Arts Funding—Is a Forest Fire Such a Bad Thing?
One of my favourite places is Helliwell Park on Hornby Island on the coast of British Columbia. About 15 years ago, there was a fire in one area of the park that is very dry and exposed along a bluff above the ocean. It burned a swath of pine trees that grew in the water-starved region of the park. It was devastating and disheartening to see what one careless person could do by throwing a cigarette butt on the dry grass beneath the pines.
This beautiful stretch along the bluffs where the trees grew would never be the same again! The pine trees had been there a long time but there had been no new growth in years. Many of the trees weren’t even that healthy.
It turns out that the pine cones from these trees are only shocked into action by fire. Simply dropping to the ground as they’d done for years did not bring on any new growth. If you walk there today, there is a small little forest of healthy, vibrant and new trees growing up very well, thank you very much.
Like the little pine forest, the arts community also operates under rather severe growing conditions. Our political leaders have carelessly thrown a match on it.
In British Columbia where I live, the cuts have been considerably brutal. It’s quite possible that with recent announcements, the total will be in the 50–70% range. I am starting to see the impacts of this in the areas I am involved in. For example, performing arts presenters are scaling back or cancelling entire seasons because they can’t afford to take the risk. One client has reduced a newsletter that I do the design for, from three times per year to one.
This all started with the financial crisis in 2008 and though there are signs of recovery, there are also troubling stories of Europe and its debt problems. I just read that the U.K. is discussing cutting support for the arts. Can other countries be far behind when they have to make the dramatic cuts to their deficits?
Then there are the neighbours south of me. The United States has huge deficit issues and the time to pay for the financial packages and stimulus programs is coming soon. Will arts funding survive?
It may not. If we haven’t started to plan for the worst, maybe it’s time to. My approach is to expect there to be little to no funding soon.
Is it all doom and gloom? I don’t think so.
The benefit of this wiping of public funding for the arts is that it will clean house in a big way. It’s not that arts programs or the arts organizations that are funded are particularly wasteful with the money (they spend it very well and make it go a long way), but rather, the nature of many grants programs make organizations start to jump through crazy hoops. Projects get started because they’ll be funded, then the program that supported it gets dropped, so the project gets morphed into something else to “sort of” fit some other program. Before long you have a hodge-podge projects with no focus.
So, not wanting to sound like Chancy Gardener in the movie Being There, I would suggest that the massive fire that has ripped and will continue to rip through the public funding of the arts could, in the long run, end up being a very good thing. It will surely involve casualties and a lot of destruction of what once was.
I’m looking forward to seeing what resourceful, creative and clever artists do because of this. Getting rid of some deadwood may be the best thing that ever happened. That probably includes some of my projects!
Changing Your Logo
Person A: “How many marketers does it take to decide what the best logo is?”
Person B: “I don’t know, how many?”
Person A: “I don’t know, what do you think?”
Thinking of changing your logo?
First off, you may want to think if you really need to change your logo. If it’s working and is recognized, it could be the silliest thing to change if the only reason is to “refresh” your look. I know, I’ve done it myself a few times, so I don’t do as I say, but more on that later.
Four enduring logos: IBM, Nike, GE, Apple
Have you ever noticed how the most successful brands rarely, if ever change their logo. Think of IBM, Nike, General Electric and Apple. Though they’ve sometimes made slight adjustments to the colour or treatment, the apple is still an apple, the blue lines are still the lines, the swoosh is still the swoosh.
My focus on this site is smaller organizations such as non-profit arts entities and I’ve watched many go about rebranding and getting a new logo with mediocre success. Perhaps part of it is they never have very much money to do the job.
I know of two organizations (one a past client, one a current client) that are in the process of completely rebranding themselves to the point of possibly even changing their name. In these cases they will need a new logo.
In my case, I’ve often felt my public brand as it relates to the graphical representation of it—versus the deeper view people have of my brand—has been quite nominal as most of my work has come from already-established networks of contacts. Changing my brand look has not been so critical. Ideally, I’ll work one up since I changed my business name to my own name.
If you have an established brand, I’d not want to mess with it. Maybe there are ways of slightly tweaking your current logo, but be careful. Even if you don’t like it, it’s probably better to keep it than face the years it takes to reestablish a new logo.
