An overemphasis on data-driven work within the nonprofit sector has been shown to result in cycles of disempowerment, driven by third-party data demands of funding bodies.. This compounds due to the many market orientations nonprofits need to adopt, particularly prevalent among the arts. A key to navigating these markets and funder requirements lies in identifying a specific data culture best fit for your organization and investing in resources and training in order to achieve that framework sustainably.
Arts Organizations & Using the AI Stack
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) was ranked number one in 2022 for Artificial Intelligence Programs by U.S. News and World Report. Incorporating CMU’s AI lessons is critical for all industries but particularly those that are historically considered to be “non-technical fields.” Within these fields, the ones who thrive will be those who incorporate at least the lower levels of the stack, namely data management, but an understanding of each layer of the stack will provide industries with a road map to understand how they can increase the efficiency and output of their organization’s business processes.
Boosting Cybersecurity for Remote Work in the Arts
Remote work generally poses greater security threats to organizations than in-person work since, for example, employees use home networks and access organizational information on personal devices. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, cybersecurity was becoming a bigger threat for smaller organizations and nonprofits. It may seem fatalistic to ask arts organizations to prepare for the worst cyberattack situation—one that might seem unlikely—but managers should think of cybersecurity as another aspect of making their organization stronger, just like ensuring patrons’ physical safety and protecting the organization’s financial health. Now that the pandemic has forced many aspects of arts organizations’ operations online, managers can use this opportunity to survey their organization’s digital landscape and potentially open the door for more remote work opportunities in normal times.
What Arts Nonprofits Should Know About Data Privacy and Security
In a survey of 467 nonprofit professionals, EveryAction and Nonprofit Hub found that 90% of nonprofits are collecting data, but that 49% of surveyed nonprofit professionals did not know how it was collected. While data clearly plays a large role in nonprofit arts organizations’ operations, few have concrete policies and procedures that guide its collection and use. In the context of changing policies about data privacy and increased risk of cyberattacks, this is a dangerous place for nonprofit arts organizations to be in. This article will summarize considerations in areas pertinent to these organizations.
Telling Stories with Data: 4 Steps to Making Data Visualizations More Readable
Data visualization helps art institutions communicate with internal and external communities more effectively and efficiently. There are a numbers of quality data visualization tools available for free, but how arts managers use these tools defines how effective the data visualization. The following four strategies provide a guideline for arts managers to create data visualization with purpose and impact.