Arts Entrepreneurship

January 5, 2010 by  

I’m also concerned, personally, that there are simply too many young people going into debt over this profession that has very little room or need for them when they graduate. – David Dower, New Play Blog

I have found the term that might be the theme of much of my writing for 2010: arts entrepreneurship. Dower’s comment above, as well as the writings of many theatrosphere bloggers, has caused me to come to the conclusion that for young artists, the current theater profession/system is one that is unsustainable and I question if it’s worth pursuing. This is nothing new, and probably for many people that read blogs associated with the theatrosphere, but it is something that seems to be ignored.

Discovering that I have written on similar themes (starving artist myth, celebrity, social media) of entrepreneurial blogs like Entrepreneur the Arts, this theme could be considered a continuation of 2009. This post becomes a commitment to deeper exploration of entrepreneurship, in light of self-producing, that looks to “share a sense of creativity to our society…sense of connection between people, [and] helping people find meaning in their lives and relationships.” (Walters, Theatre Ideas) While my personal life is not at a place to self-produce, I am curious to explore what others are doing, and aid is exploring tools that will empower theater artists to break out of the current hoops that one has to go through to work in theater.

While I agree with Travis Bedard’s post that, “the idea that theatre companies are just like any mini-mart (small businesses with small but measurable economic effects) is patently ridiculous”, artists can still learn from current entrepreneurial business leaders. Bedard encourages more focus on the day-to-day, hands on practice, than the theoretical discussions currently going on in the theatrosphere. But as Josh Hart points out:

The bulk of American theatre training programs train students in a technique of arts education that leads to rampant unemployment. The techniques popularly taught in the bulk of our training institutions are all art technique and no real business technique. Entrepreneurial training in the arts needs to become the new standard in American Theatre training.

While the discussion continues and change seems to be growing, the study of entrepreneurship by young artists is something that needs more exploration, dialogue and examination. In the age of the internet and social media, it is evident that the gatekeepers of various business fields are becoming obsolete, how is this seen in current theater system? Yes, there are indie theaters, but how is indie theater structuring itself away from becoming “smaller” versions of the bigger commercial theaters? As 99seat states, “If new organizations are built on the same standard model foundation, that won’t do any good.” So is 2010 the year where new models are tried and blogged about for discussion? Is that The Prof’s Theatre Tribe model? What other theater models are people working on or thinking they want to try? How is it different than the current theater system?

Filed under: Acting, Arts Entrepreneur, Theater/Theatre
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Good way to start the new year.

January 1, 2010 by  

Good way to start the new year.

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Does Our Theater Not Want To Evolve?

January 1, 2010 by  

Happy New Year! I can’t think of a better post to start 2010. I am just catching up on a great multi-blog conversation between The Next Stage and Praxis Theatre, the Canadian branch of the theatrosphere: Round 1, Round 2, Round 2.5, Round 3. There is a lot of good stuff in each post. While I already have made some comments in the above blog posts, I want to address in detail some of the topics discussed.

Where it starts getting interesting is in the comment section of Round 2. There Manda Kennedy, shares a little bit of her role working as Tarragon’s social media strategist. She talks about the theater’s desire to engage and not just use social media to broadcast, kudos as I don’t think enough theaters have made that connection, but Kris Joseph‘s following comments hits on the crux of the state of theaters use of social media.

I think the engagement of theatre arts with the ‘net has to come from the ground: the designers, crew, actors, directors, and playwrights working directly on material. If I have PERMISSION from the relevant guilds and unions (and there’s ANOTHER bear of an issue) all I have to do is carry an iPhone in my pocket and I can shoot footage of my wig fitting and snap pics of my set being built and record clips of rehearsal and BINGO — the content creates itself.

If the use of social media is left in the hands of the marketing department, then that is all it will be used as, a marketing tool. Social media platforms need to be conduits for conversations, stories, narratives and interactions. This sounds like something that artists would be really good at. Kennedy poses a problem:

I’m not going to argue for a second against engaged artists taking the lead on this. That would be fantastic and a really interesting departure from the the what does seem to be the common approach. The largest hurdle for me is that the vast majority of our artists are one with the organization for a limited period of very tightly scheduled time. Individuals, or theaters with resident companies, might have any easier time making their artists direct engagement with the ‘net a consistent and expected thing…There is nothing magical or silo-esque about any of that. It’s hard damn work and requires constant dialogue.

I would agree, but why can’t a theater hire someone to fill a staff position and an acting role? Hire an artist in one or two roles for the season and the rest of the time that person works with the other artists, director and technicians in helping create online content. This ties into Round 2.5, in which Joseph questions why theater institutions, unions and more artists have not evolved to using social media to engage with audience members and ask artists to join the online cocktail party.

ARTISTS, I firmly believe, need to start looking at this stuff with the same level of priority they give to things like keeping their resume up-to-date and keeping on top of audition postings and agent relationships. It’s a critical part of the business and, Manda, your job will get EASIER once you have artists around you who come to YOU and say “how can I help?”. Right now, the average theatre artists’ response to technology like this is like the marketing director asking for cast headshots and hearing “oh, I don’t HAVE one of those. Is that important?” in response.

As an actor/social media specialist, I love Joseph’s thinking. I also realize the many artists stake their flag firmly in the land of the “left” brain and this “right” brain technology will not aid them in their craft and is too time consuming (Read Round 3 on this topic). I think this is why theaters that have an actor also as their social media strategist have the best of both worlds. This artist lives in both the “left” and the “right” sides of the brain. This actor can dialogue with the marketing team while at the same time understand the thought process and time commitments of the other artists. This person can help the artists create quality content using devices like flip video and iPhones to post on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. This person speaks the language of the theatrosphere and can leave meaningful comments and expound in thoughtful blog posts. They will be the ones that are equally excited at attending the Search Marketing Expo as in attending the TCG Conference. With the weekly AEA job rate at 85.2% and 55.1% of AEA members not working at all last season (I wonder what the Canada stats are), I think the opportunity for an actor to have consistent work both on and off stage would be highly welcomed.

Image by contactmcr via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license. From Manchester, England’s Contact Young Actors Company & YOU production of #follow_me.

Filed under: Acting, Social Media, Theater/Theatre, Web 2.0
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