This summer, we have been reading The Cycle: A Practical Approach to Managing Arts Organizations by Michael M. Kaiser. It's been great parsing out the reading – to make it be only 1 or 2 chapters each week. This book is valuable if you have your own dance company or if you are an arts administrator. No matter the size of your organization, Kaiser's wisdom is accessible and applicable. Please feel free to jump into the discussion anytime here on the blog.

From Blog Director Jill Randall:

I have learned new concepts and have gotten re-inspired through reading Kaiser's book this summer, and spreading out the reading made it manageable. Reading in smaller chunks allowed ideas to settle in. The last bit of book was a summarizing and restating of the main points Kaiser laid out in the book. He offers a few helpful charts/forms to complete as your organization plans. 

Right when I was reaching information overload, he begins to talk about strategic plans. I know I will come back to this chapter at a future moment, but reading chapter 10 at this moment felt like too much. 

One quote I wanted to share is from chapter 9:

More frequently, I find arts organizations planning uninteresting seasons because they are focused more on financial results than they are on artistic results. So many arts organizations facing financial challenges have forgotten how to dream and cannot even contemplate the large, transformative projects that both help achieve their missions and create financial health. Unfortunately, many arts organizations have chosen to retreat in the face of economic difficulties; this has led to the loss of family members (154).

Overall, this book offers accessible, applicable information for many dancers working in a variety of administrative roles. I definitely will recommend the book again and again and will revisit it as well myself.

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