So I was sort of hedging my bets when I made the vague statement a couple days ago that the Honolulu Symphony was the largest professional performing arts organization in the state. Turns out my suspicions were correct and the symphony is, with a minor exception, the only professional performing arts organization in the state in terms of paid artists.
The one exception is Honolulu Theatre for Youth whose small company of actors heroicly stagger along supplementing little pay with night jobs. (Since most of the performances are school matinees.)
As poorly paid as the symphony musicians are, it is even worse for actors and dancers. In truth, it may be easier to make a living wage as a non-classical musician, visual artist (depending on medium), or luau performer than any other type of artist.
It may come as a suprise to people to think that Hawaii which has enjoyed record numbers of tourists (7.6 million last year, 7.5 year before) doesn't have a strong entertainment industry. People can't spend ALL their time on the beach and shopping after all, right?
It is true though. In terms of theatres you have the university based student theatres and amateur groups. A couple theatres have full time administration and production staffs but I don't even know if there are any guest artists even performing under Actors Equity letters of agreement. (There has been a spate of news personalities performing in lead roles lately though.) The actors getting the most work are the ones on Lost and most of the regulars aren't local performers.
The operas and ballets are the same. They bring in paid guest artists, but the chorus and corps are comprised of volunteers or students. A couple modern dance companies pay dancers a token on a show by show basis to acknowledge their talent and contribution but don't maintain any sort of paid company.
There are a handful of presenting houses and bar/club venues of note and that is about it for live performance in the state.
There are certainly a fair number of things to do for people to be sure. But now that I have started to settle in to my position and have an opportunity to assess my surroundings, I have begun to wonder why there are no other professional performance entities other than the luaus organized to take advantage of the tourism and employing local performers full time.
The IATSE unions employ a fair number of people in some of the presenting houses (and on the Lost series) and there seems to be money to pay us evil administrators. Why aren't the performers getting their due I wonder.
I am going to have to look into this a bit while I am not terribly busy this summer.
On a recent vacation I was driving around with my brother in law and we were passing through a new development that looked to be influenced by the New Urbanist movement which tries to locate shopping and social needs within walking distance of residences. The place appeared to be designed with a Victorian feel from the building and street lamp design I saw emerging. There were signs in the windows announcing the imminent arrival of Starbucks and some soup company.
I was thinking about how nice it would be for these folks to have so much of what they need within walking distance since there was a shopping center with a supermarket right across the two lane road from this new development.
But then I remember why I was there and I realized there was no guarantee that people would necessarily patronize the stores closest to them. In fact, my situation made me realize why you can drive yourself crazy trying to predict trends in customer behavior. And if you are like me, you do indeed go crazy trying to discern why, all things appearing generally equal, one performance sold so much better or faster than another performance.
You see, my brother in law and I were going to get our haircut. I was 4,500 miles away from home and was going to get my haircut at the same salon chain I frequent at home because I wasn't happy with the cuts I was getting at the many locations I tried at home. The fact I am frequenting a chain should be evidence enough that I am not terribly vain about my looks and so should also attest to how dissatisfied I was with my hair that I was getting it cut on vacation.
My brother in law on the other hand drove me past two other branches of this hair salon chain located much closer to his house to get to this one. After we passed the second one, I asked where the heck we were going. He told me the woman at this branch used to work in the one closest to his house and he hadn't been happy with the job those who replaced her did so we were going to this place.
The thing is, because this salon is located in a largely undeveloped area there is only this one woman working at the branch. When we arrived she was out getting lunch for her son and herself. So we waited outside the door until she came back and then waited while she ate lunch and then waited while she cut the hair of the guy who had signed in before she took her lunch break.
I have to say we are both happy with our hair these days.
Obviously I am not going to be flying that far to get my hair cut nor am I going to wait until I return to visit my sister to get my next cut. What my little story is meant to illustrate is that even in areas a customer rates as unimportant to them there is a point that quality can fall below that suddenly makes it important enough to base a decision upon. The problem for anyone trying to sell a good or service is that the point is completely subjective and difficult to predict without some complex mathematical formulae. A situation where all things appear generally equal to you probably doesn't to someone else.
In fact, sometimes the customer doesn't quite know why they are making a decision. I can identify why I do my grocery shopping at a store miles from my house but on the way home from work and not the location the same chain two blocks from my house. (younger, cleaner building with own bakery vs. driving past my house and potentially hitting 4 traffic lights).
What I don't know is why I have never had a problem with my haircuts until the last two years. I am sure in the time since my mother stopped cutting my hair I have had some pretty bad cuts. I couldn't tell you why it bothers me now.
This is the sort of thing that makes me wonder if surveying audiences is of any value at all. We already know people often say they are interested in attending certain types of events and then never translate their stated interest into practice. Add motivations patrons aren't consciously aware of influencing them and you start getting ready to tear your hair out.
Unless you are concerned about your coif, of course.
