From the Executive Director

Managing the Future

By Gigi Bolt

Wayne Henderson, a folk and traditional artist, is a master guitar maker and player. He was once asked just how he makes a guitar. His response: "Well, you get some great spruce or rosewood and then cut away everything that don't look like a guitar." Those words could stand as a more than passable definition of the work of a playwright or actor or director. And they most assuredly describe the work of a managing director, who must masterfully craft and shape a complex living organization in response to its mission and vision.

Even in the early days of the resident theatre movement, the skill set of a theatre manager required far more than knowing his or her way around balance sheets, contract negotiations, board dynamics and marketing campaigns. Today's American not-for-profit theatre is to no small degree a reflection of the commitment and vision of many gifted leaders who have imagined, built and sustained the field over the past 40 years. However, as the pages of this issue (and virtually every recent study of the field) attest, those who head tomorrow's theatres will need an even more impressive portfolio of expertise, grounded in an intuitive and creative response to an ever-changing environment.

We rely on those in senior positions in theatres to keep aloft a delicately balanced endeavor. They are responsible for an enterprise that is created anew with each production. They must nurture a vital institution capable of taking artistic risks while sustaining a deep engagement with community. Quite a job description for a position that comes with great responsibility, long hours, unpredictable support and often modest compensation!

Will a new generation of managers be there when we need them? Why should they want to? And what can be done to ensure their future for the well-being of the theatre?

Some things we know. The number of qualified senior managers today is inadequate to current needs, and though universities are steadily adding graduate programs in arts management, demand is projected to far outpace the number of anticipated graduates. Few colleges currently offer an undergraduate arts-management major or emphasis. Many of our most creative young managers combine practical experience with academic training. Mentorship is cited by most young managers as crucial to their success. To truly build an audience across all communities, we need diverse leadership—and by all accounts, the country's 21st-century demographics aren't well reflected in the current enrollment of most graduate programs. Though acknowledged as essential by all concerned, communication between many training institutions and the profession is sporadic and untimely.

Yet each of these conditions is within our ability to change. We can better convey the opportunities and value of a career in arts management to students during their high school and college years. Funders and philanthropists could partner with producing and service organizations to offer financial and work incentives that could attract more promising students to graduate programs and lighten the financial burden of student-loan debt. We could create programs that identify gifted young professionals already at work in our theatres and offer the opportunity of advanced study—either time away or distance learning. We can surely find ways for those in university departments and the professional field to know each other better and to communicate more closely. We can encourage more mentorship relationships. Perhaps the very word "management" should be reconsidered. Do we really wish to train managers—or to cultivate leaders?

Of course, training is only part of the equation. Those who choose to work in the not-for-profit theatre are responding to an inner imperative that transcends material considerations. Most of them both love the theatre and wish to positively affect society. No one is philosophically averse to a construct that values people and gives them the opportunity for a secure and balanced life, but priorities necessitate choices. It's an age-old challenge in an industry limited in earned income by the number of seats for its primary activity. That said, the status quo isn't good enough. A new day calls for new thinking, new income streams, both earned and contributed, and new creative ideas that can reduce stress and enhance compensation, benefits and personal satisfaction.

As we increase our ability to convey public value, our potential for enhanced resources increases. An expanded concept of theatre's role in community that brings more people into our spaces further enlarges the possibilities. More funders providing core rather than project support, and multi-year rather than single-year funding, could ease the way while signaling a revitalizing affirmation. We can rethink how we work within our institutions to offer more responsibility and growth opportunities to younger staff members, with the concomitant gifts of flexibility and time for senior staff. And we can commit to remaining open to new ideas and innovations to sustain the commitment of emerging leaders.

The arts managers who have nurtured our field are remarkable professionals—and even better human beings. I'm confident that those who will take their place will be cut of the same cloth. An old Chinese proverb says, "A peasant must stand for a long time on a hillside with his mouth open before a roast duck flies in." It's a message the field knows in its bones. Challenges will emerge, and they will be met. You won't find a theatre manager dawdling on that hillside.