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.

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."

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.