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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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."

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

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

Monroe Journal's "Promises and Perils of the Art Industry"

A cool article with mention of Richard Florida.

Baseball Analogy

Ok, you have to get through the baseball stuff (and I love baseball stuff) before you hit the meat of the argument, but it's worth it.   This is good stuff. 

Highlight:

-Industrialization is ALWAYS a wasteful process.

-In theatre our raw materials are people.

-Those people waiting tables in New York, providing casting directors one more alternative look, with enough talent to be ‘starting’ elsewhere? That’s wasted raw material.

-That’s hurting theatre.

Scott Walters' Theatre Ideas

Scott Walters (Assoc. Prof. of Drama at UNC Asheville) has a great blog called Theatre Ideas.  Apart from being worth following in general, he's had some recent posts that might be pertinent re: the SF-area theatre ecology.  Check out two posts in particular, here and here.

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.