Publications

WolfBrown consultants author peer-reviewed papers for academic journals and other publications.

Evaluations at Mid-Life

Guildnotes

by Dennie Palmer Wolf In an issue of GuildNotes, Dennie Palmer Wolf continues her article series on program evaluations with an investigation of their mid-life. Imagine that you  >>

Initiators and Responders: Leveraging Social Context to Build Attendance

Alan Brown

Summer 2004

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Issues Brief Series #4 Summer 2004, Published by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation  by Alan Brown Two observations from recent studies illustrate the paradox of  >>

Blog: All Hands On Deck

Alan Brown

January 26, 2021

WolfBrown

A Call to Action for Arts and Public Health For nine months during 2020 we navigated the worst crisis to hit the arts and culture sector in modern  >>

Book: The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights

Routledge

The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights is a collection of case studies spanning a wide range of concerns about music and human rights in response to intensifying  >>

Research: Impact of an Intensive Arts and Culture Internship on Under-served High School Students

Henry Clapp

September 28, 2021

SREE

Background On-the-job work experiences are essential for developing students’ interest in future education and careers, as well as their hard and soft career skills. Capable mentors appear to be  >>

Research: Participation in Intensive Orchestral Music Training Does Not Cause Gains in Executive Functioning, Self-Perception, or Attitudes Toward School in Young Children

J. Hogan, S. Cordes, Dr. Steven John Holochwost, E. Ryu, E. Winner

2023

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.

Abstract Hogan, J., Cordes, S., Holochwost, S., Ryu, E., & Winner, E. (2023). Participation in intensive orchestral music training does not cause gains in executive functioning, self-perception, or  >>

Research: Music Education and Neurophysiological Regulation in Early Childhood

Eleanor D. Brown, Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Alyssa A. Allen, Mallory L. Garnett, Blanca Velazquez-Martin, Suzanne Varnell, Jessa L. Malatesta

2023

Mind, Brain and Education

Should Teachers Guide or Get Out of the Way? Special Issue Article in Mind, Brain and Education, 2023. Abstract Access to high-quality early music education programs may mitigate the effects of poverty  >>

Research: More Light About Each Other

APA PsycNet

Theater Education as a Context for Developing Social Awareness and Relationship Skills Abstract Social awareness and relationship skills are two essential components of children’s socioemotional development that undergo  >>

Research: More Light About Each Other

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts

Theater Education as a Context for Developing Social Awareness and Relationship Skills In this paper, we make the case that theater education can help children develop social awareness  >>

Blog: Save the Arts and Serve All the People

Joseph H. Kluger, Gary P. Steuer

May 16, 2020

artblog

Save the arts and serve all the people, restore OACCE and PCF budgets, Part 2 Although we understand the City of Philadelphia faces financial challenges from the coronavirus  >>

Research: Special Edition of the Arts Education Policy Review

Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Jeff Poulin

February 2021

Arts Education Policy Review

In this special edition of Arts Education Policy Review (AEPR), Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf and co-editor, Jeff Poulin of Creative Generation, bring together a variety of perspectives from  >>

Research: Music Education, Academic Achievement, and Executive Functions

Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Cathi B. Propper, Michael T. Willoughby, Kelly R Fisher, Jacek Kolacz, Vanessa V Volpe, Sara R Jaffee

2017

APA PsycNet

Abstract This study examined whether music education was associated with improved performance on measures of academic achievement and executive functions. Participants were 265 school-age children (Grades 1 through  >>

Research: Responding to the Impact of COVID-19 on Community-based Arts Education Organizations

Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Jeff M. Poulin

February 2, 2021

Arts Education Policy Review

When Questions are our Best Answers A special issue of Arts Education Policy Review The details of the global COVID-19 pandemic centered on lockdowns, face masks, and video  >>

Research: Making Music, Promoting Development

Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Judith Hill Bose

May 30, 2019

Routledge

The Power of Practice Most arts education programs have focused on transmitting skills and proficiencies in their specific disciplines and graduating talented students doing high-quality work. Despite the  >>

