How Theatres Can Combat the Stay-at-Home Mindset by Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal, December 25, 2013

Thoughts, numbers, analysis and a suggestion from the country's most peripatetic theatre critic:

How Theaters Can Combat the Stay-at-Home Mindset

by Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal

Dec. 25, 2013 1:43 p.m. ET

The house lights fade to black. The room falls still as an actor steps from the wings and speaks the simple words that set a plot in motion: "O for a Muse of fire." "Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve." "This play is called 'Our Town.'" Suddenly the outside world vanishes and you're swept into a parallel universe of excitement and adventure, poetry and magic, fear and hope.

That's what it feels like to go to the theater and see a great play. But when did you last do so? A week ago? A year? Or do you now prefer to stay home and watch cable television or use Netflix  to stream a movie?

If so, you're one of the reasons why live theater is in trouble.

Take a look at the National Endowment for the Arts' latest Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, the most statistically reliable study of its kind. Not only did "non-musical play attendance" drop to 8.3% from 12.3% of U.S. adults between 2002 and 2012, but attendance at musicals also fell, to 15.2% from 17.1%, the first time the latter figure has declined since 1985. That's really bad news. Musical comedy has always been live theater's bread and butter, the ever-popular fare that never fails to fill the seats. If fewer people want to see "Fiddler on the Roof" or "The Lion King," then the pillars that hold up American theater are crumbling.

A big part of the problem for New Yorkers is the horrifically high price of tickets to Broadway shows. But 63% of all Broadway tickets are bought by spendthrift tourists. Fortunately, off-Broadway and regional-theater seats don't cost nearly so much. I just saw a play in Boston, the Huntington Theatre Company's superb revival of A.R. Gurney's "The Cocktail Hour," for which tickets ranged from $25 to $95. (By contrast, the top ticket price for Broadway's "The Book of Mormon" is a whopping $299.) And the vast majority of professional stage productions, both in New York and in the rest of America, are presented by not-for-profit theaters like the Huntington. These companies, of which there are about 1,800, mounted 14,600 shows in the 2010-11 season, as opposed to 118 commercial productions on Broadway and elsewhere. Yet they, too, view the NEA's bad-news numbers with alarm, as they readily acknowledge. Even at the top-tier resident regional companies, subscription income, still considered the most reliable yardstick of a resident company's economic health, is much weaker: Adjusting for inflation, it's plummeted 13.7% since 2008.

What's gone wrong with theater? It isn't a matter of quality control. I've been reviewing performances from coast to coast since 2004, and I continue to be impressed by what I see. Instead, what I'm hearing from regional artistic directors is that they're being slammed by the on-demand mentality.

In 2004 the iPod was a novelty and tablet computers were a dream. Now we take for granted that we can see whatever we want whenever and wherever we want to see it, be it "Grand Illusion" or "Duck Dynasty." Is there a demonstrable link between our fast-growing taste for on-demand entertainment and the plight of live theater? As yet there's no definitive proof. But there's no question about the rise of the on-demand mentality, nor any doubt that theater's audience share is declining relative to that of other art forms that are accessible via the new media.

Let's look again at the NEA survey:

• A generational shift is occurring… Young people are more likely to use the new media to consume art of all kinds. The NEA reports, for instance, that 6.6% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 use handheld or mobile devices "to read, listen to, or download novels, short stories, or plays," versus 2.5% between the ages of 55 and 64.

• …and theater gets left in the lurch. At the same time, few Americans use the new media to watch plays. While 61% of all adults use "TV, radio or the internet to access art or arts programming," only 7% view stage plays or musicals on the electronic media. Disaggregate those numbers and the tendency is even clearer: 16% of all U.S. adults are using the new media to read fiction, as opposed to 3.4% who do so to view theater or dance performances.