As a denizen of Honolulu, I have been monitoring the leadership situation at the Honolulu Symphony off and on over the past few years. Up until the last week or so they have been without an executive director and a music director and suffered some tension on the board of directors. This past Saturday an article in the local newspaper announced that Tom Gulick has been apppointed executive director.
Gulick, who counts the Detroit Symphony in his background, was recently executive director of Ballet Pacifica which has had some tough times of its own. In March Gulick left his position there for personal reasons. The ballet's development director left around the same time. A few weeks later, artistic director Ethan Stiefel also departed barely a year after his loudly trumpeted assumption of that position citing the cancellation of the 06-07 season due to lack of funds as his reason for leaving.
There is some good news as Gulick takes up the symphony's reins. Just last month the state allocated a $4 million grant to the organization contingent on matching funds being raised. The state also gave the symphony $150,000 for education programs. The symphony has a new board president and has recruited 13 new board members.
Gulick will need all the backing he can as he leads the largest professional performing arts company in the state. Not only does the organization need to hire a music director, it is also in contract negotiations with the musicians union who agreed to a fairly significant paycut a few years ago.
Gulick also faces some public relations problems for the symphony. In an interview on Hawaii Public Radio (mp3 format), Gulick acknowledged that he would be making a "save the symphony" appeal to the same people who gave to save the organization a few years ago and a few years before that. Among his plans to gain the trust of the community is to have fiscal transparency.
He may also want to focus on the use of the symphony web site to reassure the public about the symphony's strength and successes. Despite the articles and radio interviews that have occurred, as of this writing there is no mention on the website that Tom Gulick is executive director or even that the symphony was preparing to announce someone soon.
There has been some grumbling among season ticket holders over the past month. Editorials in the newspaper have been complaining about a new pricing scheme in the balcony. Two couples wrote that their balcony seats have tripled in price since last year and are on par with the cost of the most expensive orchestra seating. Both decided to pass on subscribing this year, but one couple reconsidered and renewed their seats, although it was for fewer performances. Another single ticket buyer wrote to say she tried to buy balcony seats but was told they wouldn't be sold until the orchestra seating filled up. Faced with only $60 remaining, she walked away. Two of the writers noted that given the symphony needed to match the state grant, they were surprised the symphony would risk alienating them.
While I might question the amount of the increase and the timing of some decisions, for me this just underscores just how important box office policies are in audience relations. There are some situations when communicated clearly with patrons that earn understanding and tolerance. It is just difficult to make a compelling case in a subscription brochure or train box office people to effectively do it.
I have been approached by symphony musicians with proposals to have both chamber performances and full symphony concerts in my theatre as part of an outreach to my side of the island. It will be interesting to see if any sort of momentum in that direction will develop in the next 5 years or so. Alot of new housing is popping up out here so there is a potential for new audiences as well.
I saw a very interesting article on board composition in Arts Presenter's online version of Inside Arts Magazine. (Have to provide email address to read.)
The piece essentially tackled the idealism vs. practicality issue in relation to age of board members. While everyone strives to have younger people on their board, the reality is that the young folks often aren't far enough along in their lives to offer a non-profit board the time and money (or social contacts with money) that more..seasoned..members of the community can.
Despite some ancedotes which support the idea that older people more easily meet the board requirements of many non-profits the article stresses the importance of making the effort to attract younger members. Their involvement in the board would have to recognize that they need time to raise families and aren't able to meet the Give, Get or Get Off criteria at this stage in their lives.
Certainly it is just as important to recruit the right young members as it is older members and not just bring them on board because of their age. The article mentions quite a few benefits younger members can bring as well as pointing out some erroneous assumptions.
Give it a read.
I don't know if anyone caught this Guardian article on Artsjournal.com in the last day or so. The story covers, Play on Earth, an effort by performance groups on three continents to create and interactively perform with one another with the help of technology. I had previously mentioned a related effort by MIT in an entry a couple years ago.
The Guardian article presents what may be a preview of the format the performing arts may take in the future. It seems quite ripe with possibility. It could be exciting to see how directors might exploit the real time chronological differences in clever ways.
The danger element inherent to having separate directors and casts who have never met each other might provide a draw to audiences as an alternative to the well-edited movie or television show. We often talk about one of the appeals of live performance being that anything can happen and this certainly reintroduces that concept. The irony is, it is the instability of network connection that contributes to this sense that catastrophe may be imminent. As technology improves, performances may have to up the ante in other areas to maintain the ambiance.
I noticed this just before I started to travel back from vacation. I thought the deadline to apply was Friday but it is tomorrow. Still, the application is fairly easy to fill out and if nothing else, interested parties can keep their eyes open to apply the next year it is offered. (The praises quoted are from the 2004 institute. Don't know if they just forgot to update the page or if it is bi-annual.)
Theatre Communications Group is having a New Artistic Leader Institute in San Diego in August. "The goal of the Institute is to orient new and prospective artistic directors to the non-artistic aspects of leading a theatre company." The criteria for New Artistic Leader is those who have been in their current position since 2004. As is implied by the Artistic Leader term rather than Artistic Director, the program is open to a number of artistic positions. "Resident directors, associate artistic directors and freelance artists are also eligible to apply"
There is a $300 application fee and scholarship monies available.
