Inspiration from Thomas Paine

"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."

— Thomas Paine, "The Crisis," 1776

It's Time!

The "Recession or Reset" panel is upon us! In mere hours, dramaturgs from the US and Canada will gather at the Kennedy Center, and at least some small portion of them will sit around with me, Julie, and Allison, and we'll try to put our heads together on the issue of theatre and the economy. I'll be posting highlights from the LMDA conference and from our session over the next few days, so stay tuned....

Leverage the Crisis for Creativity!

"I do believe that sometimes it takes these terrible difficult environments to allow us to be more creative rather than less creative." -- Michael Kaiser

A great short little interview with Michael Kaiser on NPR. The highlights of his advice to arts orgs:

- Do new things, adventurous things, not just the old chestnuts.

- Be creative. Do more for less. Collaborate to cut costs.

- When you cut programming, you cut your revenue source and your ambitions

Theatre Critics Lose Their Vote in the Tony Awards

Julie's Notes:

Theatre critics and journalists have been licking their wounds from a lot of battles lately. The most recent tussle comes as a result of a memo announcing their removal (as a field) from the rolls of eligible voters for Broadway's Tony Awards. Until now, critics made up 1/8 of Tony voters.

Some critics claim the Tony will lose its credibility without the influence of the journalists. Others argue that productions will lose reviewers (and thus attention) because critics do not need to attend the full seasons any longer, since they aren't allowed to cast votes for the awards. With fewer critics attending, does this mean a decline in publication and marketing for Broadway? If so, what does that mean for Off Bway, Off Off Bway, Showcase, Fringe, etc? Do they benefit from spillover?

Ilana's addition:

What does it mean for the Tonys that it will now be primarily an artist-driven honor, rather than one bestowed because of a semblance of critical agreement on what's worthy? What do we lose when we cut the critics out of the conversation?

This gets to a larger question which probably merits its own post: can the theatre makers and theatre critics find a place of mutual growth and purpose? Or is all hope lost?

London Plays It Safe?

Several theatres in London, including The National and Donmar, are revisiting the same plays over and over. Phedre, Hamlet, and King Lear seem to be popping up in consecutive seasons.

Does this indicate anything notable about the vitality of new and risky work? What is it about plays like Phedre, Hamlet, etc, that theatres believe audiences need/want to see repeatedly? What do the audiences make of this?

A Few Pro/Am Questions

Hello all! Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of days.

As a continuation of Ilana's and my conversation about the Professional vs. Pro-Am debate-- which I tend to boil down to a Professionals vs. Locals debate for a variety of reasons, though I think that dichotomy is changing too-- I have some statements to throw around in advance of our discussion on Saturday. Rather than framing them all as questions, I would wrap this whole post in a blanket of Do You Agree with This Statement or Not, and Why? What's Been Your Experience?

Note: The statements below do not actually reflect my beliefs about regional theatre, or the beliefs of anyone else involved with the blog. They're just meant as a series of potentially inflammatory jumping-off points which have been bandied about. The following statements assume we are in a city which is probably not New York or Los Angeles, and that we're talking about an older model, cliched regional theatre, pre-recession.

Do You Agree with This Statement or Not, and Why? What's Been Your Experience?

-- Locals are amateurs or could be called pro-ams, whereas professionals are from out-of-town.
-- This discussion isn't even relevant anymore because there are no such things as lines between amateur, pro-am, and professional theatre, and the recession is proving that.
-- Theatres want to hire the best/most appropriate person for the job, and if that person lives elsewhere, the theatre will use its available funding to facilitate bringing in the best person for the job; if the theatre has the money, they'll hire the best person from far away. If not, they'll hire the best person from close by.
-- The locals here in [insert city name here] must not be very good because they're still local and haven't moved to New York or LA. If they were serious about working in the theatre, they would have moved to a larger city than this by now.
-- The locals must not be very good if they have to hold down an additional job outside of the theatre to get by and therefore can't make daytime rehearsals.
-- To do a good job and earn a living doing theatre, one needs graduate-level training from a good school that, more often than not, is not located in the city in which professionals wind up doing their work, therefore of course the "professionals" come from somewhere else. (ie went to grad school in New Haven, work in Dallas, went to grad school in New York, work in Chicago, etc.)
-- Professional and graduate school training is ruining the American regional theatre model by churning out fleets of mercenary "professionals" who don't care about the cities in which they're living, but only the theatre in which they're working.
-- How are you supposed to "earn a living" doing theatre if you don't live in a theatre hub like New York? So people who live in New York are automatically outsiders to whatever "local" community they "invade" when they want to work professionally, outside of New York?
-- Regional theatre audiences expect the artistic variety that only a steady stream of newcomers and out-of-towners can provide, rather than the same old local stock.
-- It is cheaper to bring in actors and artists from out-of-town than to keep dozens of people on payroll and with benefits for a season. To fill the variety of roles and positions one needs for a successful theatre season, we would have to keep hundreds of people on retainer to make good shows and who has the money for that?
-- Since regional theatres were intended to be an alternative to Broadway, audiences expect their regional theatres to serve as a window to what's going on in larger, more artistically advanced cities, rather than just reflect local fare.
-- Theatres can't lure audiences in without the appeal of "big-city" names or an imported staff of artists.
-- Smaller mom-and-pop operations eventually implode without the administrative professionalization that staffers specializing in those particular areas bring. (Art people can't do money, money people can't do art.)
-- Local designers won't know what to do with a larger regional theatre design budget even if we did want to hire them because they're used to smaller budgets and they won't know how to fill the space.
-- As Americans, we will always have a "grass is greener" attitude when it comes to art and privilege the unfamiliar (from elsewhere) over the familiar (local).
-- Larger theatres will automatically have less personal connection with their audiences because of their sheer size and need to fill the theatre with more people. In other words, a theatre which seats 600 nightly will naturally have less connection to its audiences than a theatre which seats 20 nightly.
-- Professionals don't care about their work in the way that amateurs do because amateurs are doing theatre out of love, whereas the professionals are doing theatre for money.