Click to read more at the Wall Street Journal on-line

Playhouse's Tribe Brings Theatre to Teens, by Deborah Martin, San Antonio Express-News

 

Playhouse's Tribe brings arts to teens

By Deborah Martin  December 20, 2013

Daniel Quintero (photo: Jim Reel via San Antonio Express-News)SAN ANTONIO — Daniel Quintero remembers really, really wanting to be involved with theater, and not being entirely sure how to make that happen.

Quintero, 18, eventually found his way to The Playhouse San Antonio, scoring an internship and launching the Daniel the Intern blog, where he provides a behind-the-scenes look at goings-on at the theater.

A few months ago, he started working on a project to give other teens a similar experience.

“I want other kids that have that same yearning to have the opportunity to engage themselves in theater,” Quintero said. “I'm a senior (at Keystone School); I'll be gone in a year. I want to leave behind something I didn't have.”

That something is The Tribe, a group of high school and college students based at The Playhouse. The roughly 20 members — all of whom have made cash donations to the theater as part of the program, giving them a literal investment in the theater — help market The Playhouse. They also see Playhouse productions and serve as an informal welcoming committee at performances, chatting with audience members about the theater and whatever show is taking place. 

They've also helped facilitate events: Quintero recently mediated a Q&A following a performance of the play “Wittenberg” in the Cellar Theater.

They host some of their own events, too. Their first was a preview of the spring shows in the Cellar Theater; all of the Tribe members delivered spirited readings from the plays.

The program was modeled, in part, on the Young Adult Council, a teen group based at the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.

Amy Mireles, Naomi Villegas, Andrew Gutierrez (photo: Jim Reel via San Antonio Express-News)

Read more at San Antonio Express-News

Texas Cultural Trust Appoints Executive Director

 

 

 Texas Cultural Trust Gets New Leader
Jennifer Ransom Rice Steps Up as Executive Director

The Texas Cultural Trust—a nonprofit organization that since 1995 has promoted the importance of the arts in educating our children and sustaining our vibrant Texas economy—today announces that Jennifer Ransom Rice has been selected as the new executive director, effective July 15. She assumes this role following Amy Barbee, who stepped down after nine of the most fruitful and visible years in the Trust’s 18 year history. Most recently, Rice served as development director of the Trust, following 12-years experience at the State Capitol.

As executive director of the Texas Cultural Trust, Rice will continue to work to advocate for the arts in Texas, focusing on economic development and arts education, and bringing awareness of the arts to policy makers and elected officials. She will continue her involvement with the well-known biennial Texas Medal of Arts Awards, as well as the other diverse programs of the Trust.


“Jennifer has been an invaluable resource to the Trust since joining the organization almost four years ago,” said Karen Oswalt, Chair of the Texas Cultural Trust Board of Directors. “Her leadership and commitment to the Trust has raised the standard in stakeholder cultivation in the organization and we are thrilled to have her take the helm with this new challenge.”


Rice brings to the role decades of leadership in both her professional career and in her community involvement. Having served as chief of staff to State Senator Florence Shapiro and communications director for the State Comptroller, Rice brings a network of contacts and legislative knowledge that serves the Trust’s mission well. Further, she has taken the lead in many volunteer positions for numerous community organizations and efforts, particularly the arts, through her involvement with Art Alliance Austin, Texas Performing Arts, Zach Theatre, and the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . .

David Byrne's Advice to Arts Majors, Rachel Arons at the New Yorker magazine, June 8, 2013

David Byrne's advice to arts graduates: "You're screwed!"

June 6, 2013

David Byrne’s Advice

Posted by Rachel Arons

Despite the well-worn conventions of the commencement address, there’s something moving, even fun, about watching famed figures offer up advice and inspiration to graduating students each spring (Oprah sharing her journey from Southern poverty to media moguldom at Harvard was one highlight this year, as was Greil Marcus’s eloquent defense of popular art forms at the School of Visual Arts). But in these self-conscious, irony-drenched times, it may be inevitable that some speakers will attempt to avoid the clichés of the form, instead taking a less sentimental approach to the commencement speech. The musician, writer, playwright, visual artist, and bike enthusiast David Byrne delivered one such address on a recent Wednesday afternoon in the Miller Theatre at the Columbia University School of the Arts.