Research: Making Music, Promoting Development

Dr. Judith Hill Bose, Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf

June 2019

Routledge

The Power of Practice A chapter by Dennie Palmer Wolf, Steven Holochwost, and Judith Hill Bose in the new volume, Music Learning As Youth Development. Music Learning as Youth Development explores  >>

Publication: Why Making Music Matters

Carnegie Hall

In 2016, Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, working with musicians and staff at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, published a booklet for families, “Why Making Music Matters.” The publication outlines  >>

Blog: How Executive Directors and Boards Work Together (Part 1)

Dr. Thomas Wolf

Updated on March 9, 2023 (Originally published January 02, 2014)

Allworth

A Series of Case Studies from Effective Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations After many years of consulting, I came across a persistent problem in many organizations. Executive directors and boards  >>

Book: Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts

Routledge

Edited by Matthew Reason, Lynne Conner, Katya Johanson and Ben Walmsley The Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts represents a truly multi-dimensional exploration of the interrelationships between audiences  >>

Blog: A Sector in Peril – Philanthropy’s Role in Responding to COVID-19

Alan Brown

March 26, 2020

WolfBrown

Alan Brown I am indebted to Adrian Ellis, John Shibley, Tommer Peterson, Andrew Taylor, Ingrid Handeland, Shelley Cohn, Rebecca Thomas, John Carnwath, Megan Bander, Victoria Plettner-Saunders, Joe Kluger,  >>

Blog: How Executive Directors and Boards Work Together (Part 2)

Dr. Thomas Wolf

Updated on March 9, 2023 (Originally published January 02, 2014)

Allworth

A Series of Case Studies from Effective Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations After many years of consulting, I came across a persistent problem in many organizations. Executive directors and boards  >>

Book: The Teacher You Want to Be

Heinemann

Essays about Children, Learning, and Teaching Edited by Matt Glover and Ellin Olvier KeeneForeward by Alfie Kohn Dennie Palmer Wolf’s essay is one of 15 essays published in The  >>

Publication: Make the Anvil Theirs

Journal of Folklore and Education

When Poetry Meets Folklore Taught in the light of folklore’s values of context, use, candor, imagination, and love, writing poems that notice, praise, and witness allows young people  >>

Book: Managing a Nonprofit Organization (40th Anniversary Edition)

Dr. Thomas Wolf

July 19, 2022

Free Press

An essential and practical resource for the nonprofit field. Celebrating its fortieth anniversary, this classic is now updated for a new generation. Tens of thousands of staff members,  >>

Blog: How Executive Directors and Boards Work Together (Part 3)

Dr. Thomas Wolf

Updated on March 9, 2023 (Originally published January 02, 2014)

Allworth

A Series of Case Studies from Effective Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations After many years of consulting, I came across a persistent problem in many organizations. Executive directors and boards  >>

Keynote Address: Audience Research Gone Wild

Participations, Journal of Audience & Reception Studies

This keynote address was delivered at the second Symposium of the International Network for Audience Research in the Performing Arts (iNARPA) on September 14, 2017, in Leeds, UK.  >>

Research: Context is Key

Laura Nelson Darling, Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Jennifer Coffman, Dr. Cathi Propper, Nicholas Wagner

February 20, 2022

Developmental Psychobiology

Parasympathetic regulation in the classroom differentially predicts preschoolers’ socially competent behaviors. Research shows that children’s early social competence predicts their later academic and interpersonal success. Accordingly, early childhood  >>

Book: Counting New Beans

Alan Brown, Rebecca Ratzkin, Ben Cameron, Brad Erickson, Rebecca Novick, Arlene Goldbard, Clayton Lord, Diane Ragsdale 

2012

Theatre Bay Area

Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art This pioneering study on Intrinsic Impact was released by Theatre Bay Area. It represents a nationwide collective effort to measure the true  >>

Book: Effective Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations

Dr. Thomas Wolf

January 02, 2014

Allworth

How Executive Directors and Boards Work Together Managing a nonprofit organization has many challenges. One key to success is building a strong relationship between the executive director and  >>

Blog: Taking Note

National Endowment for the Arts

Parsing Rigor in Arts Education Studies Steven Holochwost offers his thoughts on rigor in arts education research in a blog post for the National Endowment for the Arts.Excerpt  >>

