Arts Management and Leadership

Princeton and Woodrow Wilson: The Debate Goes On
December 3, 2015

Read Professor James Abruzzo’s letter on New York Times.  View Now

Creating the Company Culture, Arts Management Newsletter
February 2014

Corporate culture (Unternehdmenskultur) is a blend of the values, beliefs, taboos, symbols, rituals and myths all companies develop. Research demonstrates that ethical companies, with a culture and mission aligned with its values are, in the long run, the most successful. The same holds true for arts organizations (Kulturorganisationen): a healthy culture aligned with ethical values is what distinguishes the great arts institutions.  View Now

The Gender Gap in Art Museum Directorships, Association of Art Museum Directors
2014

James Abruzzo participated in research that examines the current and historical factors of the gender gap in art museum directorships. The findings introduce potential resources and considerations from other industries, and finally suggest some areas for further research.  View Now

Selecting the Ideal Museum Director
December 2013

Selecting the ideal director is the most important responsibility of the museum board. The best directors strengthen the institution, motivate the staff, energize the collections, encourage the board and change the community. The wrong choice is usually evident shortly after the director begins but ends after a year or two of angst, board disaffection, staff defection and loss of attendance and funding.  View Now

Science Centre World Congress
2011

James Abruzzo provides panel remarks for the 6th Science Centre World Congress.

The Future of the Nonprofit Sector in China
January 22, 2010

James spoke at a luncheon of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong about the future of the nonprofit sector in Hong Kong and Mainland China, comparing it with that of the United States and Europe. In the speech, he drew parallels between the leadership challenges that occurred in the nonprofit sectors in the United States and Europe and offered predictions about what is likely to occur in Hong Kong and China. He also offered some immediate steps that may address the inevitable growth of the sector in Hong Kong and China. The content of the talk is based on interviews with many nonprofit executives in Hong Kong over a period of eighteen months, a review of various research reports and government documents and draws upon his thirty years’ experience as an executive search consultant and commentator in the field. This essay is adapted from that speech.  View Now

Arts Leaders and Arts Managers, Arts Management Newsletter
December 2009

“Arts managers and arts leaders are two different animals… and arts institutions need both to excel. However, the unmet demand for arts leaders is greater today than at any other time. There are many reasons why the demand for leaders is growing and, unless some fundamental changes are made to encourage and develop the next generation, the gap will continue to increase and have a calamitous effect on the creativity and sustainability of arts institutions.”  View Now

The Leadership Crisis in Arts Management
2009

There is a growing leadership crisis in arts management in the United States that will have a serious effect on the art produced and presented in the future. Simply put, there is a rapidly growing gap between the current supply and the growing demand for capable leaders in the cultural industry.  View Now

Guest presenter at NJ Historic Preservation Conference
2009

View Conference list of speakers.  View Now

Jobs in Arts and Media Management, (Drama Book Specialists)
Subsequent revised editions in 1990 and 1993 (ACA Books), 1985, 1990 & 1993

James Abruzzo’s Jobs in Arts Management remains the only book that describes all of the management positions in each of the arts genres and prepares students and professionals for careers in the management of the sector. James continues to be published widely; his articles on arts management, nonprofit compensation, governance and business structures, the role of the private and public sectors in the arts and related topics have appeared in International Arts Manager, ArtsManagement.Net, Curator Magazine and other industry publications. He also originated the Cultural Index, a survey of the measurement of the confidence of cultural leaders in New York, Chicago and Berlin, Germany published semi-annually in those cities.  View Now

Succession Planning for NonProfit CEOs
June 30, 2008

The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1970 that provides national advocacy, resources, services and networking opportunities to organizations dedicated to offering private support and services to people with disabilities. This industry of service providers to those with disabilities became solidified as its membership grew. Over the last 40 years, as the industry was influenced by and responded to the American with Disabilities Act, Workforce Investment Act, Rehabilitation Act and other social service reforms, namely in Medicaid and Medicare provisions, ANCOR served an increasingly important role. In April of 2008, in advance of a national conference of ANCOR members in New Orleans, DHR International and the CNPL conducted a survey of its CEOs. This paper highlights some of the key findings from that survey.  View Now

The US Art Museum Management Leadership Gap, Arts Management Newsletter
April 28, 2008

Many of the most sought after museum director positions in the United States are unfilled, some for as long as a year. Over the last ten years, there has always been more than twenty different art museums without directors. And frequently, as was the case recently with the Milwaukee Museum of Art, its new director was recruited from a directorship at another art museum (the San Jose Museum of Art), leaving a vacancy there and the same number of openings. What are the causes of this phenomenon and what are the implications?  View Now

EU Consult Conference
June, 2008

James Abruzzo participated in The EU Consult Conference which was held in Rome from Friday, June 20th through Sunday, June 22nd, 2008. The leadership of the group should be congratulated for their wise choice of location – Rome was more exquisite than this correspondent has ever experienced – and the hospitality of Pasquale Pesce (conference host) and Dr. Franco Pavancello, President of John Cabot University, where the meetings convened, were outstanding.   View Now