Bring your coffee on Saturday morning!

When Audiences Become Creditors -- Part 2

Following on this earlier post, I am re-visiting this issue of audiences who have paid for subscriptions or single tickets, only to have the producing entity go out of business.

Today's Boston Globe addresses a complaint from a subscriber to North Shore Music Theatre (R.I.P.) who was solicited for early subscription renewal. This gentleman is probably out of luck in terms of getting his money back (I'd be pissed too, by the way), but some theatres in the Boston region are helping soften the blow a bit for NSMT audiences. These two articles address moves by other arts orgs who are setting up programs to honor NSMT tickets at other theatres -- a smart move. It placates angry theatre consumers, and has the potential to keep these folks from swearing off the theatre entirely as an enterprise upon which to spend entertainment dollars. It also introduces new audiences to companies they might not otherwise patronize. That's good for both the audience member and the producer. Lemonade of out of lemons.

But it brings me back to Robert Reich's argument about how we can't go back to the way things were before. I guess I'm hung up a little on this with regards to the subscription model because if I were an average consumer, the last thing I'd so these days is buy a subscription to a theatre. (And I LOVE the theatre. I want my local companies to succeed.) But I give them several hundred dollars for me and my sweetheart to attend a season of plays, and how do I know they'll stick around as a company that long? Things might look good from the outside, but what if the joint is rotten at the core? It's this niggling worry that season-renewal brochures hope to dispel, with all the glossy pictures and wonderful descriptions. But since I know that no season brochure wants me to think about the possibility of the theatre going dark unexpectedly, I also know that brochure is not a medium I can trust when it comes to disclosing the fiscal/artistic health of an institution. No wonder nobody's buying. It's a crisis of confidence.

I don't think the subscription model is dead by any means, but I think it needs to be re-thought with an eye towards where we all might be headed, not what things looked like 10 years ago.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Arts Journalism?

There's news out of USC that in October, the Annenberg School for Communication will host a National Summit on Arts Journalism:

"Every week we're hearing about new projects aimed at reinventing arts coverage. Journalists, arts organizations and media entrepreneurs are trying to create interesting new models of arts journalism. Experimentation is the order of the day. We want to gather up some of the best of these projects, see what looks promising, and bring them to a wider audience."

We all know that the decline in arts journalism isn't just harmful to the arts journalists -- it's a problem for the arts in general.

The interesting part about the Annenberg School's announcement is that they not only are planning to talk about new paradigms for arts journalism in this age of ever-shrinking traditional print media, they are putting their money where their collective mouths are. In their online call for projects, the Summit asks for applicants to submit innovative and "sustainable new models that have the potential to support arts journalism" (emphasis mine). Finalists will have their way paid to the conference and will deliver a presentation on their idea. The conference will be webcast so the ideas can reach the largest possible audience, and from the ideas presented, winners will be chosen and awarded cash prizes.

(Check out the projects as they're submitted for consideration, here.)

Not only is USC looking to foster and reward innovative new models, they seem to be building a new model of their own. I like the effort to leverage the professional and cultural might of the Annenberg School -- in collaboration with a list of heavy-hitting foundations -- to actually DO SOMETHING, rather than just sit around and talk about it.

Time For A Big Re-Think?

Robert (former Sec'y of Labor) Reich has a post up at Salon which is enough to give any thinking person pause.

There's a lot of talk about Economic Recovery out there. This talk often assumes that "recovery" means a return to some version of what we had before everything went spinning down the drain. Reich offers a contrary opinion:

This economy can't get back on track because the track we were on for years -- featuring flat or declining median wages, mounting consumer debt, and widening insecurity, not to mention increasing carbon in the atmosphere -- simply cannot be sustained. [...] X marks a brand new track -- a new economy. What will it look like? Nobody knows. All we know is the current economy can't "recover" because it can't go back to where it was before the crash. So instead of asking when the recovery will start, we should be asking when and how the new economy will begin.

His point is one worth thinking about re: the arts. If we're all waiting around, treading water until the economy gets back on track and people start buying subscriptions and making donations at the capacity they did before, we are going to be sorely disappointed. I have to say I'm with Reich on this one: there is no going back.

One example: for years we've watched theatre subscription numbers in the regionals shift and drop, and administrators everywhere have worked to think up new and exciting marketing copy and flexible programming packages to give the audiences what they want and get those numbers back to where they were before. We continue to recalculate, recalibrate, and try again, our eyes on what seems to be a largely unattainable goal.

Perhaps something more radical is in order. A re-think. A big bag of new ideas. Maybe a whole new goal?

Even the Socialists Want to Know

Coming at you today from the People's Republic of Cambridge...