Although this is the fourth year TCG has done this, the curriculum for this year has yet to be set and will be formulated by a task force in the coming weeks. This seems to imply the program attempts to address the latest concerns of artistic leaders.
Anyhow, if you are interested get thee to the information page and application!
I am going on vacation for a bit in order to shower my nephew with adulation.
Those who wish to ponder my occasional brilliance can seek it in the blog archives.
With nearly 350 entries to peruse you can survey the changes in my thinking and writing style from the very beginning!
I will be checking my blog on occasion to thin out the spam of advertising in the comments section.
If you are moved to make observations they will appear on the blog within a few days when I have time to approve them and perhaps say something in return.
Starting a performance company/gallery of ones own seems to be a common dream of most students in the arts. Since it is graduation time I thought I would offer up this article on keeping the proper perspective from the May issue of Inc.
I enjoy reading Norm Brodsky's column in the magazine because he is adept at employing interesting ancedotes to illustrate his point. He often offers advice to people seeking to start their own business. In this particular column he cautions against being so overly ambitious that you make your core desire unattainable.
One aspect of Brodsky's article that interested me was his suggested conditions under which refusing to consider partnering was unwise versus those conditions when having a partner could restrict your success.
This is a subject I ponder upon often because I often see situations where people are letting their egos and desire for acclaim for their way of doing things limit their success by not partnering. So they labor hard while trying to leverage their limited resources and meet with limited results.
Some times this is a good thing because some concepts don't warrant widespread recognition. Also, competition can keep people on their toes and striving harder. Sometimes it is just dumb.
Last week Wes Platt, owner of the online text based multi-user game Otherspace announced that in 2008 on the 10th anniversary of his game, he was shutting it down.
So what does Otherspace have to do with non-profit arts organizations you ask. Well, quite a bit if you take a look.
For one, Otherspace is definitely non-profit. It is completely free to play and runs on donations and merchandise sales (tshirts, hats, mugs and some other things I will soon mention). My first thought was that his move provides a good example for arts organizations for looking at a project that is doing well and deciding to phase them out and replace with something else that advances the organizational mission. It is no easy thing for any organization, online or not, to develop a new project while maintaining the current ones. (Platt also has two other games with different themes he runs.) It is even tougher to decide to do in an uncertain financial climate.
I also thought it was pretty gutsy to do it on an anniversary when he could get some additional mileage out of it. On the other hand, he can get some mileage out of the anniversary connected shutdown by simultaneously introducing the new project he has promised as he and the game's following toast out the old.
The other thing of note about Otherspace is that it is a roleplaying game with well-designed large story arcs to involve the players. The first six years had 17 story arcs according to the website. Wes Platt has actually published a novel based on the world concept with another book on the way.
What he has also done though is taken the roleplaying logs provided by some key players and edited them into books as well. The sale of these books on Amazon.com also helps to support the game and keep them free. In essence, the actions and choices of the players placed in certain scenarios help to create works of fiction. Their incentive for playing in a compelling manner is that the sale of their recreational activities continues to make their enjoyment possible.
Obviously, it is just a new twist on an ensemble developing a performance piece. It would be interesting to see if expanding this idea of technology assisted could be turned into the next big thing.
The last thing that seemed valuable for arts organizations to note is that the game has a Wiki associated with it. Since the theme of the game is that of a space opera with strange alien races and terminology, there is a need to identify these elements to newcomers. The specific wiki for the game offers descriptions of the worlds, races, organizations, technology, culture as well as How To information for new players.
I would think the term alien terminology by itself would be enough to explain the value of a wiki to an arts organization. The benefit of a wiki over a list of glossary terms on your website is that a wiki is dynamic. As a professional in an arts field, you can't always anticipate everything your audience thinks it is important to know.
With a wiki, you get a little help from existing members of your audience because they have a pretty clear idea of what they didn't know at first that they found helpful to learn. Because anyone can contribute to a wiki, anyone can update entries on playwrights, composers, actors, tips on getting good tickets, protocol on behavior and dress in different scenarios whenever they realize they have something to contribute.
Of course, this strength is also a weakness since people can vandalize your wiki with ads for viagra, obscenities and bad reviews. In this regard, a wiki takes more effort than a static page on your website. Even if people are making well-written, objective neutral (the basic standard for wiki entries)contributions, someone always has to be monitoring the updates to ensure they meet standards.
The good news with wikis is that the someone doing the monitoring doesn't have to be a staff person. In fact, it is a mark of a wiki's success if it isn't a staff person doing all the work. Wikis allow for the quick reversion to previous information by contributors. It is a testament to how invested your audience is in the success of your organization when supporters remove offensive material on your behalf before you know it is there.
And since wiki contributors tend to skew younger than the average performing arts event demographic, you know you are moving in a good direction when you have a number of people enthusiastically running defense and contributing on your wiki.