Book: How to Connect with Donors and Double the Money You Raise

Dr. Thomas Wolf

October 6, 2021

Many nonprofits are constantly seeking out new donors to raise funds and meet fundraising goals. In the chase for those additional dollars, fundraisers and institutions often forget what’s  >>

Book: The Nightingale’s Sonata

Dr. Thomas Wolf

June 4, 2019

Pegasus Books

Spanning generations, from the shores of the Black Sea to the glittering concert halls of New York, The Nightingale’s Sonata is a richly woven tapestry centered around violin virtuoso  >>

Blog: The remarkable people, music, and rich history behind The Nightingale’s Sonata

Sign up for email announcements when new blog posts are published. Learn more about the remarkable people, music, and rich history behind The Nightingale’s Sonata. Access this blog.  >>

Article: To the Rescue

Inside Arts

Can Ailing Arts Organizations Turn Around? Inside Arts magazine September/October 2001 Stories of organizational crisis may differ in their details, but in our work as consultants dealing with  >>

Book: And the Band Stopped Playing

Dr. Thomas Wolf, Nancy Glaze

2005

Wolf, Keens & Company

The Rise and Fall of the San Jose Symphony Though this is a book about a specific orchestra in a particular city, it contains lessons for arts organizations  >>

Book: Presenting Performances – A Basic Handbook for the Twenty-First Century

Association of Performing Arts Presenters

This recently revised edition of an industry classic contains seven chapters devoted to discussion of presenting from several perspectives, including that of the community, the organization, the performer,  >>

Protected: Presentation: A Brief Introduction to Planned Giving

Dr. Thomas Wolf

June 21, 2023

WolfBrown

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.  >>

Book: Musical Gifts or How a Maine Fishing Village Became a Center for Great Music

Dr. Thomas Wolf

May 15, 2011

Bay Chamber Concerts

How did a fishing village, famous for its great sailing ships, its lime kilns, and the purity of its winter ice become a center for great music? This  >>

Book: Herding Cats and Cougars

William Keens

December 22, 2009

Dog Ear Publishing, LLC

How to Survive the Meeting You Are Running While Mastering the Art of Facilitation This unique, 48-page book written by William Keens is a practical guide to planning,  >>

Article: Luboshutz & Nemenoff

Dr. Thomas Wolf

Summer 2022

Liner Notes

Piano-Duo Extraordinaire Pierre Luboshutz (1890–1971) and Genia Nemenoff (1905–1989) were, in many ways, very similar—musicians from Russian-Jewish backgrounds who had found success in America. But their differences were  >>

Research: Delineating the Benefits of Arts Education for Children’s Socioemotional Development

Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Thalia R. Goldstein

May 13, 2021

Frontiers

In this paper, we make the case that as the study of arts education to continues to advance, we must delineate the effects of particular forms of arts  >>

A Collaboration Workbook: How Six Brooklyn Cultural Institutions Developed a Capacity to Diagnose Community Need and Respond with Collaborative Programs

Alan Brown, Karen Tingley, John Shibley

April 2014

Building Strong Community Networks

Commissioned by Heart of Brooklyn – A Cultural Partnership, with funding support from Institute of Museum and Library Services and The Rockefeller Foundation Over the two-year period from  >>

Research: Planting the Seeds

Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Judith Hill Bose, Elizabeth Stuk, Eleanor D. Brown, and Kate E. Anderson

January 27, 2021

Frontiers

Orchestral Music Education as a Context for Fostering Growth Mindsets Growth mindset is an important aspect of children’s socioemotional development and is subject to change due to environmental  >>

Research: Active Music Engagement and Cortisol as an Acute Stress Biomarker

Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Sheri L. Robb, Amanda K. Henley, Kristin Stegenga, Susan M. Perkins, Kristen A. Russ, Seethal A. Jacob, David Delgado, Joan E. Haase, Caitlin M. Krater

November 2020

Published in Frontiers in Psychology

In Young Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Patients and Caregivers: Results of a Single Case Design Pilot Study This paper reports the results of a single-case design pilot study  >>

Book Chapter: The Arts and Socioemotional Development

Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf, Kelly R. Fisher, Kelly O'Grady, Kristin M. Gagnier

