Tech, Philanthropy, Composing
We just opened a new grant program at New Music USA, providing general operating support (that is, unrestricted money) to small new music ensembles and venues based in New York City. If that’s you, go apply to the New Music Impact Fund. I’m writing about it because my team has launched a couple of other …
Continue reading “Even More New Grantmaking at New Music USA”
I’ve never written a piece using a project management tool before. It’s almost certainly not for everyone, but I totally love it. The best part is being able to easily sort & rearrange my notes. With a paper notebook, or loose paper, you can’t move individual sentences around. I tend to write out verbal descriptions …
I live among the worlds of technology, art, and philanthropy. A lot of my job is based on learning lessons from one of those and figuring out how to apply them to the other two; it’s pretty fun. Usually I get to bring new insights to my job at New Music USA. But recently I …
This week, Kickstarter announced their reincorporation as a benefit corporation. They’re not a non-profit, but this is still a significant move for the company. A key part of their new charter is a pledge to contribute 5% of their profits to charity. There’s a certain symmetry to that: Kickstarter users pay 5% of their revenue …
I’ve been thinking a lot about why I care so much about product management specifically. And I think it’s because of something I believe about the future of work overall. Product management right now is an emerging field, largely in software, to do with (roughly) how to lead teams of developers effectively. There are a …
Continue reading “Product management is at the forefront of regular management”
This semester I’m really enjoying following along with two different classes being taught in totally different circumstances. Both professors are blogging about their methods and motivations, and there’s some reaction from the students as well. I love that they’re both blogging their processes, and I’m particularly enjoying the bizarre contrast that they make in my …
Usually, I like to write out my talks completely in advance. It forces me to clear up my thinking, and lets me publish everything at the same time I give the talk. I’m a big fan of sharing thinking as widely as possible. But at the New Music Gathering, I couldn’t do that. The New …
Continue reading “New Music Gathering talk on Baumol’s Cost Disease”
really good critique from Dennis Loo Based on some good feedback, I’d like to revise and extend my previous bit of ontology. First, and most importantly, I need to walk back some of the universal claims. Dennis Loo (who was my RA at summer camp in 1997), made a very good point on Facebook. I …
I don’t know if I find this idea convincing. I certainly find it attractive. If you know of someone who’s tried to argue this way before, or if you have holes to poke in the idea, please have at it. Art Is Like Money Art is an awful lot like money, but fundamentally incommensurate with …
So I have a weird problem with a few artists. Some are authors, some are pop musicians, some are random I-don’t-know-but-sometimes-they-have-a-kickstarter people. I want literally everything they make. I don’t care what it is. Anne Leckie’s sequel to Ancillary Justice is coming out? I want it. The pre-order date is 6 months away? I have …
My job involves a lot of talking to people about ideas, from high level mission, vision, and strategy, to nitty gritty things like how teams communicate, how projects fit together, and how people think about the process of doing their job. Clear thinking is incredibly important to my work, both for me and for the …
A lot of non-profits have problems that sound like this: We’re paying almost a whole salary, if not more, for this third party technology that supports an essential part of our organization, but we’re really unhappy with it. It doesn’t really do what we need it to do, and our staff spends a lot of …
Continue reading “Dump Your Vendor: DIY Tech for Non-Profits”
