From the Executive Director

Partners for Progress

By Teresa Eyring

In this season preview issue, I wish to dedicate a few words to our national performance community. Like theatres, many in our sister performing-arts disciplines are in the midst of launching new seasons of programming. Not everyone has a season that is tied to the turning of the leaves, and some have no fixed season at all. Still, this time of year tends to inspire moments of reflection about what has changed since the last season began—and what might be accomplished heading into the future. It seems unbelievable that a year has passed since October '08, when we heard daily about developments in an economic crash that sent massive corporations into bankruptcy and goosed Congress to approve a historic bailout package. The year has been catastrophic for some performers and performance organizations: Budgets have been slashed, staffs cut and artists' work opportunities reduced. Still, a surprising number managed to preserve the core of their work, even in the midst of making some very tough decisions. The fact that so many have picked up and moved boldly on into another year of programming is a reflection of the resilience and devotion of the artists and producers of the work, along with that of their communities and their funders.

During the year there have been a number of entities listening, observing, calibrating impact and actively supporting this variegated performance community through what has been a tumultuous and perhaps ultimately clarifying period. TCG is involved in a series of deep collaborations and partnerships with other service organizations and their leadership: Andrea Snyder of Dance/USA, Jesse Rosen of the League of American Orchestras, Marc Scorca of Opera America, Ann Meier-Baker of Chorus America, Sandra Gibson of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, MK Wegman of the National Performance Network, Joanne Hubbard Cossa of the American Music Center, Margaret Lioi of Chamber Music America, Ed Harsh of the American Composers Forum, and Adam Huttler of Fractured Atlas, as well as members of APASO. In the past 18 months, these individuals and the organizations they head have provided an intense level of support to their constituent artists and organizations. They've become command centers for information on how everyone is doing. They've conducted surveys, provided opportunities for connection through teleconferences and convenings, and visited with artistic directors, executive directors, individual artists, funders, staffs and boards to help bring perspective to the times we're in. They've advised on the most effective approaches to preserving artistry, in spite of fewer resources. I salute them, as well as the army of others I have not mentioned here, who are working at national, regional and local levels.

Throughout the tumult and the hullabaloo, there has also been a positive, forward-looking stance across the performing arts field. This may well be tied to the overall inclination of artists and arts organizations to work from a place of optimism. It is this optimism that in many cases drives the creation of work, even if the message in the work itself is severe or difficult. For most artists and organizations, the hope is that change is possible, and that performance can ignite some form of reflection that brings about that change.

And, at the end of the day, the economy is not the only or even the main thing that matters. While navigating the seas of economic and political drama, the national performing arts community has continued to move forward in important ways. Following on the heels of NPAC, the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention, a national cross-disciplinary team of artists and producers has been convening electronically over the past eight months to further investigate and articulate the strategic priorities that came out of that convening in Denver. Those were: Advocacy, Artists, Arts Education, Diversity and Technology. This fall, the conversation will be given a wider platform through the launch of a dedicated website. In June, we expect to link elements of the various organizations' national conferences through electronic means. There is tremendous opportunity to act on our collective agenda for the performing arts. I have the pleasure of chairing this NPAC follow-up process and look forward to developments in the coming year.

Our performing arts field encompasses a diverse range of contexts and environments for artistic expression, from solo performance, to community-based theatre creation, to performance action in public spaces, to classical concerts in massive concert halls. While it often feels as if we silo ourselves along the lines of so many boundaries—aesthetic values, financial resources, modes of production—there is an opportunity for both the theatre and the wider performing arts field to continuing honing in on the values that unite us all in the endeavor of live performance. No one way is necessarily the right way or the wrong way, we must acknowledge—in fact, a wide range of cultural expression can and should exist.

Moving into this new season, I encourage everyone—artists, organizational leaders, staffs, teachers, students and trustees—to learn about what is happening in theatres beyond your own, disciplines beyond your own, states beyond your own and countries beyond your own. And reflect upon the values that unite us in pursuing this work—through thick and thin.