This month, Tom sits down with Cynthia Fuhrman, TOCG's Vice President of Executive Search and the former Managing Director of Portland Center Stage (PCS). While at PCS, Cynthia was heavily involved in advocating for arts funding at the federal level during the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic and brings a unique perspective on how art organizatio…

Tom sits down with Sarah Hom of Roundabout Theatre Company and Sarah Kenny of Disney Theatrical Group to talk about the importance of disability inclusion in the arts, from creators to audience members, and their work to make Broadway more inclusive. In this conversation, they go beyond compliance to talk about the ways in which disability inclusio…

Something very different this month! Tom was recently a guest on Capacity Interactive's podcast, CI to Eye, and spoke about TOCG's views on salary transparency, hiring (and resignation) trends and practices in the arts, and the importance of caring for the people who make the arts work. Now we're bringing this conversation to you, our loyal Changin…

Tom talks with Melissa Cowley Wolf, founder of MCW Projects and Director of the Arts Funders Forum, about the expectations and current trends among the next generation of arts funders. They talk about the impact this can and should have on donor engagement, board development, and the role of the 21st century fundraiser. For more on Melissa's work, …

Tom talks with Holly Bass, teaching artist and National Director of Turnaround Arts at the Kennedy Center, about the power of arts education to deliver culturally responsive experiences that can have a liberatory effect on the lives of students. They talk about Holly's career as a teaching artist and how that shapes her perspective on Turnaround Ar…

Tom talks with Lee Bynum, consultant with The Inclusion Firm and the Vice President of Impact for the Minnesota Opera. They talk about what his role entails and his vision for how change happens in organizations as they seek to serve their whole communities, and how the work we do today can ripple out for the long term. They also talk about managin…

Tom talks to Broadway Producer, consultant, podcast producer (and more) Sally Cade Holmes about false choices, blurring lines between business and creativity, and ways to improve training for artists and arts administrators in our current realities. Sally Cade is a member of the Tony Award-winning producing teams behind The Inheritance, Hadestown, …

Tom talks to TOCG's Director of Recruitment and Professional Development Jordan Sanford, about working toward diverse and equitable institutions through hiring strategies, opportunities for lasting change, and the barriers to entry in our field. Jordan is the former Director of Artistic Advancement at The Art Effect of the Hudson Valley and former …

Tom talks with Sara Villagio, Chief Marketing Officer of New York City's Carnegie Hall, about the company's recent rebrand, virtual programming during the pandemic, and how change is introduced in large, storied institutions. Read more about the Carnegie Hall rebrand on their website here. Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute is also referenced se…

Tom talks to longtime international arts marketer and now TOCG Vice President Rani Haywood about the changing nature of connecting with audiences, ways they both hope the field will evolve on the other side of the pandemic, and the changing nature of what it means to be an "arts marketer." Rani is the former Senior Director of Sales and Marketing a…

Tom talks with Former SPACE on Ryder Farm Executive Director Emily Simoness*, Consultant and Co-Facilitator Edie Demas, and playwright and SPACE Strategic Plan Working Group member Deepa Purohit. Tom and this trio of panelists talk about the ways in which SPACE approached and developed their 2021 Strategic Plan (which Tom co-facilitated) through th…

Welcome to Changing Arts from Tom O'Connor Consulting Group. The arts industry has had its share of challenges since the start of 2020, and the resulting changes are still unfolding--and some of them are long overdue. In this podcast, hear from people on the ground in the arts business who are making change happen in their own ways, large and small…