Demand Mounts at Nonprofits For Executives to Fill Top Jobs
August, 2005

James Abruzzo, executive vice president and managing director in Newark, N.J., for recruiter DHR International Inc., says demand is so high for nonprofit presidents, vice presidents and fund-raisers that his firm won’t accept every assignment. Openings are “exceeding the supply of people,” he says.   View Now

New York cultural leaders are optimistic about the future of the industry
December, 2003

New York cultural leaders are optimistic about the future of the industry. According to the most recent DHR International cultural confidence survey, the index is now at 57, as compared to 30 when these were leaders polled in the spring (the index is measured on a scale of 1 to 100, with 50 as neutral and 100 as most optimistic). The majority of those surveyed believe that attendance, fund raising, their organizations overall performance and that of the industry will improve over the next six months.   View Now

Managing Museums in Critical Times
May, 2003

American art museums face challenges of a magnitude unsurpassed in recent history. They are overwhelmed by a confluence of contemporary internal and external events. Some are dramatically referring to the situation as the “Perfect Storm.” While this may be overstating the situation (and one hopes, not indicating a similar ending), it is a serious situation.   View Now

Managing The American Way: Culture and Entrepreneurship in the USA

May 18/19, 2001

Delivered by James Abruzzo at the Unternehmen Kultur & Medien; Berlin Germany.   View Now

Tropical Chic: Cities Grow Their Own Rain Forests
March 05, 1997

“St. Louis has the Gateway Arch. Seattle has the Space Needle. And if some people in Des Moines, Iowa, have their way, that city may some day boast that it has the world’s largest indoor rain forest….”

“For zoos, rain forests help make a pitch for conservation and bring in crowds when it’s cold outside. “Rain forests are an audience builder,” says James Abruzzo, managing director of nonprofit practice at A.T. Kearney & Co., the consulting group researching the Des Moines project; he estimates a rain forest in Des Moines could bring in 1.4 million visitors a year.”   View Now

James Abruzzo spoke with Chris DeBello regarding the Sussex County Community College ethics probe.
September 11, 2014

James shared his analysis of ethics questions regarding the Sussex County NJ Community College Board of Trustees. Listen to the radio interview.   Listen Now

James Abruzzo quoted in New Hope Free Press article, New Hope Borough Council President Risks Appearance Of Conflict Of Interest By Not Recusing Herself From Review Of Project Next Door.
June 16, 2014

Read article.   View Now

Opinion: Business can show Congress the way to social responsibility
June 6, 2014

Days ago, when President Obama announced stronger carbon rules under the Clean Air act, enforced by the EPA, he was confronted by Republican members of Congress clamoring that he was “overstepping” on business.   View Now

Faculty Insight: James Abruzzo’s opinion piece argues that Congress is behind the times on business policy.
June 4, 2014

Referenced from www.mycentraljersey.com. Read James’ opinion piece.   View Now

LG clashes with environmentalists over New Jersey headquarters, Co-DirectorJames Abruzzo, Institute for Ethical Leadership: “I guess this is a tie”
November 20, 2013

Across the Hudson River from New York City and atop the steep cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades, LG Electronics Inc. has drawn the ire of environmentalists, and a Rockefeller, over its new North America headquarters.   View Now

Social responsibility is smart business, Opinion: NJ Star Ledger
April 18, 2013

Read article.   View Now

The Institute of Museum Ethics (Seton Hall University) in partnership with the Institute for Ethical Leadership (Rutgers University-Newark) held a conference on Museums, Ethics, and the Press
April 9, 2011

James Abruzzo was one of the key participants   View AM Session View PM Session

Friend of the Barnes

Evelyn Yaari responds via email to a post about the difference it would make if the Delaware River Port Authority rescinded its $500,000 in funding for the Barnes’ move to Philadelphia. The Art Law Blog, May 26, 2009, Donn Zaretsky. “The only study we have seen is The Abruzzo Case Analysis, by Professor James Abruzzo, which calls the Philadelphia Barnes plan ‘highly risky.’ That was in 2004 – before the current climate of extreme uncertainty.”

James served as an expert witness for the Friends that wanted to keep the Barnes Museum from relocating. See his testimony.   View Now View PDF

Teaching Leadership for Public Service

Dr. Joe Cerami chaired a roundtable discussion on at John Jay College of the City University of New York, for the Second Annual Northeast Conference on Public Administration(NECoPA 2011). The roundtable included James Abruzzo, the co-founder of the Institute for Ethical Leadership at the Rutgers Business School (RBS), and Jeanne Marie Col of John Jay College and formerly the United Nations Senior Interregional Adviser in Governance and Public Administration. The Conference theme was on Building Trust and Confidence in the Public Service.   View Now