Author of the piece here. One reader wondered what it was that make these aesthetics managerial. Think, perhaps, here about how Baroque artwork glorified emerging absolutist monarchy -- through aesthetically pleasing representation of both absolutist figures (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de%27_Medici_cycle) but also through aesthetic pleasing representations of absolutist power -- for instance, consider the way that Las Meninas demonstrates the power of the almost unseen Philip IV. Even though the King is only a tiny figure in the painting, everything in in space of the painting looks towards him.
By analogy, managerial aesthetics produces aesthetically pleasing representations of the "subjects" of managerial power, who are, in this case, nonprofit figureheads, and also aestheticizes managerial power itself. Contemporary art turns everything into material for contemporary art in a similar way that managerialism turns everything into something to be managed.
By analogy, managerial aesthetics produces aesthetically pleasing representations of the "subjects" of managerial power, who are, in this case, nonprofit figureheads, and also aestheticizes managerial power itself. Contemporary art turns everything into material for contemporary art in a similar way that managerialism turns everything into something to be managed.