I was thinking recently about how I am naturally suspicious of any reporting or journalism that comes from a clearly politically/socially biased point of view -- whether I agree with that p.o.v. or not. Which is all well and good, but then I got to thinking about all the news sources I look to where the bias may still be present, but it's hidden under layers of declarations about unbiased reporting. So, maybe a clearly stated bias is a step in the right direction?

Whatever. The point is, the Socialists are contemplating some of the same questions we are. I still don't know how deeply I trust the World Socialist Website, but they do some interesting arts reporting. Here's what they're saying about the economy and the arts.

- A lay-of-the-land survey of arts in crisis around the U.S. (circa Feb 2009) that also asks readers to think about what it means to be an artist in a capitalist society.

- "The Future of Art in an Age of Crisis," Part I and Part II -- it's part history lesson, part Trotsky mash note, part call for a de-commercialization of art-making. WCWS issues a call-to-arms for artists, if they are to survive the world financial breakdown. What does it mean to be beholden to big business --whether that's the large theatre, or large donors/funders -- while aiming to reflect the truth of the world? (The classic artistic conundrum, no?)

You may feel there's much to take issue with here (politically, socially, economically, what-have-you), but there are also some elemental truths scattered within. Like this:

"It’s not possible to make an artistically convincing work that ignores or fails to address seriously the most burning human questions."

And:

"The artists, in our view, must orient themselves toward investigating our reality, bringing to bear all the creativity and depth of feeling available to the human heart and mind, to represent the present human condition in its complexity and dynamism."

No doubt.

Welcome to our Outside Readership!

Hello World,

Today, we opened up this blog to the public eye.

For the last 2.5 months, we've been aggregating and parsing research in advance of the "Recession or Reset" working session at the conference of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, July 17-19, in D.C. Comments are enabled (you just have to register with blogger.com), and we welcome your thoughts and ideas as you make your way through the materials.

Some of the big questions driving this work include:

- What does the current economic crisis mean for North American arts in general, and the theatre in particular?

- How are companies addressing issues of programming, funding, community support?

- What are the specific challenges to the arts today?

- What methods and new ideas and coming to the fore as artists, administrators, and funders are forced to re-evaluate current practices?

We have created this blog with a dramaturgical eye -- that is, from all the information out there in the world on this topic, we have tried to present the most current and useful of it in such a way so as to actually be Of Use. The posts here are designed to serve as a jumping-off point for larger discussions, in organizations and arts communities large and small, about how to come out of this economic crisis on the other side not just whole, but perhaps with a better sense of who we are, what we do, and why we do it.

We urge you to consider the idea of RESET. By which we mean, on the most basic level, can we learn from this mess?

Closing Some News Tabs

Here's a collection of (semi-)recent news items of interest to our investigations.

THE LARGER ISSUES

In The LA Times, Ben Donenberg reminds us why we should care that US students are underexposed to the arts, and why those with philanthropic impulses should give to the arts.

If there's still any doubt in anyone's mind about the value of arts jobs and their impact on the economy (and culture!), here's a glance back to an older article from the Denver Post. Some of the best bits include:

5.7 million jobs in the arts

100,000 arts organizations

612,000 arts-centric businesses (4.3% of all American businesses)

$29.6 billion in tax revenue

$166.2 billion in total economic impact

FUNDING NEWS

In Seeding-Local-Economies news... The City of Chicago handed out $1 million in arts grants as part of its 30-year-old City Arts program. ...The Troy, Michigan based Kresge Foundation handed out $450,000 to Detroit-area artists ($25k each, directly into artists' pockets!) as part of a $8.8 million commitment to local arts and culture. ...Cleveland imposed a cigarette tax to fund local arts groups, to the tune of $800,000 ($20k grants to up to 40 individual artists in the visual and performing arts).

RISKTAKING

The Minnesota Opera has balanced its budget despite the economy, thanks in part to bold programming and a commitment to a New Works initiative. (Michael Kaiser comes to mind, re: his imperative that arts orgs must continue to take artistic risks, even in times of crisis.)

The NYT reports on The Issue Project Room, which aims to be "a Carnegie Hall for the avant-garde." After years of big ideas and not enough funding, they've got a permanent space which they use to house exciting work by other people. With Manhattan spaces for the avant-garde are fading fast, Brooklyn Borough President (and funder) Marty Markowitz puts it best when he said "I don't understand half the things they do, and when they tell me about them, they lose me. But that's not the point. [The point is that] the arts create jobs."

NEW TACTICS

In an excellent lay-of-the-land style article for Backstage, Michael Kuchwara gives us a snapshot of how various theatres across the country are trying to be nimble in these hard economic times, while simultaneously trying to figure out the new ticket-buying habits of their target audiences. (Staycation, anyone?)

The AP's Jim Fitzgerald addresses similar questions as Kuchwara, but focuses on the issues faced by suburban arts orgs that must compete with offerings in nearby urban centers.

Case Study: New Rep (Boston)

I've been interested in the email notices coming out of New Repertory Theatre in Boston of late. Kate Warner (previously of Dad's Garage in Atlanta) is the newly installed Artistic Director, and the tenor of the communication coming from the theatre is already different. I'll paste excerpts from some of these announcements below, but the thing that interests me most about them is that New Rep is very clearly focusing its story on the theatre's deep ties to the community of artists, audiences, and businesses in the area. In a moment of transition for the leadership of the theatre, the unified message emerging from the organization is one of carefully nuanced balance between the community of artists and audiences that existed before Warner's arrival, and the new artistic programming she brings to the table.

