Home Page

Please Patronize Our Fine Competitors

May 19, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

Every week Drew McManus sends out an email to all the Inside the Arts bloggers with tips about enhancing our blogs. A few months back he suggested we not take it for granted that all our readers knew as much about basic elements of the arts as we did. This is a pretty tough thing to do. I know my concern would be that I would end up covering such elementary topics, people would either feel I was condescending or not writing anything of real relevance to them.

With all this in mind, I submit to you the request my landlord emailed me last week. She wanted to take her grandsons on a date to a performance next month at the big concert hall in town and wanted my help finding the best and most inexpensive seats. My first reaction was that I wasn’t sure what I could tell her. I have only been in the theatre about five times before and it was for events entirely unlike the one she wanted to attend. I really couldn’t give her good advice on acoustics or sight lines.

I took a quick trip to the Ticketmaster website and realized her needs were much simpler. The available tickets for the lowest priced tickets were listed as being in the orchestra pit, orchestra seating and upper balcony. The seating arrangement was continental with seat #1 dead center, odds on one side and evens on the other. (Frankly, I think that seating arrangement creates more problems for audiences than it solves.) None of this meant anything to her.

I was able to do a couple quick searches on different performance times and dates before the system shutdown for maintenance and discovered the only orchestra seats were three rows from the back and the balcony seats weren’t much closer. Based on my experience, I figured all the pit seating would be off to the sides which actually wouldn’t be too bad.

I wrote back to my landlord advising her to call or go down to the venue because she would have more control over her seat choice than the internet would allow. I advised her that the evening shows might be less crowded than the matinees and where she might expect the open seats would be found in each of the available sections. I also tried to explain how the seat numbering worked.

There was a lot of what I wrote that I assumed was pretty common knowledge about ticket buying. Some of it seemed pretty obvious and I only included it to provide a context for some of the more obscure bits of wisdom I was sharing. A day later she wrote back and thanked me for my advice saying she needed every bit of it. She expressed her appreciation for sharing some of the details I assumed she already knew. Apparently not that common knowledge. She managed to snag some respectable seats for the price level she wanted.

My efforts are not likely to yield Miracle on 34th Street style results where providing helpful information on my competitor’s products improves my own bottom line. I have been living in this apartment for six years and my landlord has never come to see a show. The best I may be able to hope for is that 10-15 years down the road one of the grandsons will show up at my door having been excited by what he sees next month.

Most of us wouldn’t necessarily welcome getting calls asking for help buying tickets to another place. Even if we weren’t offended by the request, we would lack the time to address such requests. That actually brings to mind a job opening I saw about 5-6 years ago where a performing arts center decided it would become the central information source for everything going on around town, including that of their competitors. Now given that they were a multi-space venue, chances were that something appealing to most audiences would appear on one of their stages so getting the community to think of them first was probably smart. It might not be as wise for a company producing shows with a niche appeal to attempt the same thing.

But if an arts group has a close and trusting enough relationship with their community, they may be able to strengthen it by having a Q&A about topics within their discipline that they don’t specifically represent. For example, a folk art museum might entertain questions about modern art, a symphony might open the floor to jazz inquiries, a theatre company specializing in contemporary plays can address Shakespeare. Of course, they could also give tips on etiquette, dress and seating arrangements for situations with entirely different dynamics than theirs. I’d bet audiences don’t realize their friendly neighborhood staffs have a wealth of general knowledge about their disciplines.

A rising tide may raise all ships, but in such an instance you would be remiss not to note or at least imply how much more lovely and unintimidating things are at the friendly neighborhood arts place by comparison.

Audience Relations, General Musings, Management Philosophy

1 Comment

Measuring Sports With Arts’ Yardstick

May 17, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

For a long time there has been a sort antagonistic undercurrent between the arts and sports, more on the part of the arts than sports. Personally, I think it can be traced back to high school where artistic and athletic pursuits both competed for after school program funding, but that is just my theory. (Borne out by those humiliating wedgies and locker stuffings the jocks carried out on the drama kids. Not me, mind you. Just something I have heard.)

But you see signs of it all the time. Arts organizations will pull out stats that show more people spent more money on their events than on sports. Folks in the arts bemoan the loss of reviewers in newspapers while the sport section expands.

Things seem to be shifting a little bit though. There was the Minnesota law that combines arts support with funding for outdoor sport hunting and fishing.

I came across a less beneficial pairing of art and sport today in an editorial about increasing student activities fees to support college sports.

“On the revenue side, even the most popular sports are perennial money losers, weighed down by staggering travel costs and erratic attendance. Just like the Honolulu Symphony, everybody loves the idea of a collegiate men’s basketball team, but not enough people turn out to support it.”

It is tough to know where to begin. The paper does the symphony no favors by reminding people of it’s woes. There is also the idea that only things that make money are worth having around. That is an argument the whole non-profit funding system exists to refute in some degree. In this case, the situation is not the same because the core purpose of the not for profit university is theoretically to educate, not necessarily to support ancillary athletic programs. I will leave it at that so as not to become embroiled in debates about the value of athletics to learning and the monies collegiate programs bring to schools.

There has always been a bit of an assumption that sports were getting all the funding to the detriment of the arts, especially in high schools where the arts are cut but sports often aren’t. But it is starting to look like colleges and universities are no longer willing to support sports teams any longer. In the last year, both Hofstra and Northeastern Universities shutdown their football teams (though 13 new football programs were announced as being in development) because the schools were no longer willing to make their funding a priority.

