Alan Harrison

Nonprofit Arts Writer and Consultant at Freelance

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Articles

What Was That? Your Arts Organization Needs Funding? Get In Line.

1 week ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

Massive layoffs. Mass deportations, even of people who are here legally. De-funding Social Security. Enacting enormous tax cuts for the wealthy. Crashing the financial markets (worldwide). Eliminating Medicare. Destroying hope. Raising prices. Legislating inequity. Jettisoning due process. Lawmaking by monarchical decree. Devout sycophants. Fear of reprisal within the same political party. Fear of reprisal within the other political party. Categorical acceptance of falsehoods.
A Guy Walks Into a Room.

2 weeks ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

This is not a sermon, nor is it a definitive proclamation. I am not an expert on race relations, ethnic bias, or anything even remotely academic that might even come close to qualifying me as the "go-to" on the subject of privilege. I'm just a guy who writes commentary, mostly about the nonprofit arts sector and how to fix it. A lot of this discussion is useful for that industry, mostly because there are still an overabundance of overpaid, old-timey White guys running things.
"Hope for the Best. Expect the Worst."

3 weeks ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

You need to find a way to justify your worth to your community - and at the same time, prepare for bad news, too. The buzz inside your nonprofit arts organization is louder than outside the walls. Much louder. As in, if someone is not completely tuned in to what's going on at your particular arts organization - either your performances or your impact - they're just won't care.
Beware "A Little Knowledge"

1 month ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

Conclusion I had a friend who had a Ph.D. in Psychobiology. She spent her post-doc work in a lab where, among other experiments, they tested a hypothesis about access to the brain via the olfactory nerve. That particular nerve, one of the key elements of the sense of smell, uses one of the shortest distances from the brain, which is why smell is usually a keen sense.
Advocacy for the Nonprofit Arts Sector is Currently Meaningless

1 month ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

Lost amid a string of inside-baseball phrases and ideologies, officials have little idea as to why they would possibly fund institutions that serve themselves first. Hey guys? You forgot something. Yes, I know we're supposed to write, call, and send emails to our congresspeople. Yes, I know we're supposed to learn all the economic impact reports. Yes, I know we're supposed to learn about all the people employed. Yes, I know we're supposed to know how much federal funding is happening. Yes, I know.
Forklift Danceworks Uses the Art of Dance to Tell the Stories of Real, Essential Workers

1 month ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

My favorite book about America is Working by Studs Terkel. In it, Terkel takes months to interview regular working people (and unemployed and retired people) in hundreds of jobs. They discuss what they do and what they get out of it. Their stories are familiar, unfamiliar, surprising, devastating, and hopeful.
Nonprofit Arts Success in a Changing Environment, Tip 6

1 month ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

In the new/old world order of Trumpian policy, your arts organization faces the real possibility that, in the face of anti-arts, anti-education, and anti-truth political muckraking euphemistically calling itself "populism," it will be shut down. The most intelligent thing your nonprofit arts organization can do right now is concentrate on your community. Act hyper-local. No local nonprofit arts organization can win the day by taking on the national fascist zeitgeist, especially on its own.
Nonprofit Arts Success in a Changing Environment, Tip 5

1 month ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

In the new/old world order of Trumpian policy, your arts organization faces the real possibility that, in the face of anti-arts, anti-education, and anti-truth political muckraking euphemistically calling itself "populism," it will be shut down.
Nonprofit Arts Success in a Changing Environment, Tip 4

2 months ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

In the new/old world order of Trumpian policy, your arts organization faces the real possibility that, in the face of anti-arts, anti-education, and anti-truth political muckraking euphemistically calling itself "populism," it will be shut down. To combat that, we need ideas to advance the truth that charity is necessary in order to deflate the tires of the oncoming rich-stomping-the-poor bus before it runs over everyone in its path.
Symbolism Is Cute and Clever and Futile

2 months ago | artsjournal.com | Alan Harrison

You can change the minds of the armies of pseudo-populists, but only one at a charitable time. Simple satire won't cut it. Over the next few years, your nonprofit arts organization will be tasked with trying to succeed in a local and national environment powered by zero-sum, anti-art, anti-intellectual, pseudo-populists that now hold sway. It is with that in mind that we start the discussion of how to become the most successful your organization can be.