After hearing a short interview on NPR with author Michael M. Kaiser about his work on saving arts organizations on the brink of disaster, I was intrigued enough to buy his new book The Art of the Turnaround.

Although his book was written before our current era of bailouts and mortgage meltdowns, I hoped his work experiences from the mid-1980s to around 2007 might offer some assistance to arts organizations facing the current economic crisis.

In a nutshell, Kaiser's magic formula for success is: "Good art, well marketed."

Though succinct, this is an important point, since it's a bit counter intuitive. Indeed, many local organizations today are opting to do less with less and praying that people still come--a recipe for extinction according to Kaiser.

At the beginning of the book, Kaiser offers his "ten rules" for orchestrating a turnaround of a failing organization that he believes will also aid in maintaining a healthy status quo. My favorites were:

• You Cannot Save Your Way to Health
• Focus on Today and Tomorrow, Not Yesterday
• There Must Be Only One Spokesman
• The Message Must Be Positive

The rules in and of themselves are quite instructive, and this book will excite not only those responsible for program development and marketing, but also executive directors with board responsibilities. After the ten rules are outlined in the beginning of the book, the following chapters are presented as case studies that demonstrate how the rules were applied by Kaiser during his tenure at the Kansas City Ballet, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Foundation, the Royal Opera House, American Ballet Theatre, and lastly, the John F. Kennedy Center.

Some readers might find the case studies a bit repetitive, but as Kaiser points out in his opening sentence, "All turnarounds are different and yet all turnarounds are the same."

Despite the seriousness of the topic, I laughed out loud several times, and found myself paraphrasing the book in meetings at the Museum. I also enjoyed learning more about the workings of organizations that primarily produce dance and operas, and despite the differences with the medium, I was able to discern connections and applications to what we are doing at the Florence Griswold Museum.

The book may not solve everyone's current challenges, but it definitely gives a banquet of food for thought.

For more specific advice on what organizations can do during the current economic crisis, visit Kaiser's website at www.artsincrisis.org