The following announcements particularly piqued my interest because they seem to best embody this position.

In the first example, New Rep sent out an email announcing (selected) casting and directors for shows in the 2009-10 season. To those outside of Boston, the names probably won't mean much, but for Boston audiences and the Boston theatre community, the message comes through loud a clear. The shows that Warner isn't directing herself have been assigned to a collection of established and emerging Boston directors, all with longtime ties to the community (many came through local training programs). The casting announcements highlight longtime community favorites as well as newcomers -- a savvy move that symbolically mirrors Warner's own efforts to blend old and new in the season selection. That is, you may not have heard of these newcomer actors (or, by extension, some of these playwrights), but you can see we care about the established favorites, so you know you can trust us.

In the second example, New Rep attempts to harness the power of word-of-mouth and social networking all at once with an incentive program that rewards subscribers who get their friends to subscribe, or who leverage personal connections in the local business community to sell ad space in the program. While it does have a whiff of the Amway about it, we all know that happy, excited subscribers often buy tickets for friends, or get friends to buy their own tickets. I don't know how many new subscriptions (or ads) this program will pull in, but it seems like it's totally worth a shot for New Rep.

In the last example, New Rep is looking to recruit a corps of citizen-reviewers for its 2009-10 season. This is bold and very smart. As Boston's print-based critical discourse withers and dies (I can't even count the number of critics who have lost their jobs at area papers in the last two years), something needs to fill the void. In asking audiences to serve as reviewers -- and promising to keep the reviews on the blog, unedited, regardless of what the reviewer has to say about the production -- New Rep is rooting the conversation about the art in the community that sees the art. (This makes me think of a recent post from The Artful Manager about the professional/amateur divide on the internet with regards to the arts)

All three of these announcements point to something that seems very of-the-moment: a desire to be incredibly locally relevant, to be plugged into the local cultural and civic ecology. The local-food movement has its mirror in the local-theatre movement. Of course, the New Rep season hasn't yet even begun, so it'll be a waiting game to see how this all pans out for them.

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EXAMPLE #1

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CASTING ANNOUNCEMENTS 2009-10 Season

Mister Roberts: a drama by Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan

directed by Kate Warner

starring newcomer Thomas Piper as Mister Roberts, New Rep favorite Paul D. Farwell as the Captain, and introducing Jonathan Popp as Pulver

Speed-the-Plow: a drama by David Mamet

directed by Robert Walsh

starring Robert Pemberton as Bobby Gould, New Rep favorite Aimee Doherty as Karen (last seen as Sally Bowles in Cabaret), and introducing Gabriel Kuttner as Charlie Fox

Indulgences: a farcical comedy by Chris Craddock

directed by Kate Warner starring Boston favorite Neil A. Casey as Man 2 (last seen as Einstein in Picasso at the Lapin Agile) , New Rep On Tour actor Edward Hoopman as Malcolm (last seen as title role in Hamlet) and introducing Joel Colodner as Man 1

Opus: a New England Premiere by Michael Hollinger

directed by Jim Petosa

Hot Mikado: book and lyrics by David H. Bell / musical concepts and arrangments by Robert Bowman

directed by Kate Warner / musical direction by Todd C. Gordon / choreography by Kelli Edwards

2.5 Minute Ride: a one woman show by Lisa Kron

directed by M. Bevin O'Gara

starring local favorite Adrienne Krstansky

boom: a New England Premiere by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

directed by Bridget Kathleen O'Leary

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol: adapted for the stage and originally directed by Rick Lombardo

directed by Steven Barkhimer

returning for the 5th year: Paul D. Farwell as Scrooge

The Santaland Diaries: by David Sedaris / adapted by Joe Mantello

directed by Christopher Webb

returning after last year's sold out run: Kraig Swartz as Crumpet

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EXAMPLE #2

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Here are two exciting ways that you could earn a FREE subscription!

1) Get TWO friends to subscribe to New Rep for the first time, and we will refund you the cost of one subscription! Ask the Box Office about our "Bring-a-Friend Subscription Rebate" by calling 617-923-8487 or e-mailing tickets@newrep.org.

2) Get a local business to take a quarter page ad in our programs for the 2009-2010 Season, and we'll refund you the cost of one subscription.

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EXAMPLE #3

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New Rep wants YOU, our beloved audience members, to share your thoughts on our productions with the world by writing reviews of our 2009-2010 Season shows. All reviews written by New Rep Reviewers will be posted (unedited) on NewRep's blog, Backstage @ New Rep.

HOW

As a New Rep Reviewer, you must agree to complete 4 easy steps:

1) Attend the Opening Night performances for all 9 New Rep shows

2) Post your review on New Rep's blog within 24 hours of the Opening Night Performance. Instructions will be provided to all New Rep Reviewers.

3) Limit your review to 200-300 words.

4) Write your review based on your response to New Rep's production and not that of other reviewers and/or theatergoers.

TICKETS

New Rep Reviewers (Subscribers): your subscription will be transferred to Opening Night and you will be given two extra tickets to bring friends.

New Rep Reviewers (Non-Subscribers): you will be given two free tickets to attend Opening Night performances.