Carol Becker, the dean of faculty, opened the ceremony by ticking off an impressive list of School of the Arts alumni and their recent accomplishments: the filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and fiction writer Karen Russell are both alums, as is Ayad Akhtar, who won the Pulitzer Prize in drama this year for his play “Disgraced.” Thirty-four films by Columbia filmmakers were selected for the 2013 Sundance festival; sixteen were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards; and six faculty and alums were given Guggenheim fellowships. “In a very short time,” Becker told the assembled graduates, “you all will become part of the great story of success that is the School of the Arts.” Then the chair of the visual-arts program, Gregory Amenoff, took to the podium to recap some of Byrne’s multi-disciplinary career highlights. “Thank God we have a rocker onstage, thank God it’s not Ted Nugent,” he concluded to enthusiastic cheers, and then Byrne, wearing a pale-gray suit and white shoes, took the mic. “I thought it was an odd choice that the band played my song ‘Road to Nowhere’ as people were coming in,” he said wryly.

But “Road to Nowhere” was an apt prelude to Byrne’s speech (his first-ever commencement address), which focused on, of all things, the financial prospects of arts-program graduates. In a slide-show presentation on the auditorium’s projection screen, Byrne showed a series of graphs, based on information compiled by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), illustrating that if you chose a career in the arts you are, basically, screwed. A pie chart, based on 2011 data, showed that only three per cent of film and theatre grads, and five per cent of writing and visual-arts grads, end up working in their areas of concentration (forty-three percent work in the arts but outside of their specialties; forty-one per cent work outside of the arts altogether). A subsequent bar graph showed that, according to those stats, fourteen writing and fourteen Columbia visual-arts graduates will go on to careers in their fields, and eight theatre and eight film grads will go on to careers in theirs. “That’s the end of the charts,” Byrne said, after sharing another, which showed the median salaries of people working in the arts (between thirty-five and forty-five thousand dollars across all four sectors). “I’m glad you’re laughing.” (You can watch Byrne’s entire speech, and the rest of the ceremony, here.)

Click 'Read more' to continue or click here to go to the New Yorker magazine article on-line

National Endowment for the Arts Grants $40,000 to Creative Action to Train AISD Teachers in Arts-Based Education

This week the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that Austin’s Creative Action will receive a $40,000 NEA Art Works grant to support the “Creative Action In the Classroom” project.

This innovative project will allow Creative Action (formerly Theatre Action Project), in partnership with MINDPOP, to deliver powerful arts experiences to 2,500 AISD students, but it will also allow it to provide targeted professional development to teachers that will help them incorporate arts-based strategies as part of their teaching.

“What makes this project so important,” says Karen LaShelle, executive director of Creative Action, “it allows us to model and then train teachers on the effective strategies we use every day to inspire, engage and educate youth. Teachers can keep using those strategies across the curriculum making the entire educational experience more fun, more interactive and ultimately as studies have shown, more successful.”

Launched with in-depth research last year, the project is a collaboration among Creative Action, MINDPOP, Austin Independent School District and City of Austin. Creative Action staff will train a total of 125 classroom teachers in arts-based teaching strategies to support district-identified gaps in arts education.

According to a report published last year by the NEA, "The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth," at-risk students who have access to the arts in or out of school also tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement. The study reports these and other positive outcomes associated with high levels of arts exposure for youth of low socioeconomic status.

“Arts and social and emotional learning continue to be an important part of the curriculum in schools,” says LaShelle, “especially since we know that engaging youth creatively and supporting their personal growth is critical to student success.”

