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!

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!

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

The NYT Addresses the Issue

An arts feature from yesterday's paper: "Tight Times Loosen Creativity."

More from the Arts Beat blog -- lots of comments from readers which looks like it might be a gold mine.