(How) Should Theaters Survive?

Rob Weinert-Kendt links to a post at the LA Times' Culture Monster where it is suggested that more non-profit performing arts organizations "should be looking to form partnerships or mergers, or even shut down and pass the assets on to healthier groups, if necessary, to keep their mission alive. As Jung quoted Freud: "Sometimes the doctor should not try to cure at all costs." Ditto for nonprofits: better to end an organization's life and pass assets on."

Rob then cheekily writes "Take it away, Isaac" and asks for my opinion.  Which I want to write more about but am a wee bit on deadline pressure right now, so instead I'll throw it over to the comments for now and simply say that while I think in a healthier theater system more theaters would be opening and then closing all the time once they've gone beyond the point of fulfilling their missions, my first impulse is to say that such a state would be a symptom not a cause of a better environment.

Anyway... your thoughts?

Comments

[Aaron]

My thought is that a theater should never be dark. Ideally, the space is always being used, either to rehearse or to perform, much as I know places like Manhattan Theater Source (and I believe Vampire Cowboy Theater's Battle Ranch) operate. These are essentially "soft" mergers already, and could then be taken a step further (especially for shows that are not tech-intensive) by a repertory model of performances, akin to the way a Fringe venue is able to do at least four different shows a day, drastically cutting the costs for each participant. In this sense, the "core" non-profit is maximizing its resources (and charging only what nominal fees are necessary for maintaining the space) and committing to the community.

I'm definitely NOT the right person to talk about this, as I mainly just see theater, but when I worked on the college community scene, we were constantly sharing resources and using the space for something. No reason that can't work here to alleviate some of the financial pressures.

[RVCBard]

Aaron,

I think you're exactly the person who needs to talk about this. From my perspective, there are too many theater "experts" already, too many people too close to the issue at hand. We need more models for self-sustaining theater, and the more diverse the experiences we draw from, the easier that will be to make.

[Ian David Moss]

Interesting discussion. I'm generally a fan of at least considering mergers and acquisitions in the nonprofit sector, but I don't necessarily think this applies to individual theater companies. I think that the kinds of advantages one looks for in mergers could be accomplished just as effectively by building collaborative infrastructure, so that different organizations can share performing/rehearsal/office space, outsource support operations to the same (mission-driven) accounting or fundraising firms, and so on. I've written a bit more about this and the recent Fractured Atlas-NYC Performing Arts Spaces merger here: http://createquity.blogspot.com/2008/10/fractured-atlas-and-nyc-performing-arts.html

[RLewis]

I vote in favor of more M&A! But it has to be for a good reason, and I don't know if the stock market is one of them. Co-produce instead. But burn-out and other life changes (marriage, children, and other cost causes) can be great reasons to come together with other like minds. When so many theater companies begin as one-man-bands or acting classes without admin' skills, pooling knowledgeable man power can be a powerful force if everyone is on the same page.

I worry that Aaron's Leave the Light On approach would be like having too many fish in your aquarium - lots of lil' ones that never grow up. Which works fine in a college setting - it has a natural 4-year turn around - but I do not think it makes for a healthy and diverse arts community. Sets, lights and multi-media need dark nights and time to be more than half-assed, and sometimes it is nice to have a set, lights, sound, etc. And growing up as an artist does not lend itself to a life of bare-bones art every night.

I like to think more of places like the HERE Arts Center - back to when it was Tiny Mythic, Home, Tech' Artistry and a couple of other groups that came together. Now, much has changed, but none of the orginal groups would have ever been able to buy their own space, and that's a reality they can be proud of. The success of a long-term M&A. We need more of it, not less, but not because the Dow is swinging relentlessly.