December 2006 Field Letter
Written on November 27, 2006
I find myself with many reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving holiday, for family and friends, and also for all of you—the family of theatre colleagues and friends that is such a sustaining influence in my life and I am sure in yours as well. Among the other blessings of these holidays, I've found a little time to breathe and even to reflect. From the mid-term elections to the Fall Forum to TCG's fall board meeting, November has been something of a whirlwind—provocative, inspiring and energizing with change in the air on every front.
First, a word about the elections and their likely impact on the arts: One of the arts fields' greatest accomplishments in recent years has been the forging of bipartisan support. We've cultivated steadfast supporters from both sides of the aisle. Of course, the positions and views of the leadership are always critical, and happily, the presumptive post-election party and committee leadership appears to be strongly pro-arts. These include Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with a solid pro-arts voting record, Norm Dicks (D-WA) in line to chair the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Congressional Arts Caucus co-chair Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) and his counterpart Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY). Several friends of the arts who did not survive the election but merit our heartfelt thanks and appreciation are Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), who championed the American Arts Alliance's successful attempt to remove a restriction precluding FEMA support for the performing arts, Representative Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and visa supporter Representative Melissa Hart (R-PA). It's never too early to introduce yourself to newly elected members. Watch for a fuller accounting and analysis of election results in an upcoming American Arts Alliance Advocacy Report.
As many of you know, the American Arts Alliance (AAA), sponsor of the successful FEMA amendment, is your advocacy membership organization for the performing arts. Its board is composed of the heads of performing arts service organizations. At AAA's most recent meeting in New York on November 17, we discussed the occasional confusion in the field about the membership and goals of the American Arts Alliance and that of Americans for the Arts. The following may be helpful for purposes of clarification.
Though in the past its membership spanned the arts disciplines, the American Arts Alliance today focuses its efforts on issues of specific interest to the performing arts. Its most recent objectives have been advocacy for the NEA's budget, advocacy in support of the Arts in Education programs at the U.S. Department of Education and both FEMA and Visa reform. TCG member theatres have benefited from membership in the American Arts Alliance since its inception thirty years ago. The constituency of Americans for the Arts expands to a broader cross-section of individuals and organizations across the arts disciplines. Americans for the Arts' programs center on general arts advocacy, awareness and access. TCG is currently in the second of a three-year commitment to purchase membership in Americans for the Arts for each of our member theatres. The two organizations work together to effect change on issues extending from, in our case, the performing arts, across the arts fields, and finally to the public.
The American Arts Alliance is in the process of expanding the number of its member field service organizations in order to work with and speak on behalf of more people and organizations. Any performing arts service organization interested in joining may contact AAA manager Rachel Lyons. The Alliance, though modestly sized in terms of staff and resources, is our most direct and effective means of making our voice heard on the Hill and nationally. Future areas of AAA emphasis will be a continuation of efforts to effect visa reform, increase appropriations for the NEA and arts education, and new work relating to the field's burgeoning international programs and exchange.
One suggestion related to the new FEMA regulations: the legislation mandates coverage of performing arts institutions for eligibility for disaster relief under FEMA, and the language is relatively clear for those who own their space. However, theatres leasing a space may also be eligible if they are responsible for maintaining and repairing the facility. Should you fall into that category, it's essential that your responsibility for the space be put into writing in any relevant agreement or contract!
The Fall Forum, TCG's annual gathering of trustees and managing and artistic leaders was held November 10–12 in New York City. They were illuminating and inspiring days. The 150 conferees, over half of them trustees from around the country, met for dinner on Friday night at the Bryant Park Grill and heard a keynote from Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He spoke of the dual imperatives of artistic work and fiscal health, so often perceived as oppositional. His message acknowledged that hard decisions are often required but that necessary cutbacks should fall elsewhere than in the work on stage or marketing—the two areas that can draw people to the institution. His emphatic belief in the art, both that offered in the moment and what may be possible in the future, was both provocative and affirming. We convened the following morning downtown at the Public Theater, our host for the two days of panels and workshops. The January issue of American Theatre will print a portion of the riveting, thoughtful comments by the Public's artistic director, Oskar Eustis. He spoke of democracy and the theatre—from their mutual origins in the same city in the same decade to theatre in society today. He recalled Thespis, the first to employ dialogue and thereby present two points of view. The essence of theatre remains the expansion of our notion of who we are by imagining the world from the vantage point of another.
The Forum's discussions were built around a Saturday evening production at New York Theatre Workshop—an early preview of Martha Clarke's KAOS created from four Pirandello short stories and presented in Italian with English surtitles and a joint American/Italian cast. Directed and choreographed by Martha Clarke, in close association with adaptor Frank Pugliese and NYTW artistic director Jim Nicola, the production was an evocative, imagistic portrait of a poor community in mystical turn-of-the-century Sicily. Panel sessions over the two days used KAOS as a touchstone for discussions on adaptation, both lingual and cultural (with panelists José Cruz González, Ellen McLaughlin, Ed Waterstreet and moderator Elissa Adams), and the possibilities of international work within our theatres (with panelists Ping Chong, John Eisner, Joy Zinoman and moderator Melanie Joseph). Interactive, experiential workshops in lighting, sound, scenic and costume design were led by Dawn Chiang, David Budries, Robert Brill and Laura Crow, respectively. Another series of workshops, guided by teams of artistic directors and production managers from the Public, Ma-Yi, Long Wharf and Mabou Mines, imagined KAOS through its production budget, opening a window on the planning discussions and decisions that shape a final production. The remarkable Liz Lerman led a plenary session with the KAOS team to talk about the creative process and useful ways to discuss work. The thought-provoking days were summed up by Todd London in a beautifully observed and inspiring commentary. He conjured the mission and animating spirit behind the work of the field. It was beautiful in New York and a great few days. I hope you'll plan to come next year.
