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Will CTE Help Preserve Arts In Schools?

September 10, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Earlier this summer Colorado Public Radio (CPR) ran a story about how high school theater teachers are focusing instruction on the technical aspects of their discipline in order to tap into funding that is available for Career and Technical Education (CTE).

CTE instruction is replacing STEM as a priority in schools. There has been a trend away from STEM in recent years because it isn’t providing expected results. (Only 28% of STEM graduates work in STEM occupations)

The CPR story primarily profiles a teacher who learned radio and video broadcasting to start a sports broadcasting class in order to qualify for funding.

Here at Mountain View, Jacob wants to use CTE to prepare his students for careers in technical theatre, so they learn skills like set design and sound mixing.

…Now he’s working on adding the necessary classes – sports broadcasting would be part of that – to make the program official.

“I jumped at the chance to connect my students to extra funds, to get them extra opportunit(ies), because that’s really what it’s all about,” Jacob said.

[…]

But CTE is changing the game for Jacob. Not only could his school receive funding for teaching these theatre-based classes, but students could gain the skills they need to make the arts their full-time gig after graduation.

“The fact that Colorado is saying we value theatrical design and technology as a pathway of career is a really good thing for arts teachers,” he said.

Source

While he has to recruit at least 20 students to his program in order to justify his job, he feels that the prospect of having broad marketable skills like sound design will be more appealing to students than the performance experience most people associate with theater. The CPR story reports that about 40 districts around Colorado have technical theater programs.

While this whole situation sounds just marginally less tenuous than arts in schools have faced for the last 40 years, there is slight cause for optimism about a focus on the technical aspects of theater being a viable path for preserving arts education in schools.

Though the fact that “CTE is the new STEM” is cited in the story suggests that CTE may end up becoming a fad as well.

As the commentary I linked to on Science.org says:

Whipping and driving people into science careers doesn’t seem like a very good way to produce good scientists. In fact, it seems like an excellent way to produce a larger cohort of indifferent ones,…

Source

Art(ist) Education, Working In The Arts

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2025 Arts Revenue Trending Down Even As Attendance Trending Up

September 9, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

SMU DataArts released their National Trends study for 2025 in the last couple weeks. At first there is a brief flicker of optimism when you read that earned and contributed revenue is returning to pre-pandemic patterns until you realize that refers to the ratio of earned to contributed revenue. Overall revenue has fallen below pre-pandemic levels.

Expenses are lower too, but that is due to reduction in personnel expenses. There was some good news for artists in that payments to them didn’t drop as much as overall personnel expenses. But unfortunately that seems to indicate organization staffing got cut back quite a lot. Indeed, SMU DataArts noted staff counts have dropped to their lowest point in six years.

On the other hand, attendance is growing even as programming is being cut back.

Our data shows a continued downward trend in the average number of distinct programs per organization, from 150 in 2023 to 83 in 2024. These findings indicate that arts organizations may be making strategic reductions to their programming while focusing efforts on attracting and retaining more attendees for each program.

Source

It is somewhat encouraging to think that arts organizations are starting to do a better job of marketing and retaining audiences. There is some hope that some arts organizations may have a strategy that will enable their recovery. I would be interested to learn what steps organizations had taken to achieve that. I would be just as interested to learn that audiences are so eager to participate in these offerings, the arts organizations didn’t have to make much effort. (I am sure that is true in some communities, but unlikely true in general.)

My preference would be to stop reading on that page because the last section of the summary shows more organizations are running deficits or have an ever shrinking gap between revenue and expenses as well as dwindling reserves with which to cover deficits.

Finance, Fundraising, State of the Arts

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Being Clear About Who It Is For

September 8, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Seth Godin recently made a post on the question of “Who Is It For?” as a measure of the success of an endeavor. He says that while the concept of “maximizing shareholder value” is often cited, he has never met anyone who has adhered to this precept long term before finding it an empty measure.

I am a little skeptical that he is naive enough to think there are plenty of people who are completely comfortable employing that as a central operating philosophy.

He cites the example of a doctor who is focused on meeting patient needs and managers who reward employees for good customer service as instances when investing extra time is expensive short term, but can result in long term successes.

Godin goes on to detail a familiar debate in the arts world–the question of whether to produce works that engage the interest of visual and performing artists or works that will garner commercial success. He uses the example of visual artists and symphony musicians wanting to do challenging work which hones their craft and follow a creative path and the “audience is just one way to achieve that.”

He contrasts that with”

Others are eager to play crowd-pleasing programs, discovering that audience success rewards them even more than their own definition of artistry.

Source

He doesn’t make judgments about which is the better approach. Rather he says that often the stated values can conflict with the values that are actually practiced which can create confusion and inhibit the effectiveness of the organization. (My emphasis)

The conflict, in any organization, is a challenge. We’d like our team members to use their best judgment, to find the satisfaction they seek in their work. But what happens when these definitions of success don’t align?

Too often, management simply conceals what they really seek, or lies about it. If “employees are our most important asset” then why not act that way?

Let’s be clear about who it’s for and what it’s for. It makes decision making more productive and communication and measurement far more effective.

Source

Audience Relations, Leadership, Management Philosophy, Marketing/PR, Working In The Arts

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What Will Transit Cuts Mean For Philly Theater Audiences

September 3, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Funding cuts for Philadelphia’s transit system known as SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) is causing a lot of concern around that city. SEPTA runs both trains and buses. I have seen a lot of concern expressed by parents and schools about how students are going to be able to get to school.

I also recently saw an article discussing concerns theaters in the city have about how the cuts may impact attendance at performances. A survey by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance revealed a number of attendees either drove or took public transportation. Difficulty parking was identified as a major barrier to attendance and now there is a concern that lack of public transportation may become an issue as well.

As the technical report shared by the Alliance shows, 58% of people in the region drove to the theater venues, while 22% take public transportation, and 20% walk. The Philadelphia-only numbers are a little different — 39% of the city’s theater audiences drove to performances, a comparable 30% took public transit, and 32% walked.

The surveyed audience skews older: Most respondents were between 58 and 77, while only 7% of audience survey respondents and 11% of public opinion respondents fell into the Gen Z (18-25) bracket. Gen Z respondents named cost and the lack of transportation are the two biggest barriers to their participation.

Source

The article notes that most respondents were white, a small number were Black. Latine and Asian participation in the survey was nearly non-existent.

I wanted to point out that while transit cuts potentially impacting 30% of audiences living in Philadelphia, the fact that 32% of people walk to performances says something about the walkability of the city and the distribution of theaters relatively close to residential areas.

Arts Facilities, Audience Relations

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