All stories by Joe Patti on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

For- & Non-Profit Difference Is In Relations, Not Good Intentions by Joe Patti

Last month, Non-Profit Quarterly reprinted a piece by Paul Hogan that explored the basic differences between for- and non-profit organizations that are not clearly understood and often lead …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 09:06PM[SHARE]

Ever Think About How Many Staff You Need Per Attendee? by Joe Patti

Last week the National Center for Arts Research (NCAR) released some interesting data about the ratio between the number of full time employees at arts organizations and the audiences/visito…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 02:42AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 12, 2017

On The Hook With Arts and Culture by Joe Patti

Back in 2008, I wrote how the voters of Minnesota passed an amendment to support both the arts and outdoor wildlife as a result of a political alliance between the arts community and outdoor…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 05:48PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Not Apologizing For Raising Money by Joe Patti

Looking back in the archives can be really rewarding when it comes to reminding yourself about things you long forgot. Back in October 2008 Seth Godin  reproduced Sasha Dichter’s Ma…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 05:18PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 10, 2017

Revisiting Fuzzy Definitions by Joe Patti

I am off on vacation to the Canadian Rockies for a week or so. If you don’t hear from me again, it may be that the Banff Centre for the Arts is as awesome as I hear and I am hiding out…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 04:24PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 6, 2017

Wait, Look Behind You by Joe Patti

I don’t remember where I came across this recently since the story is over a year old. Photographer Oliver Curtis embarked on an interesting project where he started taking pictures wi…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:54AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Pronouncing Citizenship by Joe Patti

Here is a cool tidbit for the 4th of July. A friend of mine owns a business that provides the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) pronunciations and translations for operas and Latin masse…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:36AM[SHARE]
Monday, July 3, 2017

Cycling With Your Board's Soul by Joe Patti

I don’t think I could have timed it any better… Last week, Anne Midgette wrote a piece in the Washington Post about the various and confusing roles boards of directors play in th…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:48PM[SHARE]

Stages of Board Life Cycle by Joe Patti

Non-Profit Quarterly recently published a piece charting out the cyclic nature of boards of directors. If ever you have been frustrated with your board and wondered why it is acting the way …

SOURCE: artshacker.com at 03:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 29, 2017

Piquing The Artistic Impulse by Joe Patti

A little irreverence today after talking about philosophical questions like “what is art for?” In the past few years, I have done a lot of writing about the need to help people r…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:12AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Art As Currency For Experience by Joe Patti

This week Diane Ragsdale wrote a piece addressing the difficultly people have with the idea of Art for Arts Sake.  She says when she conducts workshops and asks arts administration types …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:48PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 26, 2017

A Reminder About The Necessity For Patience and Effort Sustained Long Term by Joe Patti

I wanted to call attention to the recent return of the Hokule'a, a double hulled voyaging canoe, to Hawaii after a three year voyage around the world that saw the canoe travel 42,000 miles t…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:42PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 22, 2017

Contracting Closer Look: Indemnification Clause by Joe Patti

The indemnification clause is a part of a contract that is often difficult to understand.  Even after reading this post, you will still want to consult a lawyer, but you will be more awar…

SOURCE: artshacker.com at 06:45PM[SHARE]

Shared Leadership Provides Opportunity To Manage Up by Joe Patti

Last month Non Profit Quarterly suggested that organizations undergoing executive leadership transition consider the shared leadership model that many performing arts organizations employ.Â…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 01:18AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

No Tall Tales To Tell by Joe Patti

You wouldn’t think fishermen needed help telling a story, but according to Non-Profit Quarterly, the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance is looking for just that. They are getting…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 12:32AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 19, 2017

The Authentic Experience of 12 People Touring A Room Designed For One Person by Joe Patti

I visited Fallingwater this weekend. Believe it or not, my impetus for being there wasn’t due to the 150th anniversary Frank Lloyd Wright’s birth, but rather because for the l…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:05PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 15, 2017

Don't Look To Musical Theatre For National Anthems by Joe Patti

Given all the controversy about the depiction of presidents as stand-ins for Julius Caesar, I thought I would offer a somewhat more light-hearted example of how what we think we know about a…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 01:24AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Cultivate Paranoia Or A Constructive Environment? by Joe Patti

Over the years I have written about studies which have found that the younger generation starting careers in non-profit organizations weren’t content to put in long hours and pay their…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:42PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 12, 2017

Giving Circles As Next Iteration of Crowdfunding? by Joe Patti

Last week, Non-Profit Quarterly noted that the number of Giving Circles in the US were growing and wondered if this had implications for institutional giving. If you haven’t heard of t…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:06PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Myths And Truths About Your Brain On Music by Joe Patti

Pacific Standard had an interesting piece about the misconceptions music teachers and students studying to be music teachers have about the neurological benefits of music and music education…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:12PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Holding A Note, Six Weeks At A Time by Joe Patti

I recently became aware of the Young Professionals’ Choral Collective out of Cincinnati and was impressed at how they structured themselves to facilitate involvement by a younger demog…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 09:33PM[SHARE]

Someone Else May Pay For Your New A/C (No, Not A Donor) by Joe Patti

If you have a large physical plant or campus of buildings and aging HVAC, lighting or water systems, you may want to consider an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC). Under this arrang…

SOURCE: artshacker.com at 03:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 5, 2017

The Arts Should Be Like… by Joe Patti

Carter Gillies emailed me a question this morning relating arts with sports which set off a whole cascade of thoughts. First of all, we often talk about how arts organizations and creators n…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 08:48PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 31, 2017

You Want A Tarantella On A Violin, I Want A Tarantula by Joe Patti

Almost as soon as I published my post yesterday about building community around augmented reality, I started thinking about how that might work with live performance. One of my first thought…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:06PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 30, 2017

What Does A Community Built Around Augmented Reality Look Like? by Joe Patti

Two months ago I confessed I may have misread the impact and potential of the Pokemon Go game on attracting new customers and audiences. However, the Knight Foundation feels that the basic t…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 09:54PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 25, 2017

Gamifying Project Planning by Joe Patti

The challenge of being creative in a non-profit environment is that you have big ideas, but few resources. So if you have a great idea for a new project or even an extension of an existing p…

SOURCE: artshacker.com at 03:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Judging Yourself As You Judge Others by Joe Patti

Something I don’t really often see people write about are the benefits of sitting on a grant panel, especially for an organization that funds you. First of all, the organization will l…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:36PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Deity or Destitute by Joe Patti

In the comment section of yesterday’s post, Carter Gillies warned about succumbing to the temptations of survivorship bias and only holding up a few successful cases as examples to emu…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 10:18PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 22, 2017

Lemonade Stand? Cool Kids Sell Art In Their Frontyards by Joe Patti

A year ago on Quartz a list appeared by former Stanford dean, Julie Lythcott-Haims, outlining what every 18 year old should know. I briefly toyed with the idea of doing a post about how the …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 09:48PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Change Language, Change Yourself by Joe Patti

The Washington Post had a story about an internet company in Korea which started a policy three years ago where all employees would be addressed by an English name rather than their Korean n…

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 11:18PM[SHARE]

Deliberate Practice, Imagination, Openness To New Experiences by Joe Patti

The idea that it takes 10,000 hours to master something has largely been debunked since Malcolm Gladwell first suggested it. Still, I think he did everyone a favor by suggesting this number …

SOURCE: Butts In The Seats at 04:33AM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off