The BC Touring Council had a curtain logo designed for it in the early 1990s and it has served it well. When I ran the organization from 1998 to 2001, I kept it and its strong black and red. I’m pleased to say that my successor, Joanna Maratta has felt strongly at keeping it as well. This means that logo is approaching 20 years. It’s easily identifiable by the market it goes after. Changing it would be dangerous unless the focus of the organization were to change.
My last thought on logos, which relates to my joke at the beginning of the post is that if you bring a logo to five people to decide on, you will get six different opinions. Nothing stirs debate like a new logo. The thing is, once it’s been around awhile, nobody thinks about it anymore.
Big-time blogger Chris Brogan just changed his logo and it caused quite a stir on his site. In general, most people don’t like change.
In another post, I’ll talk about why I think that in nine out of ten organization’s logos aren’t as important as people think they are and just how much gets spent on them for what return they get.
I’ll get thrown out of “branding school” for suggesting such heresy.
25 Years Ago Today
May 26, 1985 - Vancouver East Cultural Centre - l-r Blaine Dunaway, Dale Diduck, Rob Marr, John McLachlan, Robert (Bobby) Cornejo
Half my life ago, 25 years today, May 26,1985 to be exact, marked the beginning of a whole new journey that would take me places I’d have never gone, let me meet people I’d have never met, and generally shaped my life in ways I could never have imagined.
In 1984 I was attending a concert at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre with my best friend, Bruce McMillan. At intermission we were chatting and I was telling him how much I would love to perform at the “Cultch” as it was known, but that it was a silly notion because “how could I ever sell enough tickets to fill the 300 seat hall?” He said, “sure you can, just do it.”
Well, I did book it and I put my band together from fellow students and an instructor from Capilano College where I was enrolled in the Commercial Music program. Drums: Dale Diduck, violin: Blaine Dunaway, lead guitar: Robert (Bobby) Cornejo, a guest appearance from friend Melanie Johnson to sing some duets, and my longest-running musician mate, Rob Marr on bass.
I didn’t know a thing about marketing. I remember the publicist at the theatre blasted me and my sister-in-law, Patricia Crowe, who was helping me with publicity, for not knowing how to write a press release. Wendy Newman who ran the theatre then, probably thought it would be a tiny little turnout for some “unknown.” I got my brother to take photos of me for the poster and my dad made the posters.
In short, I didn’t know what I was doing. I was scared s#&^less about what I’d undertaken. How could I pull it off without losing my shirt?
All my friends, and friends of friends and friends of the band got behind it. A few newspapers ran a short blurb, tickets started to sell and I began to think I may just be able to pull this off.
After much rehearsing of my original songs as well as some more well-known pieces, the night arrived.
The theatre had to add seats. No more people could fit. There was a buzz in the air. When we walked out on stage it was a feeling I will never forget. It was like a dream come true, a dream I’d had since I attended my first Gordon Lightfoot concert in 1972 and knew then that I wanted to do that too.
Here is a one-minute, very grainy video of us walking on stage for the first time and starting our first song.
I felt like I’d stepped off into another world. It was like being enveloped in a warm blanket. The two sets flew by and I felt like the Universe was mine. It was like being in love. It was like feeling “one” with it all.
The evening was a huge success and even though I knew most people there in some way, the real accomplishment was that I had pulled it off. I’d taken the plunge on the challenge from my friend, and did it.
I was rough around the edges then. I got better and always enjoyed the performance side of the music career, and even though I never reached a very high level of fame, I’m still very proud of that night and what it led to.
It led to making music for another ten years and to working with lots of wonderful people, especially Rob Marr. It took me to places like tiny First Nations towns on the West Coast of Vancouver Island all the way to Bogota, Colombia.
I also got to meet so many amazing people on my tours and those at home who supported me (my parents of course) and Olga Jones who became my agent because she believed in me.
I guess, it just showed me that when you do something that is meaningful and worthwhile, it brings out the best in everyone around you.
There have been many roads travelled since then, both literally and figuratively, musically and in other ways, but that night in May, 1985 still stands out as the best.
The Web Is Like Party Line Service
Bandit's Roost by Jacob Riis - New York 1888
There is a big discussion going on about the “open web” and “open source” and whether it’s fading with new services coming along such as Apple’s App store for the iPhone and iPad. This article in the New York Times equates this to when people were lured to walled communities in the suburbs to avoid having to deal with all the messiness of the rest of the world.