HOW TO BE CONSIDERED:

1) Submit a 200-300 word review of a play that you have seen at any theater in the Greater Boston Area this past season (2008-2009).

2) Include your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address on the top of your review.

Professional Vs. Pro-Am?

Isaac Butler of Parabasis has an excellent and thought-provoking post up about the divide between the professional and the amateur in the theatre. I think there's a lot to consider here when it comes to questions about how theatres large and small, professional and (as Butler terms it) "pro-am," are dealing with issues of funding, community support, and programming.

This connects back for me to what Jack Reuler talked about here, what Mike Daisey talks about here, and what corwinchristie (Technology & The Arts blog) and John Fogle (North Shore Art Throb) talk about here.

It seems that there are questions to be addressed about how theatres (large and small) farm out the available jobs, whether those are artistic jobs (actors, directors, designers, script readers, etc), or administrative/operational jobs (telemarketing, ushers, carpenters, etc). There are questions, too, about how value is placed on art and artists -- and how sometimes that "value" is determined by those who have little or no stake in the community in which the artist lives and creates.

Perhaps the issue comes down to price versus cost -- that is, dollar amounts versus the actual costs (things beyond dollar amounts) of the decisions that are made -- and how common it is for concerns about price to eclipse those about cost when in the midst of crisis. (And once again, Michael Kaiser's work comes to mind).

I don't know what I think about all this yet, but it's definitely worth contemplation. I'm going to let Allison jump in here and add some thoughts...

From the Lemonade-Out-of-Lemons Department

One theatre company dies so others may find a spark of life?

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Hotel Obligado Theatre folded earlier this season, but did so with a surplus. That money is now going to be awarded over the next few years to small companies in Philly that develop new work and are part of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. It's a great story, and an inspiring way to turn bad news into something better.

Tough Times for Florida Companies

A dim report of the New Vista Theatre Company in Palm Beach, FL, which put out a desperate fundraising call recently, and which faces a smink-or-swi August deadline.

The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center has laid off 20 employees as ticket revenues continue to fall, due largely to ticket-buyers opting for cheaper seats.

Re-Imagining Dead Commercial Space (pt. 2)

Following on an earlier post on this blog about a St. Louis-area mall repurposing empty anchor stores, I direct your attention to this piece from the AP about the growing supply of vacant big box stores across the country. Not too many mentions in there of arts groups using these abandoned boxes (except the Spam Museum, of course), but it seems to me there are real possibilities here!

There's a Lois Lane in All of Us

I heard this the other morning on NPR and was struck by its potential connections to dramaturgs and the current issues facing American theatre. What is the connection, if any, between the "dying" art form of newspaper journalism and our current theatre model (which maybe isn't dying, but seems infirm at best)?

A New Take on "Social Networking"

San Francisco arts organizations are developing new ways to reach out to the next generation of arts supporters, and it seems to be working.

National Summit for Ensemble Theatre Takes on Theatre & the Economy

Check out this initial report from the Flux Theatre Ensemble on the recent Nat'l Summit for Ensemble Theatre. Discussions touched on how network theatres might bolster their economic and artistic positions. The Flux folks outline five main ideas that emerged from the summit, and go into a bit more detail. Check it out.

Excerpt:

1. The difference between quality and value
2. Understanding the rules of form
3. Critiquing from within
4. Sustaining the conversation
5. Clarity of intent

What do David Ives & Michael Eisner Think of the American Theatre? And Do We Care?

CultureBot takes on the Aspen Ideas Festival's planned roundtable session, "Is the Curtain Closing on Live Theatre in America?" With panelists like Anna Deavere Smith, Dana Gioia, Michael Eisner, and David Ives, CultureBot asks: are these the best people to asking this question anyway? Check out this thoughtful piece.

Excerpt:

"whether something is dying or not – the real question is whether it should be allowed to die or not. There is something inherently important in people gathering together, in groups, live, to engage with ideas and issues of consequence. Merely being a member of a throng at a Monster Truck Rally or a Corporate Sporting Event is h ardly sufficient. Live performance is a vital component of civic life and must be maintained. If it is not “theater” that’s not the worst thing in the world. But why start with such a negatively phrased question? And why limit your discussion to the narrowest possible understanding of theater? Even the whole “curtain” metaphor is hoary and creaky and outmoded."

Case Study: Chalk Rep

Another bright spot!

Playwright Ruth McKee sent me the following info when I put out a general call for reports of what's actually working these days, vis a vis creating art in this economy:

................

Here's one for the positive column: I, along with some friends from UCSD, recently started up a new company in the midst of this downturn. It's called Chalk Rep, and the mission to to produce plays in unconventional spaces - not necessarily site-specific work, but plays outside of traditional theatres. We've been able to save tons of money on rent and design, since we're finding spaces that are already inherently interesting, and don't need a big fancy set.

We've produced two shows so far this year, and have two more coming up. We lost a little money on the first show, but the second play broke even, and with any luck the third show will do even better! This is with a small amount of donations and no grant money so far.

You can read more about the company at our site www.chalkrep.com

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It brings to mind the exciting work that Jess Dickey and Morgan Jenness have done with The Amish Project at Rattlestick in terms of thinking outside the standard producing/funding box.

