Desk Notes: May 2026

A snapshot of current projects, systems, and tools in use.

Despite taking a ten-day vacation, May has been a month of momentum. A trip to Ireland, a gallery opening, a campaign in full swing, and some real decisions about where Art Is An Advantage is headed rounded out the month.

This Month's Focus

• Business retool: I'm expanding my team this summer, bringing on two people to support operations and content. That means doing planning work for onboarding, communications and task management.
  

• Robert Yonke has a full summer campaign underway, targeting second homeowners at Deep Creek Lake. The centerpiece is a direct mail piece going out to that audience, and I'm supporting the campaign with email, blog posts, and social media to round it out. It's a good example of how a well-coordinated multi-channel push can do more than any single tactic on its own.
  

• Patterns of Meaning opened a pop-up gallery this month, which has been a big moment for them. Work includes building the content strategy around the event, thinking through what goes out before, during, and after to capture the momentum.
  

• The Art Is An Advantage newsletter is coming back. I let the rhythm slip during a busy spring, and I'm rebuilding it now. The first send back is anchored around my Ireland trip, which gave me a natural, story-driven way back into the content without forcing it.
  

What's Actively in Motion

• The Ireland trip did double duty. I needed a real break, and I came back refreshed. It also became the natural jumping-off point for the first newsletter back, which felt like a bonus. Sometimes stepping away is the most productive thing you can do.
  

Tools, Systems, And Other Fun Things

• Nothing new to report on the tools front yet this month. Most of my energy has been going into planning and campaign execution rather than testing anything new. That's not a bad thing.
  

That's May. If you're in the middle of a campaign launch or trying to get a content rhythm back after a busy stretch, I'd love to hear how it's going. Drop me a line and tell me what's happening this month.