Scene Change: Why Today's Nonprofit Arts Organizations Have to Stop Producing Art and Start Producing Impact

by Alan Harrison

Overview

'Alan is a visionary who believes that theatre changes lives for the better, and who creates teams who make sure that it does.' Russell Willis Taylor, Former CEO, National Arts Strategies

Nonprofit arts organizations have to place nonprofit ahead of arts in order to thrive in these pre-post-pandemic days. Most currently don’t. Scene change is a phrase tied to the arts when discussing a literal change from one scene in a play to another, eliciting a new time, place, and situation. Here, however, it refers to actions made at this pivotal moment within the entire sector, where the rules that went into play over half a century ago can no longer apply for the arts to serve their nonprofit purpose. That charitable purpose – to help those who need the help – cannot exist in an environment of privilege, exclusivity, and the subjective concept of excellence. Excellence does not put food on a hungry person’s table, if they even have a table. In his brilliantly unpretentious, snarky, and hilarious style, Alan Harrison pulls no punches. He identifies and addresses elitism, defines and defuses toxicity, and provides outlines for success, including a hopeful prediction for the future. This book also provides context for the pinball journeys of a 30-year adventure, leading nonprofit arts organizations in America – warts and all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781803414461
Publisher:	Collective Ink
Publication date:	02/01/2024
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	1,062,095
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Based in Kirkland, Washington, Alan Harrison is a writer and speaker specializing in nonprofit arts organizations, strategy, and life politics. His blog posts appear regularly in major publications, including ArtsJournal. For 30 years, Alan Harrison has explored the relationships between the arts and the community on behalf of nonprofit arts organizations across the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Alan is a visionary who believes that theatre changes lives for the better, and who creates teams who make sure that it does. He is a delight to work with, and learn from.

Russell Willis Taylor

Alan is clear and passionate in his work in the arts. He was fierce, in the best sense of the word, in promoting the mission of ArtsWest. He has an uncommon clarity of purpose and focus. I admire his decisiveness and ability to identify the priorities needed to achieve a goal – and make it happen! I do not believe that any detail eludes Alan. His decisions are meticulously thought out and his word is trustworthy. I enjoy his sense of humor and view of the world and welcome every opportunity to learn from his experience.

Karen Lane

Alan is a gifted writer who is able to, with humor and compassion, identify, articulate, and offer solutions to some of the challenges in the nonprofit and arts sectors. As well as the inequities he sees as a citizen of the world. I have very much enjoyed his essays and posts these past few months and always look forward to reading his perspectives.

Stacey Bridge

Alan has a rare combination of talents - he understands the arts as well as he understands the business of arts organizations. He is an expert non-profit manager and a natural marketer.

Dianne Loeb

In the years that I have known Alan, I have learned more about running arts organizations, particularly if not exclusively not-for-profit arts organizations, than most people learn in a two- or three-year MA arts administration program — and as I’ve taught in one such program, I can actually compare his skills to curricula and confirm that Alan is, indeed, a master class in his field. Alan’s very popular contributions to The Clyde Fitch Report (a website that committed acts of journalism at the crossroads of arts and politics from 2012 to 2019, now on hiatus) were a joy to edit and one of the CFR's secret weapons. His persuasive writing skills, often rooted in the superlative use of inductive logic, are one more testimonial beyond the million other reasons why you should offer him a leadership position at your organization not tomorrow, not someday, but today. Alan has my highest endorsement — and gratitude for all the guidance and mentorship through the years.

Leonard Jacobs

Praise for Marneta Viegas: Your splendid and amusing act made all the difference for me and all the other guests arriving at the Palace. Everyone was greatly impressed.

HRH King Charles I

2024-07-01
Harrison presents a radical new vision for nonprofit arts organizations in this nonfiction work.

Drawing on his 30 years of experience in nonprofit theater, the author breaks down, in easy-to-understand language, the United States tax code and the ways in which nonprofit groups misconstrue their responsibilities as a 501I: “The purpose of nonprofit arts organizations is not about… the production of art, but the production of impact using the arts as tools.” Harrison also discusses the toxic influences within these organizations, including the lie of subscription revenue, glory-chasing artistic directors, and overly-pampered big-money donors. The author proposes pragmatic reforms placing focus on better outreach to the neighborhoods these organizations operate in. Better diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) integration both on the boards and staffs, along with transparency regarding both donations and pay, would increase hospitality and impact, per Harrison. He argues that fostering diverse voices would help institutions to better understand the specific issues that require a nonprofit’s help—be that aiding the houseless, combating gun violence, or raising awareness about the opioid crisis—while putting on shows that both engage and matter to the community. The author is aware that his advice will be seen as controversial and pulls no punches as he explains the problems he views as inherent to nonprofit arts organizations. Sarcastic asides are common, and Harrison has seemingly never met an analogy or metaphor that he didn’t love, but he also emphasizes the importance of data and gives specific advice. Some of this work’s progressive ideas, like giving away tickets or divesting from a theater space, could be game-changing, though the text doesn’t offer many real-world examples aside from Minneapolis’ Mixed Blood Theatre, New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre, or the occasional personal anecdote. While forceful, even the harshest commentary is not presented prescriptively, and it clearly comes from a place of love for the subversive and utopian possibilities of the arts.

Many in the nonprofit arts sector will decry this manifesto as heresy, only validating its necessity.

Kirkus Reviews