Penumbra Theatre Company of St. Paul, Minnesota recently mounted its production of I Wish You Love, a musical about Nat King Cole, at the Kennedy Center.
This would not merit much notice; dozens of arts organizations are presented at the Kennedy Center every year.
What is remarkable is the way Penumbra used this presentation.
Lou Bellamy (founder and artistic director) and Chris Widdess (managing director) of Penumbra took full advantage of this opportunity to perform on tour in Washington, D.C.
They created a major opening night event; a dinner for politicians, artists and donors gave the company a chance to demonstrate its professionalism, importance and stature to more than 400 people who can change the future of this 35 year-old African-American theater company. They had a major celebrity as a keynote speaker at this dinner, Phylicia Rashad, who spoke movingly about the need for diverse arts organizations and the role Penumbra plays in the national arts ecology. They worked hard to sell out this run, giving thousands of people a chance to see the quality of their work.
No arts organization in my ten plus years at the Kennedy Center has taken better advantage of an engagement with us. Too many organizations work hard to tour their work but have little to show for it after the tour is over. Too few of their board or donor base are even aware of the tour, let alone have an opportunity to participate. I have found that bringing donors to tour cities is one of the best ways to make them feel a more important part of the organization, to allow them to enjoy the camaraderie of their peers and to expose them to the way other communities view their work. This is institutional marketing at its best.
While I am due absolutely no credit for their great work, I am still very proud. Lou and Chris have participated for the past nine years in the Kennedy Center's Capacity Building Program for Culturally-specific Arts Organizations. This program mentors leaders of over 30 of the most vibrant arts organizations of color in this nation.
In this program, we talk a great deal about ways to build institutional visibility, about planning art well in advance, about taking advantage of opportunities fully. We focus on these activities because we are mindful that arts organizations of color typically raise small amounts from individual donors and rely too heavily on foundation and government grants. This limits the funding pool, and therefore the budgets, of these vital organizations.
With no help from us, the leadership of Penumbra demonstrated an ability to build their institutional 'family' by giving them a tour they will never forget.
The challenge now, for Penumbra and all arts organizations, is to do the next special project followed by the next one and the one after that.
No one project, no matter how special, is enough to build lasting visibility or excitement.
But I am confident in the Penumbra team and I can't wait to see what they do next.