Stage Directions: San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater has received grants from the San Francisco Neighborhood Arts Collective and The Kenneth Rainin Foundation that will enable A.C.T. to provide no-cost rehearsal and performance space to local arts orgs in their new Costume Shop theatre, a 49-seat black box space. Some of the already-confirmed partnering arts organizations include: Campo Santo Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, PlayGround and Theatre Rhinoceros.
4 comments:
In Richmond VA the Barksdale Theatre has a similar open door policy with all of their spaces and because Richmond's theatre scene is so small it works out very well for all the arts organizations. It will be interesting to see how many conflicts creep up as more organizations try to inhabit the same space. I would love to see this succeed on this large of a scale but I am skeptical that ACT has taken into account all of the logistical and political problems that they will have to deal with by being host to a free performance space.
I think that this sort of program is fantastic. Last year I was running an independent high school theatre group with a budget of basically zero. The biggest problem we consistently had was finding free space to rehearse and preform. All the small theatres that might let me use their space with out charge didn't have space to spare. I am a big believer in smaller independent theatre because I think it can create more creative results. This happens because the artists don't have as much ridding on each project and can thus take chances. An arts community funding free space at a larger theatre can really boost the amount of small theatre that is able to happen by leaps and bounds. I hope that this program is successful so that more areas do similar programs.
I had a hard time deciding which article about San Francisco this week to respond to. I'm choosing the one that gives me hope. The Bay Area is undergoing yet another identity crisis as even more tech money floods into the city, creating an economy that is inherently unsustainable. I moved to SF in 1999 at the height of what in the area has come to be known as the "dot.com" bubble. I am not proud to say I slept in my truck for nearly 2 weeks while I tried to find a place to live. With a rental market at nearly 100% capacity, I attended open houses at apartments advertising rooms to let where there were literally 100 people jockeying for shelter under the same roof. That was the bad. The good was that I could easily make a comfortable living working for production companies, of which there were many at the time, setting up stages and lighting for the daily "launch parties" and other events that were the natural extension of the economic boom. It was fun. It was lucrative. But it didn't last. Just like the current swell of money, directly attributable to the success of now public companies such as Facebook and Instagram, won't last. And when the wave finally recedes, it will leave behind a real-estate market that will have become so inflated that those who truly love the city and contribute to the atmosphere that made it so attractive in the first place, will have been forced to relocate. Like yeast creating it's own alcoholic environment until it is choked to death by its own prosperity, too much success seems too often death for the American city. It is refreshing to see a company like ACT in this environment looking towards something other than the bottom like and taking a real interest in the artistic life of the community form which it derives substance as well as sustenance.
Wow! That's awesome!!! I can say from personal experience that ACT has AMAZING facilities and resources and I think it is wonderful that they will now be available to the public for free! These types of grants are really awesome, and what make communities thrive. Awesome news, can't wait to see all of the new shows and developments in San Francisco!! :D
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