Aubrey Bergauer, former executive director of the California Symphony. Photo by Jan Wandrag.
In Monday’s (9/25) Inc.com, Sarah Lynch writes, “Nonprofits and startups have more in common than meets the eye. And these scrappy, ambitious organizations can learn a lot from each other. That’s the premise of the forthcoming book from Aubrey Bergauer, former executive director of the California Symphony: Run It Like a Business: Strategies for Arts Organizations to Increase Audiences, Remain Relevant, and Multiply Money—Without Losing the Art. While the book specifically aims to help arts organizations adopt for-profit methods, Bergauer says businesses have a lot to learn from the arts world, as well…. With degrees in both music performance and management, Bergauer’s first jobs at the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera demonstrated the similarities among the business world, the arts, and their goals: to serve customers—or patrons. Yet even the biggest orchestras, opera companies, and ballet companies are niche businesses operating with tight budgets, she says. As a result, these organizations need to adopt creative, strategic solutions to survive…. Bergauer says business leaders can take away from the lessons she learned in nonprofit leadership.”