Does this analogy of walled communities hold up? I don’t think so. To me, it’s like saying that people used to live in tenement houses, crowded together, sharing outhouses and much more such as the easy spread of viruses. When the opportunity came to move to a better neighbourhood and have more of their own space, did they balk and say, “no, we like living in close quarters with our neighbours. We want to stay mired in poverty”?
I’m willing to pay for a better experience.
It’s one of the reasons why I use a Mac. I pay more for it, I’ve yet to have a virus, I prefer the look and feel and build of its hardware and software. It’s why I like the iPad and the App store so much. To me, it’s simpler and tidier in a world filling with more than enough complexity.
I think the problem is that the people writing about this are generally “techies” to begin with so they see it through their eyes. The majority of the world does not even worry about these things.
We hear about the open web issues because the people who write about them are deeply involved so the assumption they make is that everyone thinks about it and stresses about it. It gives greater importance to the issue than it deserves. It’s the same reason we see so many stories about “the aging population”: it’s because baby boomers are the ones writing the news stories now.
I understand why people don’t like the thought of having a corporation (even one they like) telling them what way to experience the web by controlling what they see or do, but I don’t think we’re at the point, or even close.
If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the party line service (see Wikipedia) you had with your telephone. Others (your neighbours) shared your phone line. Should we all go back to that? It was an “open community.” Remember how “hoitty toitty” you thought neighbours were who first got private lines and opted out of the party line?
Call me hoity toity but I don’t mind paying for a better experience.
Google Versus Apple or My Cause Versus Your Cause
I just read a post by technology writer, Louis Grey about a Google conference he was attending and the complete lack of mention of Apple as if it was like they didn’t even exist.
Oh my GAAAWWWWD. Can you imagine? What’s going to happen? Will the world stop? Apple wasn’t mentioned and to make matters worse, Adobe was there and Adobe hates Apple too and they didn’t mention Apple. This is BIG. This really matters to each and every one of us!
NOT!
Now, I like Louis. He led a session at SXSW 2010 that I attended and he’s the nicest guy. I’m not picking on him, but rather the way we all tend to get into our own little worlds and issues and assume that the rest of the world cares much. It doesn’t.
The people in this technology “war of the titans” forget that most people just want a device to work and improve their lives. They don’t care if the big kids on the block are fighting because they don’t even live near the big kids and never really see them.
I’m as guilty as any about this, but I am tiring of the huge discussion around tech issues. I know, I know, I don’t have to read about it, but the coverage seems so prevalent or perhaps I’m just looking for it.
But what’s this got to do with anything else? Lots. We all get caught up in our own little issues and tend to turn them into life and death scenes without realizing that hardly anyone cares.
My issues include being adamant and passionate about public funding support for the Arts and many of my own little circle feel the same way (I even helped set up an organization called ArtsAdvocacyBC), but to the outside world, our cause is seen as meaningless and virtually non-existent.
Solution? Say less but do more and stop thinking our causes are so important. Maybe we’d get more accomplished this way.
To Do (list) or No To Do (list)
"Things" is an application I use
(This is not a post about having a “not” to-do list which is a separate topic.)
I’ve started reading Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky. He is very big on making lists of what needs to be done to get ideas to reality. Action is critical.
I agree about the importance of action. Creative people are often full of ideas but so few of them ever go anywhere because a plan of action is not made and implemented. As my mother would say, “Plan your work and work your plan.”
My take on what he proposes sounds a bit like the “Getting Things Done” (GTD) approach. It means writing all the action steps for all the projects you have. Projects can be anything from a two-year set of activities to simply a grocery list for home. Once the action steps are written down, people have to take responsibility for them. In a one-person company like mine, that’s me.
The closest I’ve come is a paper notebook that I keep a list in and write out each day. I then carry items over to the next day. In digital form, I’ve quite liked “Things” which, let’s me create projects and attach to-do items to them along with links to supporting “reference” documents. In fact, it comes close to what Scott Belsky describes in his book as an action system.
Despite these methods, I’ve never quite got them ingrained enough to work really well for me. I’m guessing the problem has less to do with the systems as it does with me.
