Saturday, November 09, 2013
Is the Great Recession Over for the Arts?
FROM THE GREEN ROOM: Dance/USA's e-Journal: As we all know, the Great Recession that began in 2008 was the worst economic disaster to hit America and the global economy since the Great Depression. While the Great Recession is technically over as measured by economists, millions of Americans are still out of work or have stopped searching for work and some sectors of the economy still have not recovered.
What about the arts? Clearly much of the information may be anecdotal, but a conversation with a few experts yields some comments and statistics that are worth mentioning. According to David Snead, vice president of marketing and communications for the esteemed New York Philharmonic, “My short answer is the recession is over for us pretty much the same way it is over for most other sectors. Things are better than one to three years ago, but not back to pre-recession.”
The “not back to pre-recession” comment can signal that the landscape has changed forever for the arts community in much the same way that a natural landscape, i.e. a beach, is permanently changed after a major hurricane.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
This is a really great article for relating to topic talked about in Tech Management and Olivier's Nose. At the end of the article it asked some questions we as a class asked. The first question was "Can a origination be perpetuity?" I think this question is an extremely good question because when writing mission statements most arts organizations create a statement that would would allow the organization to last forever, which does not necessarily done. There can be great arts organizations that do not last forever. I think we shouldn't focus on sad cases such as New York City Opera but, focus on the great companies that can now start from New York City Opera. The rest of the questions the article gave really seemed to be tips for organizations, many of which seemed like things which an organization should be doing to anyways like, being honest with employees, and remain true to the organizations mission. The two tips that I really thought were useful was advising the creation of a smaller board to help make decisions quick and, don't lower your budget on marketing. The smaller board particularly stood out in my mind because it seemed as if that was something to be done in emergencies and that it could be dangerous do to the fact it could leave out important chains of command. A dangerous thing to do when a business is in trouble. I think that this article was great, and I am really glad I read it to get exposed to the economical side of the arts.
This article asks some questions that have been on my mind as we begin to come out of the ICU of the recession and start to talk about rehab. I may be a cynic, but I am not nearly as confident that we as a nation are out of the woods yet with regards to the economy. Particularly in Congress and other regulatory bodies, I'm not seeing the dedication to fixing the underlying problems so much as I am the inclination to pop a Vicodin and make the pain go away.
Because of this, I feel that trying to "return to pre-recession levels" of economic success should not be our aim as an industry and, more broadly, as an economy. Can an economy propped up by lies and overly-risky investments be said to be a "good" one? I would suggest it may be better to have a slightly smaller economy built on actual economic success. To that end, I agreed with the suggestions the article has, particularly about the perpetuity of organizations and smaller, more streamlined boards. I'll be interested to see where the arts as an industry is in five years compared to where it was five years ago. My hope is that the industry (as well as the economy at large) will be, if slightly smaller, more stable and durable.
This article does not surprise me at all, a recession has a direct correlation with how much money our business makes. If people have less money because of a recession then they are less likely to go to see a show, a concert, or even a movie. Just a side note, it is really important for people to be paying attention to the states of the United States economy because without butts in seats we are all out of a job.
What I found to be a very good point in this article was the note that during a recession, never cut the costs of marketing. This is an excellent point because like I said before we need butts in seats. If less people are wanting to buy tickets, the more people have to be reached to make up for this.
This was a really insightful article. Is the Great Recession Over for the Arts? I ask myself this quite often and especially more now that I will be venturing into the work force. I agree with him that it is over and also that we are now in the 'recovery phase'. However as he also mentions, the recovery phase is much like the passing of a hurricane; where you start to see the destruction of what was destroyed, who perished, what was injured and most importantly who survived and what can be salvaged.
The question of perpetuity of arts organizations is an interesting one. Arts organizations are no different to any other organization and sometimes you do have to take an analytical look at your company/business and decide based on your current standings and possible future outcomes, what will be best. No organization is entitled to perpetuity. I think that you can argue that the art form is entitled to perpetuity, however not organizations (unfortunately).
Additionally the second point about establishing a process of transparency in the new economy is an invaluable point. Too many arts and even non art related organizations decide to cover up their financial crises from their staff or funders in hopes that situations would change or to ensure that no one abandons them due to financial problems. Everyone already knows that companies were affected by the recession, be honest with where you are, where you would like to get to and how you intend to achieve it.
The other points mentioned are also important and I wonder if there are any theaters who have successfully dug themselves out of the depression hole without too many staff/production cutbacks.
Also the point about accepting change is a very valid one, I think that theaters who keep their original mission, but add to it in order to keep afloat will be the better off of the two.
Awhile back I had heard a teacher of mine explain why the arts is an industry that won't die. Even in recessions and depressions people want to be entertained and forget about their troubles even just for an hour or so. However, this analysis doesn't mean that the industry is not affected by the economy. I think it is important for the industry to remember that as individual income drops the extra money normally spent on entertainment is used on other things so companies need to accommodate. I think a possible solution to the concerns mentioned in "Is the Great Recession Over for the Arts?" is to find new forms and prices of entertainment.
Post a Comment