and intellectual properties rights on ArtsHacker?” Why yes, I did and thank you for remembering. However, copyright can be a confusing subject for people so its helpful to get your hands…
Constructive, Considerate Executive Transitions – An Example
The importance of transition planning is a common topic of discussion for non-profits given current and anticipated retirements. A few years ago we offered a set of guidelines for planning the transition which included a pretty impressive toolkit generated by the Federal Reserve of Kansas City. However it wasn’t until recently that I came across a specific example of an exemplary transition plan that had been been put into action. Barry Hessenius…
One of the more positive developments in the last decade or so has been the increased investment in research about factors that impact arts and cultural organizations. Even better news, in the last few years those assembling that information have started organizing the data and formatting it so that it is much easier to read and understand. The 2017 iteration of the Culture Track study we recently wrote about is one example….
Since the board of directors is ultimately responsible for the governance and direction of a non-profit organization, the role of board chair is rather crucial. Recently Non-Profit Quarterly hosted a webinar titled, “The Pivotal Role of the Nonprofit Board Chair: Beyond Meeting Facilitation” which was based on the results of Board Source’s recent Leading With Intent study. As you might imagine, the leadership the board chair exhibited set the tone for the…
Given the concerning lack of transition planning for leadership, there is increasing discussion about how general non-profits should adopt a shared leadership model, in some cases citing the example of the performing arts. In the meantime, many performing arts organizations have been moving in the opposite direction consolidating artistic and business management roles into a single person in order to save money. The performing arts model, as well as some of those…
It is often stated that front of house operations are among the most important for a performing arts entity because it is the first point of contact the general public has with the organization. Front of House staff generally encompasses the ticket office, ushers, concessions/merchandising and activities related to them (valet parking, for example). It isn’t just a matter of public relations. Some of the front of house staff are also responsible…
If you are like most, you may view the 990 filing for your non-profit organization like you view filing your income taxes–an annoying, burdensome task best handled by an accountant. The difference is, you aren’t obligated to make your personal tax filing available for review by anyone who asks like you are with your organization’s 990. Given that the 990 filings are available online at sites like Guidestar, you aren’t even necessarily…
When you are engaging in a significant construction or renovation project, you are going to want to solicit competing bids for the work that needs to be done. Many blueprint companies can help you handle the bid solicitation process by hosting your plans and solicitation documents on their website. There are a number of reasons why you wouldn’t want to handle this phase of the process yourself. First of all, your staff…