From my end, I think I fight being stuck in a box of a “system” and I really think that maybe if I have so much on my to do list and have to manage and organize it so much, the problem has more to do with what I choose to take on. In other words, maybe I should just take on less.
There is a similarity here to calendar programs. I now write down every appointment otherwise I’ll miss some. I didn’t always do this, but I had less on my agenda when I was younger. Maybe it’s time to have less on my agenda again (and that would reduce the number of “to-dos”).
What’s your system? I’d love to hear what works for you.
Promise Versus Reality in Marketing
Sunshine or Fog?
From large corporations down to the smallest of the small, so often the message that is sent out (the promise) is so full of baloney that it’s hard to believe. Yet, we roll over and take it. In many cases, what alternatives do we have?
I’ve had a time of this lately. Here are three examples:
My Internet Supplier
My partner and I just moved and we decided to forgo our TV subscription and move the money we were paying for that into getting higher speed Internet access. Given this all happened with the same company, one would think it would be seamless.
Long story short, we had to do the move first, have a person come and set up the old system, then call and cancel the service with a penalty and then get the new higher-speed internet service which would just “start working” on Monday morning. It did not just “start working” on Monday morning.
Called again, turned out we really didn’t get the order put in and that we would need a new modem that would be mailed. Before the new modem arrived the faster service (on the old modem) just started working! All seemed wonderful except that the two email addresses we had now didn’t work.
Another call (long wait in automated hell) confirmed that, oops, they would have to be reinstalled and that would take 48 – 72 hours.
All this from a company who says “The Future is Friendly.”
Web Hosting Company
In trying to setup a new WordPress site for a client, I went to do the install to find out that they have a system that will install it for you. I did this, but realized a problem with the directory structure and wanted to change it. Whatever I did, it broke the database and I was at a standstill (I am still as I write this).
I spent considerable time looking on their website for support documents that may help me with this problem to see if I could solve it myself. No luck. I then sent a request to the “help desk” and am awaiting a response.
The last time I had a problem with this company was when I was setting up my own website a year ago. They posted their hours of tech support but when I called within those hours (on a weekend) the message said something different. I left a message, they didn’t call me back for two days even though they boasted about their great, quick service.
I ended up going to a different host who has been great, I may add (www.hostgator.com). I’ll have to wait and see how this current issue gets dealt with.
Statistics Canada
(for those who don’t know, Statistic Canada collects economic and other information such as the census that helps business and government make decisions)
Several months ago, I received a form to fill out about my graphic design business. I started to complete it but quickly realized that for 2009, I’d done 60% of my business in non-design work such as arts grants management projects which would make the information I submitted inaccurate for the scope of their survey.
I called the toll free number they gave for support to find out what I should do. They never called back.
A month later I got a letter reminding me of my obligation to complete the survey. I returned the incomplete survey with a note indicating I’d not heard back from them and that I didn’t believe I could complete it accurately. I also sent an email to the address they provided and referenced my survey number. No response, until…
A month after that I got another letter reprimanding me for not sending in my survey. I wrote another email copying my previous email, I printed off the documents and sent them by registered mail just to have some sort of back up proof. We’ll see what happens.
SUNSHINE OR FOG?
These three situations have some things in common.
- the organizations give the impression that they are easy to work with. The “future is friendly” the forms are straightforward and you can call for help. The reality is different.
- they make you pay in time and often expense and certainly inconvenience for issues at their end and they give you a corporate “shrug” that says “too bad” or “oh well, lawdie da.”
- they leave you hanging in the lurch as if you are a ship in the fog desperately trying to see who it is that is calling from shore. Essentially, you feel helpless and adrift as you wait for them to do anything.
Ok, so I’m being harsh and I’ve just ranted (not something I really want to do much of), but I think the key thing in all of this is that as businesses, no matter what kind and size, we need to deliver what we say we will deliver in our marketing and sales messages. And, if we do mess up, deal with it quickly and be honest with what went wrong and be humans not faceless and emotionless entities.
I’ve messed up with projects. I’ve been late, made mistakes, gotten behind, but I do try to be honest about it. At least as small organizations we can be this way.
I’d love to hear your take or experiences with “promise versus reality.”
