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

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...

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."

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.

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.