My first impulse was to follow this observation with a “there but for the grace of God…” statement noting that if the arts’ traditional opposite is threatened, wither stands the future of the arts? But that plays back into the whole concept that the arts are of lesser value than sports. Honestly, I can’t see that arts programs at schools are in any more danger of being cut than they usually are.

If anything, I would say the standards long applied to the arts are being applied in other areas. It isn’t just sports. In education as a whole, the intrinsic value of learning is being displaced by the what degree pursuits are of practical use and financial value upon graduation. This isn’t a matter of what majors student are choosing to pursue, it is also a discussion educational institutions and government officials are having over what degrees are worth offering.

State of the Arts

1 Comment

Info You Can Use: Foreign Guest Visas

May 13, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

Arts Presenters has recently alerted their membership to a proposed change in the way visas for foreign artists are evaluated. According to Artists From Abroad, O Visas are given to “only one alien of extraordinary ability in the arts entering the U.S. to work in his/her area of expertise. “Extraordinary ability” for purposes of the arts is not an especially high standard. It means “distinction” which, in turn, means a high level of achievement in the field, substantially above that ordinarily encountered.”

This differs from the P-1 and P-3 visas, the first of which applies to groups of note with a long term association and the latter which requires cultural uniqueness.

The nature of my work is such that I don’t use O visas. As I understand it, the problem with emerging with the O visa is that Customs and Immigration are proposing “45-day cap on the amount of time allowable between engagements.” Since an O visa can be valid for up to three years, it is feasible there would be gaps in activity of 45 days here and there during this time.

If you do use O visas or have the potential of doing so, you may want to review the page Customs and Immigration has set up soliciting feedback on the proposed changes.

If you need help framing your feedback, Arts Presenters is encouraging people to contact Leah Frelinghuysen, Director of Public Affairs.

Even if you don’t use O visas, Arts Presenters is advocating for changes in the whole visa process because it has been incredibly frustrating and problematic for people trying to bring tours together. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to provide feedback and comments as those policies (hopefully) come under review.

Government Relations, Info You Can Use, State of the Arts

1 Comment

Effectively Merging Non-Profits

May 12, 2010

by:

Joe Patti

I apologize for missing my postings on Monday and Tuesday, I was away at a retreat to examine and discuss how to effectively merge the booking consortium to which I belong with the consortium that it spun off from. The meetings occurred in another part of the state and I didn’t have ready access to a computer and the time to write entries.

I use the phrase “effectively merge,” the same words we used throughout most of our discussions, because the truth is that an actual merger of two non-profits is a lengthy, involved and expensive process. What will happen in reality is that the one organization will be dissolved and its assets and members will be transferred to the other as is allowed by its founding documents. But in effect, it is a merger.

A good portion of the first day seemed to be spent composing the correct syntax for the required motions that would be made the next day at the annual meetings of both organizations to start this process. Since we already intended to rewrite our bylaws per the suggestions of an attorney we consulted, we were resolved to dedicate the next year to working on the rewrite. We also were determined to examine the organization and what we wanted it to be. As a consequence, both groups will remain in existence as separate entities for another year laboring jointly to define the bylaws and purpose of the combined organization.

Even though it is likely to be the most dry and boring, I joined the Governance and Membership Committee just for the experience of redefining the nuts and bolts of the organization. I figured it would make good material for blog posts if nothing else.

I also joined the Artistic Selection Committee. The other committees are Marketing/Sponsorship/Grants and Education. Among the things the committees are going to explore are what does it mean to be a member? What are the benefits of participation? Should membership be tiered to both allow casual partnerships with non-member groups and provide greater benefits to those who are more extensively involved.

We are going to examine how we go about selecting artists to present in the context of many different factors. Since we would like to pursue gaining sponsorships as a group and offer companies the opportunity to have exposure across the state, we will have to decide how the program is designed and the sponsored show is chosen. There is also the big issue of whether such arrangements will endanger relationships individual members had with these companies previously. Why sponsor shows at a single venue when you can do so across the entire state? On the other hand, perhaps your brand is diminished by having your name associated with theatres that serve a less elite clientele and you don’t want your ads appearing in their programs.

There are similar questions for the education area. A recent partnership resulted in an experience between schools, audiences and artists that could have yielded a more extensive interaction had the time and resources been available to exploit the situation. If these are the opportunities we want to pursue, where do the staff hours and other resources come from?

That brings us back to the work of the other committees exploring what it means to be a member and what sort of investment in the organization is needed to benefit from its efforts, including any packages put together to offer potential sponsors.

One of the desires stated this week was to expand the membership to include other arts organizations around the state. By redesigning the purpose of the organization a little, we hope to increase our relevance to other groups. They may only do a show once or twice a year, but they can find the process greatly facilitated by our expertise. I think there could be a reciprocal benefit. Perhaps connections the new groups have open up more churches and schools to chamber concerts and outreaches. (Or local artists and churches/schools became more aware of each other.)

So my question here at the end of the entry is this—has anyone had any experiences similar to this? I have to help generate bylaws and policies to guide this organization and it would be nice not to reinvent the wheel. Are you a member of a consortium or partnership between different arts organizations which works together to achieve certain goals?

I am looking more for an arrangement where all decisions and initiatives are generated and executed by the members rather than a situation like an arts council where the council works to advance the interests of the members. We operate as a board organization rather than a membership organization. Though I would be interested in learning about any multi-organizational partnership arrangement that diverges from everyone else does.

Boards, Leadership, New Initiatives

1 Comment