Apr 16, 2024

To create the Berkshire Busk! festival, Gene Carr needed partners in City Hall, on Main Street

By Matt Lehrman

Social Prosperity Partners


When we launched the “Community Catalysts” podcast in February, we promised real-life stories about local leadership that contain practical advice for anyone looking to make a difference in their own community, whether or not they hold elected office or other official title. That’s because innovation often requires some kind of public-private partnership.

My guest this week, Gene Carr, offers the perfect example. He is the founding director of the Berkshire Busk! outdoor music festival in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It started as a response to pandemic-era social distancing, but it continues today as a popular annual attraction in a region where tourism is huge.


As an experienced arts marketer and an accomplished musician himself, Gene had a vision for bringing together local artists to deliver a compelling experience for the community. But he needed partners — both public and private. The keys to his success, he says, were:

1. Active support from local government.

“This entire festival wouldn’t have happened at all, and I wouldn’t have lifted a finger to do it, if it weren’t for the town manager,” Gene says. “He basically said, I will help you knock down the inevitable barriers that you’re going to encounter — I’m on your side.” One example: extending the town’s insurance coverage to an adjacent church’s lawn for the performance of aerial dancers.


2. Financial support from the business community.

“My first question to that town manager was, who are the movers and shakers that I need to talk to who are likely to be open-minded and entrepreneurial?” In the episode, he gets into specifics such as sponsorship incentives and realistic budgeting.


“These kinds of festivals are unlikely to spring from within an administration of an existing town and municipality,” Gene says. “It’s more likely that an individual in the community is gonna come and approach the town and say, I wanna make this happen. And if that’s the case, that individual has to feel supported because they’re creating an idea out of nothing, and they are suddenly going to take this huge project on their shoulders.”


Listen now on Apple, Spotify and all podcast platforms.

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Enhance your leadership toolkit by joining our next Local Leadership Chat, titled “Reservoirs of Resilience,” via Zoom on Friday, May 3. This month’s free, facilitated discussion will explore the importance of self-care and mental wellness in sustaining effective leadership.



Early Registration Sweepstakes: RSVP HERE by Wednesday, April 24 (5 p.m. Pacific Time) and attend the session for a chance to win a free Leadership & Collaboration Skills Assessment & Personal Coaching Session (a $475 value). This scientifically validated, EEOC-compliant tool includes a 10-minute survey and one-hour private review with Matt, providing insights into how your personality traits interact with others and empowering you to navigate relationships more mindfully and confidently. Three winners will be notified by 7 p.m. May 4 (PST). Don’t miss out on this opportunity to elevate your leadership abilities!

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Unite & conquer? Why disagreement is natural

By Matt Lehrman • 14 May, 2024
By Matt Lehrman Social Prosperity Partners From campus protests to epic rapper beefs, we all know conflict drives headlines. But it’s pointless to criticize “the mainstream media” for a reality that’s equally true in alternative media and our own social media feeds, not to mention every bestselling novel and blockbuster movie ever. Conflict is the heart of all stories, and that’s why one of the founding principles of Social Prosperity Partners is this simple statement: Conflict isn’t only natural, it’s necessary. When I say conflict is natural, I don’t just mean it casually, as in, “Naturally, not everyone in the family loves musical theater (or football, or Star Trek )”. I’m talking about something more fundamental. Not just science fiction, but science.

What to Do in the Face of Incivility

By Matt Lehrman • 07 May, 2024
By Matt Lehrman Social Prosperity Partners In the months before Election Day, the problem of incivility in public life isn’t going away . So, when you find yourself dealing with inappropriate, disruptive behavior, whether by members of the public or by your colleagues, there are three distinct approaches you can take to manage the situation. 1. MAKE THEM STOP — Same in preschool as on a governing board, there’s nothing like a good timeout when emotions get overheated. Take a breath. Walk out of the room. If necessary, temporarily suspend or adjourn a meeting completely. Clear, fair rules with consistent enforcement are key. Whatever the issue, remember your responsibility to your community or organization and its governance. This isn’t a time to “fight fire with fire,” but to deprive the fire of oxygen. 2. MEDIATE — When there is a necessary decision to be made and a mutual desire for dialogue, it can be useful for disagreeing parties to engage a trained facilitator. They can provide the structure, objectivity, and cool-headedness necessary to find a workable solution, although mediation works best when it’s voluntary, that is, not imposed in some way. Remember our mantra at Social Prosperity Partners: “Where people work together courageously, their potential is unlimited.”  3. MOVE FORWARD — At some point, you may simply need to “agree to disagree,” which means either calling the question or moving on to other important business. However, while it’s never good to let perfection be the enemy of progress, remember that issues left unresolved today likely will fester and erupt again later. So make a plan to address them as soon as possible.

Otis White on tapping into citizens’ expertise

By Matt Lehrman • 30 Apr, 2024
By Matt Lehrman Social Prosperity Partners In the first nine episodes of the “Community Catalysts” podcast , I’ve interviewed 3 mayors, a city council member, 3 nonprofit executives, a police chief, and a police detective turned social media strategist. This week, I want to introduce a voice you’ll hear more from in future episodes. In his 22-year career as principal of Civic Strategies , an Atlanta-based consulting firm, Otis White became one of the country’s top strategic planning experts. When I asked him to describe the job for an 8-year-old, he said, “I tried to make cities better by trying to make some of the institutions in cities work a little better.” For four years, Otis hosted his own podcast, also called “Civic Strategies,” produced in cooperation with the Georgia Municipal Association . Those 39 interviews are no longer available anywhere, but Otis has generously gifted his audio archive to “Community Catalysts,” so I will be sharing some highlights from that series on a monthly basis, along with more of my interview with Otis. This week’s takeaway from an elder statesperson in civic planning facilitation? “We’re all experts, but we don’t recognize each other’s expertise,” he said. “ The citizens are experts in what kind of community they want. And they’re also experts, by the way, in fairness. But the experts we think of as experts — planners, city department leaders — are experts in something else. They’re experts not in the what but the how .” Listen now on Apple , Spotify and other podcast platforms .
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