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.

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.

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.

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:

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Case Study: The Amish Project

Here's a new fundraising model for you. Jess Dickey -- actor,

writer, creator/performer of the solo show "The Amish Project" -- has gone on an old school barn raising fund drive to get her show into production at the Rattlestick. Over the last year Jess, her director Sarah Cameron Sunde, and agent Morgan Jenness found supportive and interested producers, but the money just wasn't there. So the two of them created a website, and forum for accepting donations, and send out email and facebook status blasts asking for money. Over the past 6 months, the money began to materialize, both in small donations and large gifts. I recall one facebook status update from Morgan that stated if every one of her facebook friends gave $20, the budget for the show would be totally covered. I love this model. The diffuse, small $ donations mean you get many many more people literally and figuratively invested in your project. Give $15-20 to a friend to help with their show, and you're then more likely to make an effort to see the show when it's up and running. I also like the relationship and joint effort that Morgan and Jess utilized to make this happen. Of course, Morgan is known for this kind of personal investment, but I think this model might be where it's at in a more general way. The obstacle to this, of course, is that most agents have such full plates that they can't always dedicate this much time and energy to one client. Even so, I think there's something to be learned here.

Theater Task Force of Community Board Five in Manhattan

David Diamond (Board Member, The Barrow Group Theater Company, and Chair of Theater Task Force, Community Board Five, Manhattan) sent along some very interesting info to me today.  

David says: "We, along with 4 other Boards in our area hosted a symposium on endangered theaters and the economic crisis back in March. Shay Gines of New York Innovative Theater did a study of closed and potentially closing theaters in New York.  Also, David Pincus (manager of the Workshop Theater and head of CB4's Task Force) is current on the subject. We have a loose consortium of our task forces and other community based organizations who are working together to address the problems of specifically, the smaller companies that are affected, which are located in our communities. We are attacking the problem on a legislative front (encouraging tax breaks for landlords that house nonprofit theater companies), a real estate front (negotiating better terms for theaters), accessing economic stimulus monies, foundation and government funding and other initiatives.  Below are some recent resolutions passed by CB5 which are being widely distributed. Paul Nagle of Council Member Gerson's office is very active on this issue. He's a good resource."

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Other bloggers have dissected/responded to this work here, here, here, and here.

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CB5 RESOLUTION

WHEREAS: Arts and Entertainment is one of the largest industries in New York City with the economic impact of non-profit estimated to be $5.8 Billion and 40,460 jobs (NY Alliance for the Arts, 2005);

WHEREAS: Small to mid sized theaters and other arts organizations are an integral part of the Arts & Entertainment industry: A) as an entry point for actors, playwrights, and other artists, B) for the expression and exploration of the diverse culture of New York City communities, C) sites of creativity, experimentation and innovation, D) jobs;

WHEREAS: Small to mid sized theaters and other arts venues are a closely tied to their local neighborhood small businesses, for instance one theater in CB3 had 70 restaurants contribute food to a recent festival;

WHEREAS: Small to mid sized theaters and other arts venues are economic drivers of local neighborhoods, and are a crucial to the cultural and economic resilience and diversity of our neighborhoods;

WHEREAS: A cyclical economic downturn is the TIME TO INVEST in our neighborhood economic drivers and NOT TO DISINVEST in local economic drivers;

WHEREAS: The proposed disinvestment by the City and the State in community based arts may have an adverse multiplier effect on the small businesses and neighborhoods that they are based;

WHEREAS: Foundation funding and government funding are down by 20-40 percent, yet small to mid sized theaters and other non profit arts venues have fixed real estate costs;

WHEREAS: Government funders recommendations to small to mid sized theaters and other arts organizations to cut back on programming in this time of crisis will not work, as programming constituted the revenue for fixed costs and employment;

WHEREAS: Community Board Five's smaller theaters have been an historic incubator for talent and product that eventually play the neighboring Broadway theaters;

WHEREAS: Our area (CB5, CB4, CB2) has recently lost 25-30 percent of their small to mid sized theaters in the last five years predominantly due to real estate competition (New York Theatre Innovative Theatre Awards study, Dec 08);

WHEREAS: Community Board Five remains the most active, viable center for theater and performing arts;

WHEREAS: There exists innovative policies (land use, tax, public buildings) to sustain and retain theater and other performance venues that other cities and states have successfully used;

WHEREAS: The New York State Assembly member O’Donnell, and NYC Council member Alan Gerson’s office are proposing bills to create a property tax abatement for commercial landlords that rent to non-profit cultural groups;

WHEREAS: The recent joint Community Board Forum on small to mid sized theaters was well attended with extensive expert and public testimony on the loss of theater and arts venues, the importance of theater and arts venues for local communities, and the severe financial crisis hitting small to mid sized theater.

THEREFORE IT BE RESOLVED: Community Board Five calls on its elected officials to acknowledge small to mid sized theaters and other arts organizations to be crucial to the cultural and economic resilience and diversity of our neighborhoods, to recognize the arts as economic drivers and integral to local small neighborhood businesses;

THEREFORE IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED: Community Board Five calls on its elected officials to develop and adopt land use, tax and other governmental incentives and policies to retain and secure theater and other arts and cultural venue spaces and to retain arts and cultural organizations in our district and the City of New York.