As Austin’s largest provider of after-school programming, arts enrichment, and character education programming in Central Texas, Creative Action serves more than 16,000 children and young people every year. The NEA grant marks a significant point of growth for Creative Action, which is already the largest arts-education organization in Central Texas. Last year, Creative Action won a $150,000 grant from Impact Austin for its “New Stages” youth ensemble and it was a finalist for the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, selected by the President’s Committee on the Arts.

Auditions for Actors and Performers for The Circus, Sky Candy Aerial Arts, March 22 - 24, 2013

Do you want to run away and join THE CIRCUS? Now is your chance!

Come audition for our next theatrical production! Auditions will be held at our studio by appointment only March 22nd-24th. E-mail Winnie at winnie@skycandyaustin.com to schedule your time!

All performers must come to the audition with a prepared monologue (2 minutes max) and ready to demonstrate any floor or aerial skills (3 minutes max) that may be applicable to the roles they are auditioning for. You may audition for a specific role or let us know if you are interested in/open to multiple roles.

Characters
Danielle – The Teenage Runaway (acting and parkour OR aerials)
Bruno – The Magnificent Lion (acting and parkour OR aerials)
Horatio Piccolo – The Ringmaster, father of Aldo & Zita (acting)
Joe – The Strongman (acting and feats of strength and aerials)
Zita Piccolo – Trapeze Artist Female (acting and static trapeze)
Aldo Piccolo – Trapeze Artist Male (acting and static trapeze)
Oscar – Gorilla (acting and aerials)
Wilde – The Man in Gorilla Suit (acting and aerials)
Anya – The Snake Charmer (acting)
Snake (aerials)
Commander Zippo – Clown #1 (acting and clowning)
Flippy the Happy Clown – Clown #2 (acting and clowning)
Sergeant Tippyhorse / Horse Puppeteer – Clown #3 (acting and clowning)
Miguel – The First Liontamer (acting)
Crew #1 (acting and aerial rigging lead)
Crew #2 (acting and stagehanding)
Rosemary – The Woman in White (static trapeze)

Georgetown Palace Appoints Marissa Austin to New Post of Executive Director

 

Marissa Austin (image via Hanover College)

The Board of Directors for Georgetown Palace Theatre, Inc., has hired its first executive director. Marissa Austin, new to Georgetown (and Texas), has most recently served as the director for external relations for the Rivers Institute at Hanover College in Indiana and is currently teaching college-level theatre courses for Concordia University. Marissa’s work with the Palace Theatre begins per contract on January 1, 2013, although she will be getting to know the members of the Board and other staff personnel through November and December.

Marissa earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre Arts at Concordia University, St. Paul MN. Her graduate studies were also done there, resulting in a Master of Arts Degree in Organizational Management. Relevant experience prior to her current involvement includes posts as director for alumni relations (Dubuque IA); administrative manager, College of Graduate and Continuing Studies (St. Paul MN); and event manager and office coordinator for conference and event services (St. Paul MN).

Ms. Austin’s job description as executive director includes managing the Palace’s vision and representing the Palace to the community. She will plan, direct, and develop a comprehensive advancement program among the community, corporate donors, and individual friends of the Palace Theatre. While income generation is job number one for this position, Marissa will also assume leadership of the Palace’s day-to-day administrative operations, overseeing the budget and strategic plan. The new executive director, in partnership with Artistic Director Mary Ellen Butler, will also oversee the raising of the revenues necessary to assure a sound financial base.

Marissa is married to Joe Austin, recently employed at Southwestern University in Georgetown to re-develop a major football program for the institution. They live in Georgetown.

The Historic Palace Theatre is located at 810 South Austin Avenue in downtown Georgetown and is part of the most beautiful Town Square in Texas!

Upcoming: 'Inside Theatre' Experience with Amparo Garcia-Crow, July 29 - August 6

Received directly:

Hi Michael,

We've seen your website about theater in Austin and think that you may be interested in an event we are promoting on 1000passions.com. We are a new website where people can buy unique personal experiences providing behind the scenes access to the worlds of art, crafts, music, food, film, sports, theater and nature.

