August 29, 2008

Jo Allen Patton

JO ALLEN PATTON
TCG National Conference, June 17, 2005


Jo Allen Patton JODY PATTON:

Thank you!

I am very pleased to have the chance to speak with you today. It’s great to see so many familiar faces here. There are twice as many of you with us now than ever before, and your coming together this week is a vital convergence. That bodes well for theatres across the country.

First, for those of you who don’t know me, theatre arts have been a great passion of mine from a young age.

My family traveled to Ashland to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival each summer for years, where I developed a deep love of Shakespeare’s language and the compelling power of theatre.

Our region has a rich arts community - we have leading theatre and music organizations; a huge population of readers and literary organizations that support them; and record-setting film attendance.

My family is committed to supporting and strengthening these cultural resources for the benefit of all who live and visit the Pacific Northwest. Since 1989, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has been a major funder of the arts and we are very pleased to leave this as our legacy here.

We think it’s important to support the arts for many reasons:

  • We believe the arts are an integral part of a healthy and thriving community;
  • They help us understand ourselves and our place in the world and they enable us to understand cultures and experiences other than our own;
  • They bring us together as a community;
  • And provide individual inspiration, pleasure, and meaning.

Almost any one of these things is reason enough to support the arts. Taken as a whole, it’s easy to see that any loss of the arts constitutes real cultural and social impoverishment. That’s not something a productive society can afford.

I’ve been on every side of the fence – not only as a board member of various arts organizations and an arts funder – but I’m also a former employee of an arts organization.

What I want to discuss with you briefly is something you already know. As trustees, you’re serving at a very critical time in the history of American theatre. I want you to view that as an opportunity, not an obstacle.

There are many challenges facing theatre today – and that’s partly why you’re all here:

  • Subscriptions are down, single ticket sales are up - making budgeting and planning a nightmare;
  • Huge competition in the marketplace for people’s time and money;
  • More resources are dedicated to marketing – sometimes at a cost to artistic development;
  • A decline of corporate and public sponsorships because of soft economy;
  • Rising labor costs means pared-down artistic staff;
  • Inadequate arts reporting in the media;
  • Struggle between creative vision and financial reality;
  • No federal endorsement of the arts;
  • Undercapitalization.

Some of this evolution is positive:

  • Audiences are changing – they are younger, more sophisticated and more ethnically diverse;
  • As a result, there is a need for new programming; an opportunity to increase presentations of work from new perspectives;
  • Finding money to commission risky new works is very difficult, however.

As trustees, all of you make an enormous difference to your theatres - whether you reach into your own pockets or offer your expertise. Your contributions are among the most valuable assets your theatres have.

For theatre to survive in America, you must do even more. Leadership is critical.

Consider it a challenge – a big one. But think of it as your legacy too. What you bring to the table today may mean the difference between a diminished artistic record, or a thriving one; between a theatre’s existence, or its closure.

It’s your job to referee when finances put the brakes on artistic vision. It’s your job to oversee pragmatic fiduciary action. It’s your job to hire the best and brightest.

How can your theatre work smarter? How can you create new revenue streams? How will the arts survive? These are tough questions.

But together with your fellow trustees, you can answer them. Looking back someday, you’ll know that you seized the opportunity to make a substantial difference in the life of a theatre – and for the arts.

That’s a legacy worth fighting for.

[END]

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