New (Old?) Commissioning Model

News out of the Wall Street Journal about how the economy has ushered in a new -- or rather, a very very old -- manner of support for the arts. In essence, it's patronage; WSJ spins it as small-scale private commissions. In the instance of this article, they're talking about music, but it's not a stretch to think of ways in which the model could be extended into the theatre.

What do you think about this model? What are the benefits or downfalls for the theatre? Many larger theatres solicit support from major donors for a single production, or artist residencies, etc -- so we're halfway there already -- but what about private citizens (outside the formal development structure of a theatre org) paying a playwright for a new work?

In fact, this isn't totally unrealistic. Playwright Greg Romero had a grand idea in 2008 -- a road-trip-meets-new-play-genesis kind of thing. He asked friends to donate money to fund his travel, and in exchange, wrote a short play for that donor. He collected them together, and the result was The Travel Plays. Check out his blog, here.

Here's the official description of The Travel Plays:

Greg Romero wrote "The Travel Plays" according to a set of self-determined rules. Each of the 31 plays is a gift for one of the 31 people who donated money to fund the playwright's travel from Philadelphia to Dallas in the spring of 2008. Romero determined setting and page length for each play by calculating the city where each gift would land him as well as the number of states he'd pass through (one page per state). Each play includes a gift exchange and one item from the previous locale. Moving through time, place and American history, "The Travel Plays" meet Walt Whitman, Martha Washington, Elvis Presley and a giant elephant. They make a wacky textured tapestry of histories out of theatrical gift-exchanges.

Philanthropic Giving in Economic Downturn / Artistic Risktaking

The Chronicle of Philanthropy offers news that, while not surprising, is still disheartening. Basically, the economy is making it pretty difficult for charities right now. Here are the stats.

Initial analysis shows that small organizations have been hit the hardest:

"Seventy percent of organizations with revenue of less than $1-million reported that their financial picture had worsened in the past six months, compared with fewer than half of larger organizations."

Successful orgs are getting donors to specify funds for core programming central to the org's mission. William Foster notes "these steps to bolster core operations are a 'small silver lining' to the brutal economy." and that: “The economic tightness is forcing nonprofits to do things that would be healthy habits in any economic time,” Mr. Foster said. “If we’re going to come out of recession smarter than we came in, it will only be if tough decisions and thoughtful economizing has taken place.”

Interesting. Especially in light of Michael Kaiser's central argument in "The Art of the Turnaround" that in arts orgs, the natural impluse in the midst of financial crises is to economize to the point where the art itself -- productions, commissions, long-term programming etc -- is on the chopping block. Kaiser's point is that this is a mistake -- that the only way to survive as a vital arts org is to continue to take artistic risk, even in the midst of crisis. This is the only way to keep the audiences interested, to help them keep the faith, and so to have them on board as the org attempts its "turnaround."

The Boston Globe touches on news of the Chester Theatre, a small summer company in the Berkshires of Western Mass. They program edgy material -- not the usual summer musical fare -- and the Globe seems pretty intrigued. Why take risks in a down economy? Artistic Director Byam Stevens notes at the end of the piece that:

“Yes, things are tight, and yes, we’re worried. We did downsize our budget across the board. ...We’re trying to keep a really tight ship. To me, the main thing is I believe we have developed an audience over the last 20 years that is interested in what we do. You create a brand, you’ve gotta stick by it."

Paying the Artists / Paying the Admins

A thoughtful post via Technology in the Arts about non-profits and the payscale for artists.

Some of corwinchristie's inportant points:

-Non-profits arts organizations need to be able to employ artists at a rate that is livable.

-Art is not a luxury.

-Do non-profits perpetuate the undervaluing of art by expecting to have artists’ collaboration without paying them What They Are Worth?

But, of course, we can't talk about pay for artists without taking on the issue of administrative pay scales. What are the big dogs making? Is it in line with the overall budget of the company? John Fogle of North Shore Art Throb blog addresses this in regards to the recently shuttered North Shore Music Theatre:

"Perhaps the corporate model - wherein competition reigns supreme and CEOs are compensated at 400 times the average employee* - invaded this theatre world. I’d be curious to see what the composition of the NSMT Board was but I’d wager there weren’t too many folks with direct theatre-arts experience there. Such a disparity in compensation (or value) is toxic to any arts group sets off a particularly nasty racket within a theatre company. Reports of a staff revolt prior to NSMT’s meltdown do not surprise."

Want to do your own investigating into the top salaries at non-profits? The steps are simple:

1. Go to Guidestar.org and register (it's free).

2. Once registered, use the search box on the front page to find the theatre or other non-profit you're interested in.

3. After finding your non-profit, choose the tab marked "Forms 990 and Docs"

4. View the pdf of the non-profit's IRS 990 -- it's on this form that the organization lists the salaries (if over $50k/year) of the 5 highest-paid employees -- other than trustees, officers, or directors -- in Schedule A. The other top people (like the AD, Managing Director, etc) will likely be listed separately, in Part V-A, under the heading "Current Officers, Directors, Trustees, and Key Employees." You can also check on any independent contractors (actors, directors, etc) who earned over $50k in a given fiscal year.

5. Of course, if you're at all savvy about reading tax forms, there's a lot more info to be gleaned from the 990 -- from yearly budget, to earned vs. donated income, to expenses, etc etc.

