Thursday, August 23, 2018
Why Does Nonprofit Performing Arts Programming Lather, Rinse, Repeat?
www.clydefitchreport.com: In business (arts or otherwise), people use “Because we’ve always done it that way” out of laziness, lack of curiosity, or plain ineptitude, and to end uncomfortable conversations. It is the most infamous of toxic business phrases. It signals that inevitable paradigm shift: “time to close the doors.” If nothing else, people who use it should be challenged. “Why have we always done it that way?” “Is there evidence that the way we’ve always done it is the best way to do it?”
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While reading this article at the beginning I just kept thinking "I'm from Seattle, we have so many theatres that are always doing new and innovative work." But then when I got to the part where they actually mention Seattle and how 10 organizations got 60% of the ArtsFund's grant money, I went to look at the list to see which organizations they gave the most money too. And I realized that those are the big name organizations that everyone in Seattle has heard of. Those are the theatres that do seasons that all look the same as each other. Those are exactly the kinds of nonprofit theatres that the article is talking about just doing what they have always done. It made me really sad to see that some of my favorite theatres in the area that are always doing new and different kinds of productions were some of the lowest receivers on that list, or they were not even on that list. Another thing that struck me in this article is how they mention that innovation is not doing shows to keep the current audiences. This statement really reminded me of a conversation I was having with my friend a couple months ago after we went to see the production of The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe at ACT Theatre. We were talking about how that show's target audience was young women and young women of color, but looking around that theatre (and most other theatres in Seattle) all we noticed were aging white people, mostly men. And as we were walking out we were hearing people around us talking about how they did not enjoy the show that much because they couldn't relate to it. And I was shocked that they couldn't enjoy a show that wasn't about them. Reading this article, thinking back to my experiences with theatre in Seattle made be a little disappointed that Seattle isn't as innovative as I thought we were, but I am also hopeful because it seems like some of the bigger names in the Seattle theatre scene are taking a step forward and trying to change the way they do theatre.
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