Sunday, January 30, 2011
You're Mad -- What Are You Going to Do About It?
Arts Marketing: "In his speech, Chairman Landesman said 'there is a disconnect that has to be taken seriously — our research shows that attendance has been decreasing while the number of the organizations have been proliferating,” He continued by saying 'You can either increase demand or decrease supply. Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.” I must say that hearing those words spoken by the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts initially struck me pretty hard, but then I decided to reflect upon them.
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4 comments:
This article can strike a nerve in every single theatre person who reads it. It is completely correct in the fact that at first you are completely outraged at the idea of cutting down on supply. However, this author is right, if we sit down and think about it Landesman is right. Not enough people are interested in all types of theatre to keep each and every one of them afloat. However, I enjoy the author's perspective on the issue. If we're angry about what has been said then we should do something about it. Because we are counterculture in way and the fact of the matter is if this is what we love than we should be willing to fight for it to stay alive, or concede and start closing.
Let us think about the notion of supply and demand that Chairman Landesman spoke about. In a buisness world when the sales are falling there are few things that business people do. How do these apply to the theatre. If I make a living selling widgets and widget sales our down I can . . . 1.Find a way to make my widgets cheaper. 2. Find new people who do not usually buy widgets. 3. Make better widgets so people will buy MY widgets. 4. Find a better way to promote and advertise my widgets. 5. Convince people that there lives are not complete with out my widgets. or 6. Stop selling widgets and get a job at Best Buy. Conversely it seems like this is what we are doing. Widget sales are down so . . 1. Let's borrow money from investors to make crappy widgets that no one wants.
Totes true.
I'm surprise people are surprise. I mean really now. There are a zillion new actors looking for jobs every year. And thousands of designers and directors and writers and the like. And when they can't find jobs at existing places (who don't need them because they don't need them), these folks come together to make their own companies, and that's just dandy. Theatre as an art is all about collaboration. People coming together to create is a wonderful thing--but if you need an audience to perform it for then you need an audience to perform it for. Which means you need people.
Supply has got to meet demand, and vice versa. It's always been true, and likely always will be. This blogger was right to point out the brilliance of the remarks in the first place--not only will artists be offended and enraged, but they will seek to prove him wrong. And in this case, that's okay.
I agree with the article. What the Chairman said was infurating, but true. Now it is up to us to change something to make it better.
Guess what, we work in the arts. Don't think the phrase, "Starving Artist" is just a saying. Its based in some fact. And guess what, they are describing capitalism. It time to fight for the ability to survive. So what can we do? Try to create art that the people want to see while fulfilling our personal artistic need. But what do the people want to see? That's the trick. Its not supposed to be easy. And the marketers are our allies to get the word out...
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