October 26, 2017

SpringerLink

Evaluating a New Mandate for Arts Education Abstract In this chapter, we present the results of our assessment of the impacts of arts education on the development of  >>

Research: Executive Functions – Formative Versus Reflective Measurement

Michael T. Willoughby, Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Zane E. Blanton, Clancy B. Blair

2014

Taylor & Francis

Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, Vol 12(3), Jul, 2014. pp.69-95. Publisher: Taylor & Francis  Abstract The primary objective of this article was to critically evaluate the routine use  >>

Guide: Building Creative Capital

“Creative capital is the network of understandings, values, activities, and relationships that individuals, organizations, and communities develop when they share what earlier generations have imagined and when they,  >>

Blog: Reading Reconsidered

Dr. Thomas Wolf

September 1977

Harvard Educational Review

During the last two centuries reading has come to refer almost exclusively to the interpretation of written material. In this article Dr. Thomas Wolf uses the etymology of  >>

Research: Quality of Life, Well-being, and Standard of Living

John Carnwath

December 17, 2015

Createquity

Definitions and Common Usage Embarking on our exploration of the arts and well-being, we researched formal definitions and common usage of several overlapping terms used in this larger field  >>

Research: The Role of Folk and Traditional Arts Instruction in Supporting Student Learning

ResearchGate

The authors investigated the association between participation in Nations in Neighborhoods (NiN), a program of folk and traditional arts instruction, and achievement in English language arts for a  >>

Essay: Timely Opportunities – The Long and the Deep

Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf

January 26, 2021

WolfBrown

This essay asks whether we are creating a world in which young people have access to the many kinds of time they need in order to thrive. In  >>

Essay: The Bottom Line on Film Tax Credits

John Carnwath

January 8, 2014

Createquity

Excerpted About a year ago the New York Times ran a series of articles on corporate tax breaks, complete with a web-accessible database of state tax incentives for businesses. All  >>

Article: Understanding Support for Individual Artists

John Carnwath

Fall 2014

Grantmakers in the Arts Reader

Making a Case for National Standards From the introduction For several years, Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) members have noted the lack of sector-wide information about support for  >>

Research: Spatial Thinking in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Dr. Kristin Michod Gagnier, Dr. Steven John Holochwost, Dr. Kelly R Fisher

August 10, 2021

Journal of Research in Science Teaching

Elementary Teachers’ Beliefs, Perceptions, and Self-efficacy Fostering students’ spatial thinking skills holds great promise for improving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Recent efforts have focused on  >>

Blog: To Stream, or Not to Stream?

Joseph H. Kluger, Michael Bronson

Summer 2021

Currents

Orchestras raced to put music online during the pandemic as a matter of necessity. But the move to streaming only accelerated a trend that was already underway. As  >>

Blog: You Had Me at Hello

Surale Phillips

July 1, 2016

LinkedIn

Your Media Coverage Goal You had me at hello. This is your goal with the media when it comes to easing the pain of your unending quest for coverage. Yes,  >>

Blog: Coaching the Arts Quarterback

Joseph H. Kluger

October 2006

Platform

Although modern management gurus Warren Bennis and Peter Drucker have debunked the myth that there is a genetic factor to leadership, it was many years earlier that Vince  >>

Article: All the World’s a Stage

Alan Brown

Summer 2012

Grantmakers in the Arts Reader

Venues and Settings, and the Role they Play in Shaping Patterns of Arts Participation Why will some people engage with art in one setting, but not another? For  >>

Research: Measuring the Intrinsic Impacts of Arts Attendance

Alan Brown, Jennifer L. Novak-Leonard

2013

Cultural Trends

Understanding the value of the arts to individuals, families, and communities has long been a query for policy-makers and researchers. At the core of the value system is  >>

Essay: An Architecture of Value

Grantmakers in the Arts Reader

Can you explain, in simple terms, how you or someone you know is changed by listening to music, watching a dance performance, looking at an artwork, or writing  >>

Essay: Which US Orchestras Will Survive?

International Arts Manager

The big US orchestras will survive the present economic crisis. So too will the small ones. But what of those orchestras with big ambitions but few resources? How  >>