We're launching our site with an amazing Inside Theater event in Austin Texas, with acclaimed writer/director Amparo Garcia Crow. This is a private group experience in which one can observe and participate in the creation of an original theatrical piece. You can read more about this experience at http://bit.ly/q7JkWR.

Please feel free to share this opportunity with your audience, and stay in touch for many more exciting experiences in Austin!

The 1000passions team
1000passions.com


Inside Theater: One Person Show
Observe the process of how a theatrical piece is conceived, step by step, by spending the day with acclaimed writer and director Amparo Garcia-Crow. You’ll have the chance to witness a work in development, with the unique opportunity of being able to contribute to its creation.

Amparo has been developing a series of interactive one woman shows starring Aralyn Hughes, iconic artist and performer, documenting Aralyn’s life and work over the course of a year. The current show is called The Moving Brunch, and you’re invited in on the fun. As part of your experience, you’ll spend the day with the director and actor as they rehearse, taking on an active role if you desire by giving feedback and interacting with the show and its content. You’ll then return to see the show performed live (August 7th), and possibly participate as well, if your interaction proved integral to the material. Plans are being made to turn the series into a documentary film.

Join us for this unique chance to see how a show is brought to life, and experience cutting edge theater from the inside!

Amparo Garcia-Crow is an award winning, multi-disciplinary artist who acts, sings, directs and writes plays, screenplays and songs. Her half hour film, “Loaves and Fishes” (which she also stars in) aired on the PBS series “Territories”, after premiering at SXSW Film Festival and the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. As an actress Amparo has performed at the Kennedy Center and other regional theaters in the Southwest. As a director, she has received the prestigious NEA/TCG Director’s Fellowship and has worked on new play development at various theaters including the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. A collection of her work “Between Misery and the Sun: The South Texas Plays” was published by No Passport Press in February 2009.

Price: $475 for a group of up to 3 people. Duration 5 hours. Price includes organic lunch and snacks, as well as a ticket to the performance.

Internet Arts Writer Rainey Knudson on Prospects for Arts Journalism, NEA blog 'Art Works,' July 22

Article at Art Works, the NEA blog, via e-mail from You've Cott Mail (www.ThomasCott.com):

Commentary

50% of arts journalism jobs were lost in last 5-8 years. What's next?

Rainey Knudson, Founder of Texas visual arts website Glasstire.com, at NEA Art Works blog, 7/22/11

In recent years, there's been a groundswell of recognition about the alarming state of arts journalism. Witness the current collaboration between the Knight Foundation and the NEA; or the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program; or the Warhol Foundation's Arts Writing Initiative. The sense of urgency has resulted in a bit more funding for some writers, which is a good start.

The truth is, if we can just crack the nut of paying great art critics a living wage, then the arts journalism of the near future has the potential to be radically more effective, with far greater reach, than the old print model that has crumbled around us. In their conversation on this blog, the NEA's Joan Shigekawa and the Knight Foundation's Dennis Scholl cite a study that found that 50% of local arts journalism jobs have been lost in the past five to eight years. It's a shocking number, but in addition to spurring us all to action, it should also politely beg the question of how vital those critics were if their jobs (and their papers) wilted so suddenly.

There's probably a reason that that brand of arts journalism is dying, and it's not solely that advertising dollars are migrating away from print.

Arts journalism in the heyday of the daily newspaper got concentrated in the hands of too few people. For some of them, the easiest route was to applaud every show they wrote about, or to only cover their small coterie of friends. Bloggers and web startups said, "We can make this more fun, more entertaining, more vital, for way less money." Now those bloggers and websites are playing an ever-more critical role in arts journalism, and they themselves have to figure out how to pay their writers. The nut's going to get cracked; we're all just figuring out exactly how.

- - You can read the transcript of the conversation between Shigekawa and Scholl here.

