Art Isn’t Easy: Leading with Impact in the Arts
“First of all, you need a good foundation—
Otherwise it's risky from the start.
Takes a lot of earnest conversation,
But without the proper preparation,
Having just the vision’s no solution.
Everything depends on execution.”
—Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George
🖼️ Georges Seurat (1859–1891)
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, 1884–1886
Oil on canvas
Art Institute of Chicago
Art isn’t easy — but neither is running a mission-driven nonprofit in the arts.
Most of us in the field feel the impact of our work in our bones — but the public doesn’t always see what we see.
This series uses art (from paintings to performance to sculpture and more) as a lens for exploring the challenges of arts leadership, audience development, and communicating impact.
Each entry pairs a specific work with a short, shareable insight to help nonprofit leaders reflect, refocus, and express the value of their work more clearly.
I’ll be updating this post regularly. You can follow the series on Instagram or all my socials (icons at the top left of this page), or come back here for updates. If you like what you see, I hope you’ll share my original posts wherever you get your social media.