I always enjoy visiting a new city and exploring its arts scene. Last month I was invited to teach in Zagreb, Croatia, home to one our DeVos Institute Summer Fellows, Zvonimir Dobrovic.
Zvonimir is a natural arts entrepreneur. At the young age of 32 he has already started two successful festivals which are supported by a mix of government and private contributions. I was there during Perforacije (Perforations) his new festival of Avant Garde theater, music and performance art. (His other festival, Queer Zagreb, is a gay arts festival he started at the age of 23 that will celebrate its 10th anniversary next Spring.)
Zvonimir's ability to attract government, corporate and individual support for his festivals is all the more remarkable given the prevailing arts funding environment in Croatia.
Like in most other countries in Europe, the huge majority of arts funding in Croatia comes from the government. To be sure, there is a vibrant group of small, adventuresome arts organizations that survive without government funding.
But the majority of arts organizations depend almost entirely on government grants.
It was fascinating to teach 200 arts leaders from Croatia and five surrounding Balkan countries all with similar arts funding systems. The dependence of these arts managers on government funding influenced the way they approached their work. They could only budget for the amount the government gives them. They felt little or no power to find and spend additional resources. When I discussed long-term artistic planning, many of them felt like they had gone down the rabbit hole. How could they think of creating big exciting arts projects five years from now when they were not certain of what their government grants would be? It took them one full day of class to begin to appreciate that they were the masters of their own destinies, that there were opportunities to find additional resources and that this would allow them to build their programming, reputations, and ability to generate even more additional revenue.
Croatia is the rule in this world, not the exception. This is why people like Zvonimir, people who do not feel bounded by the grants they receive from their own governments, are so important. They serve as role models for their communities.
If a 23-year-old young man can develop the resources to support a gay festival, then more experienced arts managers should be able to find the resources for opera, ballet and theater.
Many people I met in Croatia are skeptical that private philanthropy can thrive there. I had the honor to meet with the hugely popular President of Croatia, Ivo Josipovic, a musician, composer and arts manager. He was clear on the need to build new sources of arts funding; his country, and most others, simply cannot maintain the levels of funding needed to support all domestic arts organizations. But he also understood that it would be a challenge to build a large base of private support. We discussed the various actions the government could take to encourage corporate and individual giving to the arts. His advisers were far more skeptical than he was about the ability to create a culture of philanthropy in Croatia.
I disagreed of course, and presented Zvonimir Dobrovic as Exhibit A.
I support that thought. What I would love to see in Croatia or as a matter of fact in any other country as well, is that structural thinking supports creativity. Because they are natural allies already. Consistency is lacking. 5-10 years programs do not exist in Croatia. If we see that someone is talented, let's support them without too much of paper filling bureaucracy.
Nenad N. Bach, New York
http://www.croatia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2249
(posted with the Michael Kaiser's permission)
I was planning on trying to make my way to Washington D.C. to learn a thing or two about a thing or two from Mr. Kaiser, but now maybe I need to stop in Croatia on my way. It will depend, I guess on whatever travel deal makes the most sense, when I finally find the time.
My recollections of Croatia are that the people were outrageously warm and friendly, and the food was much better than it looked. It reminded me of my own cooking :)
I'm guessing that the more stones get uncovered, the more visionaries like Zvonimir Dobrovic and Michael Kaiser we're going to find. The key is to keep looking, even in the least likely of nooks and crannies.
The future of the arts seems brighter and brighter, to me, every day.
Making a living in the arts can be a struggle, but it sure beats what I call 'a real job.' My job is real, but the intrinsic rewards that I get are priceless. I think that's true in many professions, if you dig deep enough.
We're all the luckiest people in the world, if you take enough steps backward, and look at the beauty in this world.
I am an American who has lived in Oslo, Norway for the past 2.5 years, teaching entrepreneurship within higher education, as well as creating an independent theater company there. The obstacles in Norway are nearly identical to those you describe in Croatia; but unlike Zagreb, there are fewer examples of independence, individuality, entrepreneurism. This is seen as "anti-socialism", and contrary to a key feature of Nordic tempermanet: Jante´s Law (which sees individuality as suspicious, and therefore negative).
For all of its wealth, there is not a tradition of philanthropy towards art organizations in Scandinavia. The state provides so many resources to its citizens, it is a tough sell to state that one should support something that is in the private sector. Plus, because the cost of living is so high there, the disparity between government-sponsored projects and independent ones is huge. Psychologically, audiences will think your work is "amateur", if you are not performing at a state theater. Because only professionals perform at the state theater, right?
I am still doing my work anyway, and seeing how I can contribute other projects, workshops, collaborations, and more. There is definitely an audience for this kind of work, this kind of thinking. But the hurtles are not just financial--it´s also political, social, psychological. Entrepreneurship can be a threatening thing to the "established" theaters.
Brendan McCall
Ensemble Free Theater Norway
www.ensemblefreetheaternorway.com