The Fall Forum was immediately followed by a meeting of the TCG Board of Directors. I'm honored to work with them. It's an exceptional and extraordinarily dedicated group. A very full two days encompassed the range of TCG's programs and work with a view to both current activities and long-range goals. The discussions were held amidst the backdrop of the ongoing selection process for a permanent executive director. The selection committee and full board are on track to announce TCG's new leadership early in the New Year.
You have no doubt read in my previous missives and in American Theatre, if not in your local papers, about Free Night of Theater 2006. The heralded event was held on October 19 and was, based on information to date, a resounding success. Mark Shugoll of Shugoll Research will be conducting a thorough analysis of program participation over the coming months, however, early statistics tell a story in and of themselves. The program's expanded second year offered 35,627 tickets to 522 performances at 387 theatres in 16 communities (up from 8,000 tickets to 150 performances in 2005). TCG's Free Night website received 450,000 hits in the first day. 2,800 seats were reserved in the first five minutes after the site went live. All available seats in Philadelphia, D.C. and Connecticut were reserved in the first 15 minutes. Almost every region was fully reserved before October 19. One lesson learned this year was the importance of managing expectations—that it is a first come, first served program and some may be disappointed. Down the road, we'll have demographic information and be able to determine the percentage of people who have subsequently returned to purchase additional tickets. In the meantime, one thing is clear that should be bountifully reassuring—though price may be a barrier, the desire to see live theatre is widespread and passionate. The program is clearly meeting one of its goals—to raise awareness—and it's giving many people a wonderful, enriching experience.
TCG, in conjunction with the Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations (APASO) and other producing partners, plans to further expand the program next year. We're already at work on participation guidelines for 2007 and will continue to experiment with management models as we fine-tune the administration of Free Night in preparation for full national participation in the future. A round of applause and kudos to Phil Matthews, TCG's lead on Free Night for successfully bringing together hundreds of partner theatres and a dizzying myriad of details in service of a project with the potential to dramatically increase the awareness of the not-for-profit theatre nationally.
One other word from the TCG front: we are pleased to announce a new professional development project, Dual Leadership: Partnering from the Inside Out, intended to renew and deepen the working relationship between artistic and management leaders as well as their relationship with board and staff. The program builds on our successful earlier collaborations with Dance/USA and will be created in conjunction with John McCann of the Institute for Cultural Policy and Practice at Virginia Tech. The first session will be held February 25–27 in Philadelphia. More detailed information and the application form are available in the Events section of the website.
On to the larger world: at the end of last month, a press statement was issued announcing that the Empty Space Theatre in Seattle would cease operations immediately. It was news received around the country with great regret. The theatre provided the Seattle community with over three decades of valuable and often provocative new work through the efforts of dedicated staff and board members, led most recently by artistic director Allison Narver and managing director Melanie Matthews. The contribution of the work remains and we trust that its artists will find new artistic homes in which to continue their work.
There is good news to celebrate as well: Dennis Zacek and Marcelle McVay announced the recent opening of Victory Gardens' new Chicago home at the Biograph. The new space opened with the world premiere of Denmark by Charles Smith. Congratulations to Victory Gardens. I imagine a few extra visitors will be heading that way in the coming months.
A few weeks ago, I had a quick trip to Kansas and the William Inge Center for the Arts where I enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion with the Independence Community College theatre students, resident playwrights and faculty including Inge Center artistic director Peter Ellenstein. And I've had several terrific evenings in the theatre. One was an opening week performance at the Public Theater in New York of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays directed by Michael Greif. Each individual piece was a gem and the evening as a whole reflected the expansive energy and sense of possibility of the larger project. This week, I also had the pleasure of seeing The Long Christmas Ride Home at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, Paula Vogel's powerful family tale of how things might have been different "if." The play is a seductive commingling of cultures as well as of puppets and live actors.
A final theatre event of the week brought together a number of theatre leaders in the New York area, but this time not for a production. The gathering was hosted by Jim Houghton, artistic director of Signature Theatre Company, and the Laura Pels Foundation. Its intent was to enlist the theatre community to raise the awareness of the dramatically increasing prevalence of autism here and abroad. Jim's 13 year-old son Henry was diagnosed with autism as a young boy, has been in treatment since and has made great strides. As reported that evening, little more than a decade ago autism was diagnosed in one in 10,000 children; today that number is one in 160 (one in around 400 girls and one in 105 boys). Research has been limited by funding. Jim and the Pels Foundation's request to the theatre community highlights the galvanizing role of theatre in community. In terms of social issues, the theatre community had a dramatic impact on AIDS awareness and research through the efforts of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. In terms of expanding empathy and generating a thoughtful response to the issues of our time, our impact is great and potentially even greater—both immediate and long-term.
Time is short! This letter needs to hit the press (or the ether). In closing, I wish each of you the most joyous of holiday seasons!
With tremendous gratitude for the gifts you give others throughout the year,
Yours,
Gigi Bolt
Interim Executive Director