There’s No Business Like...

Ep 149 Mary Jennings: Ballet is Frickin’ Amazing

This week the team learns about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and talk about big transitions leading into Katie’s conversation with Mary Jennings, the Executive Director of the Grand Rapids Ballet. Mary and Katie talk about how to build staff and organizational culture, the impact of resident companies on a community, budget...

Ep. 148 Kara Hettinger: Teaching Artists are Invaluable

The team is back from summer break and this week Danielle sits down with colleague Kara Hettinger, and they discuss more ways of building the future of our industry: innovations in reaching teen audiences and training and support for teaching artists. Kara is one of the founding collaborators of the Midwest Teaching Art...

NBL Rewind: Wone Vang: Never Give Up on Your Stupid Stupid Dreams This week we wrap our July 20205 Rewind Series as we revisit one of Danielle’s favorite conversations from Season 2, Episode 65 with Wone Vang!

Kevin tries out his old-timey radio voice before sitting down with Wone Vang. Wone shares the struggle of being a full-time artist and full-time employee, the Guarante...

NBL Rewind: Tara Bailey: Take Less Crap from People This week Bryan ensures we feature our friends from the north as we rewind to Danielle’s Season 1 conversation with Canadian agent and Friend of the Pod, Tara Bailey! On this episode Danielle sits down with agent Tara Bailey. We learn how the Grateful Dead and planning underground parties led to a career in the arts. Through Tara’s story we learn abo...

NBL Rewind: Bob Bennett: Quality Takes Time

This week Kevin rewinds us all the way back to Episode 32 to revisit the lessons and great advice offered by Bob Bennett in May 2023. This is also one of Katie’s favorites!

Bob Bennett, and his impressive beard, join Josh for a conversation about Jazz, Jazz St. Louis, and all of the options of being pa...

NBL Rewind: The State of Development with Lori L. Jacobwith This week Katie is rewinding to earlier this year and gasp! recommends you sit still and listen deeply to this one! So grab your earbuds, a pen, and comfy chair and adult beverage of choice and enjoy!

This week, Kevin sits down with fundraising professional Lori L. Jacobwith to talk about the changing development l...

NBL Rewind: Micah Christian: A Process Unfolding It’s summer vacation! The Pod Squad is taking a break and sharing some of their favorite conversations from the beach for the month of July. This week Josh rewinds to Ep. 64 with musician Micah Christian.

This week Bryan sits down with the lead vocalist of Sons of Serendip, Micah Christian. Micah opens up about his journey ...

Ep 142: Investing in Our Future This week guests Paige Hernandez, Daniel Hahn, and Karoline Myers stop by the pod to talk about the importance of and creative ways of commissioning new work from both the artist and venue perspectives. Daniel and Karoline also share about a new commissioning funding model, the TYA Tour Development Collective, which just completed its pilot year and is connecting artists ...

Ep. 141 NBL Summer Check-In

Join Josh, Katie, and Kevin this week as they talk about what they are thinking about in our industry – the good and the bad. We would love to hear what you are thinking about- send us an email or reach out through socials.

Follow us on social media and let us know your thoughts and questions – https://linktr.ee/nobusi...

Ep. 140 Finding the Future Together

This week Danielle recaps the 2025 TYA/USA National Festival and Conference with guests Brian Fahey, Ashli St. Armant, and Sarah McCarthy. They dig into some of the best professional development sessions, major takeaways around audience investment, pay what you wish models, meeting student needs as teaching artists, seeing new work, advoca...

Ep. 139 Broadway’s Biggest Night – Voting for the Tonys The lights are bright on Broadway as Katie and Josh learn all about the Tony Awards from Broadway producer Rashad Chambers and the Wharton Center’s Eric Olmscheid, who both serve as Tonys voters. We discuss seeing 42 shows in a season, the voting process, Tonys marketing and press, the role the Tonys play in the larger theater industry landscape, ...

Ep. 138 Christopher Kendrick-Castanho: Full Circle Moment

We’re headed to Broadway this week as Danielle and Bryan talk about the Broadway League’s 2025 Spring Road Conference and arts marketing with guest Christopher Kendrick-Castanho. Christopher shares about social media and influencer marketing, some of the rising challenges in the Broadway touring industry, and turns th...

Ep. 137 The Pod Goes “Wildcard”

It’s a “choose your own adventure” discussion as Katie borrows this week’s format (with tweaks) from the NPR podcast “Wildcard” and our hosts select their questions from a deck of notecards. We reflect on our work, our current challenges, what’s bringing us joy...and the time machine is back! Share your own answers with us via social media or...

Ep. 136 State of the Arts: Montana Edition!  

This week, Katie sits down with the head of a presenters consortium, the head of a state arts council, and the head of a performing arts center, all from the State of Montana, in our first ever episode focused on one singular state. They discuss how presenting in Montana is different, funding concerns, the Yellowstone Effect, and...

Ep. 135 Arts Data Redefined- The Conversation

This week the Pod Squad shares their thoughts on Josh’s conversation with Angela Meleca, Founder and Chief Advocate Officer of Meleca Creative Associates (https://www.melecacreative.com/). They share their thoughts on the Return on Arts concept and more. If you have not listened to that interview, please listen to Episode 134, f...

Ep. 134 Angela Meleca: Arts Data Redefined

This week Josh shares his conversation with Angela Meleca, and our hosts opt to save their commentary until next week so our listeners can sit with this one a bit longer. Angela shares her journey to where she is now, spending more time on her true passion, the Return on Art (ROA). Angela also shares how she is leading a cohort to m...

Ep. 133 What Keeps You Up?

This week Barron Ryan and Jacob Deaton join Katie, Josh, and Danielle to talk about the industry and what keeps them up at night. Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom, what’s keeping these folks up are big ideas!

To learn more about our guests, you can listen to their full interviews:

Ep...

Ep. 132 Michelle Grove Herzog: There Is Not a Linear Path

This week Danielle sits down with Michelle Grove Herzog to talk about going from a musician (violin) to consultant and Director of the Arts Admin Program and the University of Arizona. She shares conversations about board management, fiscal sponsorships, grants and more. The Pod Squad talks about their interactions wi...

Ep. 131 Mark Ross and Erika Finley: Does Your Board Reflect Your Community?

Josh finally asks the important question, what would our hosts name their bands! Then he shares his conversation with Mark Ross and Erica Finley when they spoke at APAP 2025. Mark and Erika share how they got started in the arts, the interesting history of Community Concert Associations, volunteerism...