THEREFORE IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED: Community Board Five calls on its elected officials, and the Governor, to act in order to restore the 100 percent funding cut from remaining funds of the New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA) for Fiscal Year 2009, to restore NYSCA funding to sustainable levels in Fiscal Year 2010, and not to discriminate against small to mid-sized theaters and arts organizations.

THEREFORE IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED: Community Board Five calls on its elected representatives of Congress to include small to mid-sized theaters and other arts organizations in job retention and economic stimulus funding, and not to discriminate against the arts and non-profits in urban stabilization, job retention, and other funding and policies assisting other small businesses.

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ARTS IN ED LETTER:

Dear Mayor Bloomberg and Members of the New York City Council,

As we know from the NYC Department of Education’s own assessments, the City’s public schools are not meeting state requirements for arts education. Hundreds of thousands of New York City public school students do not have access to arts education – visual arts, music, dance, theater - in their classrooms, despite state law requiring a specific number of hours in arts be taught throughout a K-12 education. In fact, according to the NYC DOE, nearly 30% of schools have no certified arts teacher on staff, less than half of middle school students are provided with the minimum state arts requirements, and only 8% of elementary schools are even in the position to meet minimum state requirements in the arts. The elimination of Project ARTS – an initiative that secured a minimum level of arts education through dedicated funding making possible essentials like art supplies, hiring art teachers and valuable partnerships with cultural organizations– has made a bad situation a dire one.

National studies show that the arts not only motivate kids to learn more; they also keep youth in school and graduating on time. Unfortunately, data provided by the NYC Department of Education shows that schools with the most low-income students offer the least arts education. As new, stricter graduation requirements are being implemented, it is imperative that all students receive at least the arts education they are guaranteed by law bolstering their chances of graduation. Without the guarantee of dedicated funding for arts education, the opportunity gap will only continue to widen.

Regardless of changes in elected leadership, school governance or the
economy, we must have a structure in place to guarantee that all children can meet minimum standards for arts in the schools.

To that end, we are urging you and the City Council to create a dedicated funding line for arts education – an essential step in ensuring every child receive a quality education that includes the arts.

Sincerely,

Richard Kessler, The Center for Arts Education
Michael Mulgrew, United Federation of Teachers
Billy Easton, The Alliance for Quality Education
Don Fann, Learning Disabilities Association of New York City
Kim Sweet, Advocates for Children
Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 AFM
Chung-Wha Hong, New York Immigration Coalition
Cynthia Nixon, Actress, Public School Advocate
Jennifer March-Joly, Citizens’ Committee for Children
Jonathan Hollander, Battery Dance Company
Sondra Forsyth, Ballet Ambassadors
Kathleen A. Christie, Brooklyn Arts Council Arts in Education
Kyra Sedgwick, Actor
Claire Yeoman, Children’s Museum of the Arts
Barbara Fisher and Richard Spiegel, Ten Penny Players
Idina Menzel, Actor
Marisa Suescun, Coro New York Leadership Center
Dorothy Savitch, Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music
Theodore Wiprud, New York Philharmonic
Julianna Margulies, Actor
Janine Nina Trevens, TADA! Youth Theater
Elizabeth Halverstam, Arts Horizons
Hjördis Linn-Blanford, American Tap Dance Foundation
Caryne Hayes, Careers Through Culinary Arts Program
Hazel A. Younger, Community Board 16, Brooklyn
Phyllis Cohn, Music for Many, Inc.
Kyra Popiel, The Town Hall
Karina Collado, Riverdale Neighborhood House
Diane Wilson, Community Board 9, Manhattan
Theresa Scavo, Community Board 15, Brooklyn
Peter Nicholas Trump, The Town Hall Foundation
Laura McManus, Museum of Biblical Art
Susan Goldbetter, Circuit Productions, Inc.
Tara Sansone, Socrates Sculpture Park
Joanne Bernstein-Cohen, The Little Orchestra Society
Young Playwrights, Inc.
Susan Fenley, Sundog Theatre
Nellie Perera, Henry Street Settlement
Joanne Zipay, Judith Shakespeare Company NYC
Andrea Crawford, Community Board 9, Queens
Annette Esposito, Community Board 2, Staten Island
David Siesko, Community Board 5, Manhattan

A New Model for Community Arts Support

From Scottsdale, Arizona, a new take on how to collect and distribute arts funding.

Kaiser on the Bailout for Arts

An interesting article by Michael Kaiser from the Washington Post.  And one about him from the WSJ.  An interview from MIT/Sloan.

Michael Kaiser / Kennedy Center's Arts in Crisis Initiative

Arts & Business guru Michael Kaiser seems to be worth looking into.  My pal in the non-profit world Katherine Urbati turned me on to his book "The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations," as well as an mp3 of a recent talk he gave at Harvard.  Also interesting, he's the president of the Kennedy Center these days, and was the leader on the Center's new Arts in Crisis program.  Given that our session will be at the Kennedy Center, maybe we can make a connection.