My Life Is My Message
Today on Facebook, I posted my open thoughts about this blog and where it should go. To me, my blog has been an experiment. I enjoy writing it even though I don’t think of myself as a “writer.”
Like many things I’ve tackled in life, my attitude has been, do it until it gets boring, then move on. I wondered if I was reaching that point with my blog. I was starting to find that I was either repeating myself or writing off my main topic (which I enjoy doing).
My point on my facebook posting was whether I should expand my blogging to include other aspects of my life or just keep it very narrow. There are many opinions about blogging that suggest being very clear with your niche is important.
But I don’t live my life that way. To me, I like sharing my thoughts on what I’m doing outside of work because those things make up who I am when I do work. I dislike it when people pretend to be “corporations” and show some cold veneer (I’ve written a couple of posts about this already).
Because I have my own domain name which, is the same as my own name, why not make the blog about anything I wish? If people don’t want to read about other aspects of my life such as the upcoming process of building and moving to Hornby Island or my thoughts on various topics (like the new sales tax coming to my home province), why should I care?
Signs?
Now, I’m not really into signs and luck and divine intervention, but I am amused when things line up as coincidence. (My belief is, Life existing at all is an amazing coincidence so the things we think are so “meant to be” are just the Universe unfolding in its haphazard way.) Still, when they happen, it’s fun and amusing.
Today, I received in the mail from the City of Richmond, the package that was intended for me when I gave my Communication by Design workshop there last month as part of an Art at Work conference. In the package were a couple of items that seemed like “signs.” One was a guitar pick and the other a small, hardbound sketch book.
I’ve been wanting to get back to playing my guitar again as well as learning how to draw much better than my current rudimentary level. A sign?
And then I saw this video post from Tom Peters today that featured this quotation from Gandhi: “My life is my message.” See Tom’s short video here
The message to me? Make my blog about all of me, not just something narrow. Damn the torpedoes and advice to the contrary.
When I was a musician, I would sometimes perform in pubs. There were times where I just wanted to sing what I wanted to sing and to heck with requests for Eagles songs. I would occasionally get my back up and just think in my head, “screw it” and then proceed to play original songs for the last set. What’s funny is, I ended up playing better and often getting a better response than when I succumbed to pressure and did what I was “supposed” to play.
So, encouraged by those who responded to my Facebook post (thanks Rebecca Coleman and Sharman King) and the “signs” I’ve received, I will be expanding my blog to include more topics that interest me.
My life is my message!
My Life As A Dog
Ever wondered what it would be like to be a dog instead of a human with the life that you lead?
With that in mind, I set out to find out what it would be like if I were “in his paws” so to speak. These photos are of my dog, Kepler (named after my favourite typeface)
Here I am feeling confident as I view the scene around me. Cool, comfortable and assured. Many days are like this. I’m in control.
Next, here I am with my social media friends, chatting and catching up on where we’ve been and what we’ve been up to. I don’t always see my social media friends that often, but they leave tracks and scents I pick up as I check in with their pee tweets and pawbook postings.
All the activities I get into can give rise to unexpected threats so I have to be alert and ready for anything.
Unexpected things can make me feel run off my feet and it makes me wonder why I get myself into taking on walks that are too hurried and chasing after rats that I usually never catch.
Those hectic days lead me to contemplate life in general and how brief my time is on this planet (sometimes I feel like I’ve lived seven years in the space of one year). It’s good to remember this from time to time because it puts things in perspective.
Contemplation usually leads to realizing I need to explore my world a little more and to go to places that are out of my comfort zone. It’s ok to get my feet wet sometimes with new experiences.
At the end of a long day, it’s nice to just sit down and relax. It’s a dog’s life.
Are You Connecting With Your Audience?
Are you using every opportunity to connect with your audience / members / customers?
For example:
- Are you an arts presenter who stands at the entrance and personally meets everyone who comes through the door and do you say goodnight when they leave or are you invisible?
- Are you a “starting-out” artist who writes hand-written notes inviting people to attend an upcoming show or do you just send a blanket invitation via facebook and think you’re done?
- When your audience / members / customers send you emails do you respond in less than eight hours with a tone of friendly assistance or do you treat these like a pain in the neck?
Sadly, so few take the time or care in using these points of connection as opportunities to build relationships.
These little things, when done over time can have very lasting positive ramifications for an organization.