Michael Kaiser / Arts in Crisis News

Some updates on the progress of Michael Kaiser and the Kennedy Center's Arts in Crisis initiative...

Here's a piece from the AP.

Here's a blog post by Michael Kaiser on HuffPo.

Also, I've just finished Kaiser's book "The Art of the Turnaround" and have found it to be a useful addition to my thinking about the nature of healthy vs. unhealthy arts organizations. Kaiser's book sometimes veers into personal anecdotes of the impressive artists he had the chance to work with at Alvin Ailey, ABT, The Royal Opera, and the Kennedy Center, but is at its best when he brings his intuition and analysis to the travails of these organizations. For those wanting to peruse the book, I recommend the Introduction and his section on 10 Rules for arts orgs.

Visual Art Auctions lag in London

London was once ahead of New York in art sales, but not this year. The buyers are more interested in Renoir's still-lifes and Miró's stick figures, instead of scenes of men in anguish as done by last year's huge success, Francis Bacon. People now seek comfort.

Article Tackles Our Questions

The Journal Sentinel has posted an article that intersects very nicely with the subject of our investigations: Theatres Across North America Take a Nimble Approach to the Economic Downturn. Check it out!

Small independent boutique saved from closing

On the brink of closing, SoKo fashion, which is a small independent boutique in Chicago, was saved by an entrepreneur who consistently shops at the store. So even though times are tough, some people are still willing to take the risk to save something that is local and creative!

This Blog fiercely asks Chicago to fight the Legislators who want to cut arts funding!

The Time Out Chicago Blog tells us just how important the arts are economically, culturally, and locally. Writer Lauren Weinberg offers us an incredible number of employed and involved artists: 132,882 people and Chicago is always attracting more college graduates and theatre goers near and far.

The Blog asks the community and surrounding public to click on the link to contact legislators and fight the threat of cutting out the arts!

Getting kicked out, but moving on Up

New York City council is cleaning up Dumbo in Brooklyn, but with this face lift they are displacing St. Ann's theater. However, artistic director, Susan Feldman sounds hopeful, even excited to re-root into a new space. What is surprising is that the city developers are not leaving her hanging; they are looking for a new space for St. Ann's theatre all over Brooklyn and even in Manhattan. It pays to have a close relationship between the artists and the city council!

Lots of Recent News Items

There's been a spate of recent news on theatre and the economy -- both positive and negative -- so I'll close some tabs and lay out the updates here.

A piece from the Boston Globe about how theatres are responding to the dark times with lighter fare, hoping to appeal to audiences' desire for respite.

Some bad news from LA on the financial strife facing the Center Theatre Group -- not only have they cut shows, but now they're being forced to cut a tenth of the staff.

A positive take on the theatre scene in San Diego these days, with discussion of small-budget theatres and the flexibility they're finding in response to the economic crisis, as well as an assessment of the larger houses' recent successes.

An interesting piece out of Chicago about the need to take bold risks, even in this economic climate.

Sadly, academia isn't immune from the economy's downward spiral. Washington State University is addressing this by completely axing the department of theatre and dance. 105 students are now out of luck -- and though the article snippet doesn't address this, so too is the university as a whole. What happens when a university sends the signal to its community that the arts are expendable?

In semi-connected news, the Department of Education has announced that arts skills in the nation's youth are "mediocre." Arts in education, anyone? Meanwhile, the NEA's most recent survey of Americans hasn't been released fully yet, but the early results seem to say that while many Americans practice "art" in some way or another, they aren't attending professional art exhibitions, plays, concerts, etc.

Interview with Artist and Craftsman Supply owner

Larry Adlerstein owns and manages 15 Artist and Craftsman supply stores across the country but is based in Portland, ME. He has stores in San Francisco's Bay Area, in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, in Louisville and right up the street from Boston University in Massachusetts. 

I asked him about the state of his sales under the strain of the recession. His answers really surprised me:

He said in the last year and a half his sales are up 9% as an annual percentage. Meanwhile his competitors, Art Mart, Dick Blick, and Pearl are down about 12%.

How is he beating his competitors who are major names in the art supply world?

Well, he says it's all about relationships. Whether it's his relationships with his managers in the various stores or the relationships with each customer, all of these matter more than a couple of cents. He says a store is successful when the employees are happy, and that happiness comes from having ownership. Larry Adlerstein says he gives every manager a lot of responsibilities and room to be creative and make decisions for the store; this way each manager has more invested with the company.

He also explained he has a lot of knowledge of popular brands and colors. I asked him how he  keeps on top of the popular products and how he knows what sells...

He says this job is a lot harder for me than for major companies, because he decides to go to trade shows, looks through trade magazines, and decides to buy from 20 smaller art companies than one huge whole sale companies. By ordering through these 20 small companies he has to fill out 20 different order forms, and keep track of 20 different shipments, and pay 20 different bills, but he says it's all worth it. 

Why so much work? He says it makes his store unique and artists like that. Plus the smaller companies offer their products at a better value. And this way he makes relationships with these small companies and keeps them alive instead of always resorting to the mass whole sale company. This formula for running a business also attracts the artist community, because they would rather support the "little guys" too.

His stores have a great atmosphere as well: each has cement floors with paintings on them and low incandescent light bulbs that are easy on the eyes. The employees are always nice. And I mean that too, because Larry is very involved in hiring and firing. Instead of letting someone else, even a manager deal with a problem, he flies out all over the country to confront the situation head on. 