I think it's worth investigating his work further.

$$ -- 2009?

Here are some predictions from TCG on what 2009 will mean, fiscally, for the American theatre.

Big Post of Mike Daisey Stuffs

Can't talk about the state of American theatre and its fiscal status without engaging the work of Mike Daisey -- monologuist & provocateur.

Ok, so first of all, there's his piece How Theatre Failed America.  Here's Daisey's article from Seattle's alt-weekly, The Stranger.  Here's a YouTube excerpt of the monologue.

Here's an interview with Daisey from the Denver Post.

There's Teresa Eyring's rebuttal in American Theatre magazine, called "How Theatre Saved America, part I."  

Here's Daisey's rebuttal to Eyring.

Here's Eyring's follow-up, "How Theatre Saved American, part II."  

The Guardian UK takes on the kerfuffle.  (This post links to many others which are worth investigating.)

GOLD STAR ALERT:  The items of value in this blog post (about the Wilma production) are in the comments section -- LOTS of people want to talk about the issues Daisey raises, and many post links to other fiscal/cultural studies that may be of use for us.

After Eyring, Daisey took on Todd Olsen, Artistic Director of the American Stage Theatre in St. Petersburg, FL, who emailed Daisey a challenge.  Here's round two.  And a follow-up.

I'll paste below an editorial from Back Stage West on Daisey (you'd otherwise need password-restricted database access to read it online).

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The Sweet and Sour Smell of Regional Theatre Success

Back Stage West 15.14 (April 3, 2008)

Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 

A little over three months ago, President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, authorizing a $20.1 million funding increase for the National Endowment for the Arts, bringing its budget to $144.7 million--its highest level since 1995. Not that a lame-duck chief executive would pander to artists to bolster his political fortunes, but the increase did earn Bush some upbeat press. Since studies have shown that every dollar of federal, state, and local arts appropriations has a measurable economic impact on communities, the nonprofit world--including regional theatres--rightly rejoiced.

But a funny thing happened on the way to fiscal nirvana. In the mainstream press and in the blogosphere, the mood has turned sour. Monologist Mike Daisey, for example, recently published an essay in The Stranger, the Seattle alt-weekly, called "The Empty Spaces: Or, How Theater Failed America." He argues that nonprofit theatres have become too corporate, too top-heavy with administrators and nonartistic personnel. Worse, he says, their mission has morphed into a risk-averse hash of the original intention of the regional theatre movement: "to house repertory companies of artists, giving them job security, an honorable wage, and health insurance." Blame the "increasingly complex corporate infrastructure" of these organizations, Daisey declares; blame the expanding marketing and fundraising teams that raise "millions of dollars from audiences that are growing smaller, older, and wealthier." Frankly, these assessments seem reductive: There's no founding document stipulating that all nonprofit theatres must be repertory companies, nor is there conclusive proof that young companies aren't being formed every day, drawing in young audiences and young (or younger) donors. What's salient about Daisey's essay, however, is the growing sense that artists are increasingly becoming an afterthought in a business model that too often prioritizes the corporate over the creative.

Here's an example of what we mean. Referring to Daisey's essay, a recent New York Times feature noted that while theatres such as the Guthrie in Minneapolis; Arena Stage and the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.; the Signature Theatre in Virginia; and Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California have raised tens of millions of dollars to build new homes, politicians don't see these projects as artist-centered but as forms of urban renewal popular with their constituents. For high-level donors, the projects are seen more as a way to affix their names to buildings than to provide havens for artists. Is there something wrong when millions of dollars are raised and spent on building projects while artists remain largely underpaid and underemployed?

Yes, this is an old squall: No artist or staffer ever feels adequately compensated for his or her work. Speaking of which, on the listserv of Dramaturgy.net, the literary manager of a major regional theatre and an Off-Off-Broadway director have been mixing it up on the topic of internships at regional theatres. While no one expects the rare internship stipend to pay the rent, the debate is about ethics: Is it right for regional theatres to rely on cheap labor when top administrators (i.e., artistic and managing directors) often earn six-figure salaries? Indeed, was the nonprofit business model meant to make people rich?

Daisey's solution is a wholesale reevaluation of the regional theatre system. Others--noting the recent bankruptcy filing of Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre--believe some retrenchment is in order and that we should lobby for more public and private arts funding. Truthfully, all these ideas have merit. We ask industry leadership organizations, such as Theatre Communications Group, to consider Daisey's criticism seriously; perhaps they could convene a special conference to address whether administrators receive outsized shares of the funding pie, thus dewing theatre artists appropriate compensation. Daisey also notes that regional theatres too often import actors from New York. That too should be a prominent part of the agenda.

Yet we also call on everyone to sell the public on giving generously to your local regional theatre. The American theatre community is depending on it.

For Editorial submissions: c/o Back Stage West 5055 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036 email: bswedditorial@backstage.com

Source Citation:"The sweet and sour smell of regional theatre success.(Our View)." Back Stage West 15.14 (April 3, 2008): 7(1). General OneFile. Gale. Boston Public Library. 22 May 2009