This is the most difficult time to be an arts manager in my 26 years in the profession.
The development of new technology has given our audience members new forms of entertainment and new ways to spend their discretionary time and money. This has made it far more difficult to sell tickets at prices that cover most, if not all, of the cost of production. People now entertain themselves with iPads, iPods, iPhones and numerous other electronic devices. They are entertained for so little money that high-priced performance tickets lose their appeal.
This is happening, of course, at a time of financial instability. This has made our audiences more price-sensitive and our donors less likely to make major contributions.
Of course, with more competition for entertainment dollars, we have to produce even more exciting and important art -- and this often costs more money.
But with earned and unearned income difficult to come by, risk-taking seems death defying rather than simply scary.
And our boards are pressuring for less risk and less expenditure of funds in this cash-constrained climate.
But risk-taking is necessary to attract new audiences who are not habitual arts consumers. Yet the reduction in coverage of the arts in the media makes communicating with these new audience members far more difficult.
And our audiences of the future -- young people, many of whom have had virtually no arts education -- have little or no exposure to the arts at all. As budgets get cut at every level of government, it seems education is the first area to be cut, especially arts education. (Even as politicians say that we must eradicate deficits to protect our children and grandchildren!)
But if we do not invest in our children's arts education, who will be our audience members, board members, donors and volunteers of the future? Are we working in a dying field?
It all seems like one large Catch-22 that is overwhelming and terrifying.
In the hundreds of conversation I have had with arts managers over the past year, the sense of fear is palpable. We all believe that the arts should play an increasingly important role in our world, that is not in question, but we simply do not know how to achieve greatness and stability in this changing environment.
Arts managers are working in new territory. We are pressured on many sides. It isn't easy. And it often isn't fun.
But then...
The curtain goes up on a simply beautiful production; audience members can't wait even to leave the theater to tweet about their remarkable experience; a busload of children exits the theater bubbling with excitement; you leave a meeting with astonishing, creative minds who challenge and excite you; members of the public stop you in the street to tell you how much they appreciated a recent festival.
Suddenly, the fears simply feel like challenges to overcome and going back to work each morning seems like a privilege rather than a sentence.
In the orchestra business, we are still so focused on driving "in-store sales" that we cannot allow ourselves to innovate and move our business to where the consumers and audiences are. They are downloading classical albums, checking out great performances on You Tube, yet we fear our art is lost. It's time to refocus our energy on using 21st century channels to deliver our content. New audiences will come to the hall or theater, but not without connecting to audiences online or on their phones first.
Call me whatever, but this sounds like commercial music vs. [the modern-day presentation of] classical music. Berlioz was the Lady Gaga of his time with huge, extravagant productions and outrageous publicity. Bach was no different than Eminem on or off the stage (actually, I think B fathered many more children with different women than E has). Yet our obsession with boxing things into neat 'categories' seems to reflect those who survive vs. those who don't. It's embarrassing to read articles like this that focus on one aspect of one field in one 'industry' yet hide under a generic umbrella.
If we're going to talk about "the arts" then let's do that. I'd be more open to discussing this topic if it started with: "This is the most difficult time to be a [theater/ orchestra/ ballet/ youth arts center] manager in my 26 years in the profession." with the subsequent text being less generic about 'the arts' and focusing more on the sub-artform the author is actually concerned about.
I find it amazing how arts administrators constantly leave out practicing artists as needing saving also.
That the administration of arts organizations feel the organization of art is more important than the creation of arts.
creating art IS a job