Dedication to the people is how he keeps up his sales and so far he is battling the bad economy and winning.

Julie's Notes on Richard Florida's THE CREATIVE CLASS part 2

Florida breaks down the fundamentals of what makes a city creative with the three T's: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance. A great example of a creative city is San Francisco, especially Silicon Valley. There are other examples such as Portland, OR and Boston, MA and Austin, TX.

Former mayor of Austin, Kirk Watson, speaks about the three T's in action in the creative Texan hot spot: "Austin has benefited from a convergence between technology and our laid-back, progressive, creative, lifestyle and music scene. The key is that we continue to preserve the lifestyle and diversity, which enables us to lure companies and people from places like Silicon Valley." Florida explains further that, "Austin sees itself as a wholly creative place, as opposed to just a high-tech city--one that has worked hard to build the kind of habitat to which creative people of all types are attracted" (p 299). The technology is very present in Austin with huge names like IBM, Intel, and Motorola. The talent is always flocking to the city with these companies recruiting top-notch students from schools like MIT, University of Texas, and Carnegie Mellon. The tolerance of Austin is noticeable because the city is incredibly open to immigration, alternative lifestyles, and many genres of music and entertainment. The city's government seems to really advocate each individual expressing himself and herself as they are.

The strategies to maintain the city's appeal are protecting cultural venues from displacement, maintaining traditional ethnic neighborhoods, and inspiring a tolerant attitude among the community. These seem somewhat vague to me, so for more concrete examples let us look at what Dublin began in the 1960's. Ireland's city thrived until the recent recession because the Irish government supported the formation of technical skills in electronics and computer disciplines along with the restoration its Temple Bar district, and the recruitment of creative people. The recruitment is very interesting because the city invited technology companies, entrepreneurs, actors, writers, musicians to come live in Dublin and the city would offer tax breaks!

Florida tactfully brings up a point about these cities overwhelmed with creativity; often in environments where there are so many strong-willed and creative minds there is little room for others who are meek artists or people who are more family-driven and less interested in the career world. He says that sometimes these places develop an elitist attitude or a reputation for being exclusive. But he quickly scraps this judgement and says: "What is elitist--and inequitable, inefficient and even dangerous--is the persistence of a social order in which some people are considered natural creators, while others exist to serve them, carry out their ideas and tend to their personal needs" (p 323). He says we need class awareness. Everyone is needed and valuable in a society be she a mother, be he a mechanic, be he a hair stylist, be she a CEO of Amazon.com; all are contributors in some way.

Empathy

Sometimes it's wise to back up and remind ourselves of the big picture....  

Yes, the economy is in the crapper.  Yes, arts organizations -- and of interest here, specifically theatres -- are suffering mightily.  People are out of work, communities are losing vital fora for drama.  

So what?  What does it matter?

I offer a recent article from Charles McNulty as a reminder of the Big Picture.  It's about empathy, and how the theatre is one of the ways human beings learn to be empathetic.  It's worth a read.

Lessons From Mass MOCA and Russia?

A feature from the Boston Globe about the art museum Mass MOCA and how it managed to plan and execute a financial turnaround.  Of interest is the role of the organization in the community.

A piece from the NYT about the Russian city of Perm, and the local government's decision to significantly invest in the arts as a method of civic turnaround.

Funding Bright Spots

Variety talks about the Shubert Foundation and the Tony Randall Foundation, and their new grants ($12.5 mil.) for non-profit theatres.

New much-needed funding in Michigan.

Fundraising in a Time of Economic Crisis

An NPR piece about a fundraising gala at the Washington Opera.  How do you wow your donors for $150K less than last year?

A piece on the Duke Foundation and the adjustments being made to accommodate the needs of grant recipient organizations for unrestricted funds.

A piece out of Philly about the current crisis in philanthropy.

What is Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley could be a useful comparative to a theatre model because it is a community that is incredibly successful in the world of business, simply because it is a society of creative people in terms of Richard Florida's Creative Class. Richard Florida is author of two best-sellers, The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City, which are examinations of how creativity is reshaping the global economy. Silicon Valleyis one of Florida's favorite examples for a prime creative city and it is made up of very highly educated and motivated people, much like the theatre communities who are using technology to further enhance their sales by targeting younger audiences.

I talked to the theatre manager at Lyric Stage Co. in Boston and she informed me the internet was their best weapon to combat falling income. By posting seasons and discounts on Facebook, their student ticket sales increased!

Silicon Valley is an area in south San Francisco's Bay Area. It is the leading economic center and Richard Florida constantly refers to Silicon Valley as a model to live by. Its name comes from the silicon chip manufacturers who concentrated their semiconductors and engineering complexes there. The industry in Silicon Valley began with electronics in radio, television, and military electronics. Stanford University is very well-connected to Silicon Valley and many engineers have internships, are paid to do research, and will get a job in some section of the high-tech businesses or Defense Department.

William Hewlett and David Packard were graduates of Stanford and started their Hewlett-Packard industry in Silicon Valley. Other leading software and internet companies are based in Silicon Valley as well such as EBAY and google and Apple.

Here is Silicon Valley's home page.

One of the links on the front page is "tweets" from soldiers in Afghanistan. These posts are sent out to the world before media announces it formally. The U.S. Military also uses YouTube and Facebook.