April 2008 Field Letter
Written on March 27, 2008
Dear Friends,
Spring is upon us, and there’s much to report! I was in Bogota
for the vernal equinox, and more importantly for Bogota’s
International Theatre Festival, which happens every other year and
is the largest international theatre festival in the world. I was
able to see the work of and meet with a number of Latin American
artists and companies while there, as well as artists and managers
from around the globe. Watch for my American Theatre column
next month for more details on that journey.
Another reminder that March 31 is the early-bird registration deadline
for the TCG National Conference, Theatre
at the Center. You’ve been reading my descriptions
of the exciting breadth of this year’s convening. Interspersed
with TCG’s own conference programming, there is a larger series
of meetings, which will include all performing arts disciplines.
You can read more about it from the link above. Keep in mind that
for the usual conference registration fee of $425 (the early-bird
price), you will not only benefit from the great sessions that TCG
has to offer its members, but also from the professional development
sessions, plenaries, breakouts and workshops scheduled at the National
Performing Arts Convention. Our local conference co-chair, Daniel
Renner (education director at the Denver Center Theatre Company),
is working on creating a “TCG Lounge,” where you can
hang out with friends and fellow theatre people if the meetings
are too much—or the altitude gets to you! With the many issues
we face as a field—elections, the economy, the environment,
technology, international interests—this is an important moment
for us to huddle. Enough said. Go register! And get your hotel room
soon.
We are also introducing two exciting teleconference series this
spring. The first is TCG’s Leadership Teleconferences,
a program of the TCG Trustee Leadership Network, which will feature
presentations by experts in various fields who will give their unique
perspective on a topic affecting our field and then will engage
in a dialogue with a moderator and a pre-selected panel. The first
Leadership
Teleconference, Perspectives on the Economy: A Conversation with
Robert Rubin, will take place on Thursday, April 17 from
2:30pm to 3:45pm (EDT). Robert Rubin, chairman of the executive
committee of Citigroup and the 70th Secretary of the Treasury (1995-1999),
will offer his keen observations on the economic realities that
we all face and give us his perspective on where we are now and
where we could be headed. This one is not to be missed! There is
a three person limit per theatre and this program is open to trustees
and theatre staff. More information and registration forms are available
at the link above.
The second teleconference series is TCG’s Trustee
Teleconferences, another program of the TCG Trustee Leadership
Network. This program offers trustees an opportunity to discuss
the challenges, strategies and solutions they face in governing
a not-for-profit theatre. The three-session teleconference series
is open to trustees on the executive committee and will be hosted
by Karen Bachman, a trustee of the Guthrie Theater, the Minnesota
Opera and the Weisman Art Museum in the Twin Cities. This series
is limited to 20 participants and we are asking managing leaders
to nominate an executive committee member, whom they believe will
benefit from such an opportunity and be available for all three
calls. Participants will be asked to submit topics for which they
think they can most benefit from an in-depth conversation with their
trustee peers across the nation. The teleconferences will take place
on Thursday, May 8, Wednesday, June 18, and Thursday, July 10. All
Teleconferences last one hour and begin at 2pm (EDT). For more information
on either teleconference series, contact Chris Shuff, director of
management programs.
In other membership news, renewal begins this week. So watch your
mail! Our membership committee, under the leadership of Lookingglass
Theatre Company’s Rachel Kraft, is working on developing a
survey to get your feedback on various programs and services of
TCG. There are several new initiatives we are working on, and as
we seek to refine and improve upon our leadership, your feedback
is essential. You are always welcome to email me, call or visit
me with your thoughts. Our member survey, which we hope to circulate
on an annual basis, will assist in gathering regular and consistent
input on our programs and how they are aligning with your needs.
We continue to see action at the NEA, including some important updates
on site visits. As you know, site visits were scheduled to be terminated
for all disciplines. After much conversation, and a few very well
crafted letters from arts practitioners, Chairman Gioia has expressed
a willingness to reinstate site visits for disciplines that deem
them to be essential. The theatre community is united in its belief
in the importance and value of site visits; therefore, we are pursuing
their reinstatement for the theatre field. As I speak with colleagues,
I am also hearing a strong desire to use this moment as an opportunity
to make modifications to the site visit/reporting system to improve
its effectiveness and efficiency. We plan on forming a focus group
to discuss the current system, what’s working and not working,
and what aspects we might propose for a redesign. Let me know if
you are interested in participating.
In other good news from the Endowment, TCG received word this week
that the Career Development Program for Directors and Designers
has been renewed for an 11th round! We are constantly hearing from
directors and designers who have seen their careers energized and
advanced through this program and we are grateful to the NEA for
continuing it. We also received grants to assist with the national
conference and our professional development programs, and to allow
TCG to launch a pilot program that will promote theatre in the U.S.
With it, we will create radio spots—for play on satellite
radio and other outlets—with stories about theatre artists
and theatre news.
Big thanks to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation for approving a 9th round for the New Generations
Program! This amazing program supports three initiatives: Future
Leaders offers mentorships with established leaders in the field
to emerging practitioners; Future Audiences deepens and expands
existing audience development initiatives; and Future Collaborations
provides geographically unrestricted international travel funds
for theatre artists around the globe.
I wanted to call your attention to a research report, Assessing
the Intrinsic Impacts of a Live Performance, completed and published
by Alan Brown recently. His hypothesis is that arts organizations
have difficulty expressing their true impact, and rely primarily
on “demand metrics” such as ticket sales and attendance
in order to demonstrate their value. He advocates that intrinsic
impacts can and should be measured. For the study, he investigated
three levels of impact: the entire arts system on its community;
the “value footprint” of an institution on its community
and the intrinsic impacts of a single performance on an individual.
I encourage you to take a look at the report. Alan Brown will be
at the National Performing Arts Convention as well.
It’s been a big month for visitors and interactions with
the TCG membership. Our Dual Leadership: Partnering from the
Inside
Out seminar in New Orleans was a great success and allowed
Emilya Cachapero, Chris Shuff and me to spend some quality time
with 36 leaders of TCG and Dance/USA organizations. Jon Moscone
of California Shakespeare Theater and Deborah Cullinan of Intersection
for the Arts visited TCG and presented to the staff on their individual
organizations and their unique partnership. Elisbeth Challener,
the new managing director of Zachary Scott Theatre Center, stopped
in to talk about some of the growth plans for her theatre and
how it’s going in her new post; Ricardo Khan and Marshall
Jones, artistic and managing directors respectively of New Jersey’s
Crossroads Theatre Company, visited with me to talk about the
exciting rebirth/reinvention of that important cultural mecca;
and Andrea Graham, board president of Stage Works in Tampa, was
here to learn more about TCG and discuss areas in which she believes
boards can most benefit from increased access to knowledge, information
and field-wide best practices. Thank you all!
I don’t know how many of you have taken to Facebook, but since
it is no longer dominated by college students—I have noticed
more and more theatre people joining. It’s a great way to
stay in communication with each other. And TCG has a special group
for the National Conference, so if you are planning to attend the
conference, go get yourself a Facebook profile and join our group!
Until next month, all the best,
Teresa Eyring
Executive Director