Statesman Profiles Financial Difficulties of Austin's Large Arts Organizations

In the edition of Sunday, July 24, Statesman arts editor Jeanne Claire van Ryzin outlines the rapid expansion since the 1990's of Austin's large arts organizations and the financial strains for many. (The Zach Theatre, Ballet Austin and the Austin Classical Guitar Society are in good shape.)

Austin arts groups feel strains of growth

by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

Since 2000, the annual price tag on the arts has mushroomed, challenging arts leaders to find more money each year to keep the cultural offerings in step with Austin's growing population. Top, Zach Theatre's Topfer Theatre construction site, where $18 million of the $22 million needed for the project has been raised. Bottom, AMOA and Arthouse, which are discussing a possible merger.

Read more at the Statesman on-line . . . .

Guitar society teaches how to expand wisely

by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

Though it doesn't rank among the largest Austin arts organizations, the Austin Classical Guitar Society serves as a remarkable example of the growth of the city's cultural character.

A decade ago, the society was an all-volunteer organization with a budget of $38,399. Now it's set to finish its current fiscal year with a professional staff and a budget of $515,000 — a whopping 1,241 percent growth rate financially. In terms of budget, the Austin group is now the largest classical guitar society in the country. And it's a fiscally sound organization, its leaders report, running in the black.

Read more at the Statesman on-line . . . .

The Creative Fund Launches, June 28

Found on-line at Twitter and at www.Tribeza.com:

The Creative Fund
Tuesday, June 28
6-8pm
Malverde Restaurant

A group of like-minded, passionate individuals decided to launch the Creative Fund so they could fund performing arts programs all over Austin. Attend this public launch event and help this project reach its goals by becoming new members. Light bites and drink specials will be provided by the lovely Malverde. To RSVP, email thecreativefund@gmail.com.

Future website of The Creative Fund: www.thecreativefundatx.org/

@CreativeFund Austin, TX

The Creative Fund will start making breakthrough works of art happen in any venue in Austin. Launching June 28th, 2011.

http://www.facebook.com/thecreativefund

From Facebook:

Founded	June 2011
Location	Austin, TX

Company Overview	The Creative Fund is a collective group of like-minded, arts-focused, passionate individuals coming together to support emerging and innovative arts organizations and individuals. The Creative Fund was born out of a love to support local arts.
Description	Board Members: Scott Lawrence, Board Chair KD Hausenfluck, Vice Chair Michael McGill, Treasurer Emily Torgerson, Secretary Amy Holloway, Austin Creative Alliance Board Appointee Dave Floyd, Membership Chair Michelle Alvarez-Olson, Membership Chair Pat Butcha, Program Chair Ariel Zarate-Carmona, Program Chair Reed Arnos, Fundraising Chair Katie Osbourne Dustin Little
General Information	The Creative Fund operates under the umbrella of the Austin Creative Alliance (ACA), a 501c3 corporation. All cash and in-kind donations collected by The Creative Fund are processed through ACA and are considered tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Mission	Our mission is to fund new and innovative performing arts at any venue in Austin.

Email	TheCreativeFund@gmail.com
Website	http://www.TheCreativeFundATX.org

Arts Reporting: 2011 Critics' Table Awards for Theatre

Jeanne Claire van Ryzin of the Statesman lists the performers and performances most favored by the arts writers from the Austin Statesman and the Austin Chronicle for May, 2010 - May 2011. It's a mostly middle-brow selection. Most prominently represented are the Zach Theatre and the Rude Mechs. Special recognition goes to Jude Hickey of the DA! collective, Dustin Wills' "Heddatron" crowd from the Salvage Vanguard, Capital T's Artistic Director Mark Pickell, Texas State musicals, and St. Edward's graduating senior Jon Wayne Martin.

THEATRE

Production, Drama

(blank) [@travisbedard reports that the award went to Spirits to Enforce by Capital T Theatre, directed by Gary Jaffe]

Production, Comedy
“Becky’s New Car,” Zach Theatre

Production, Musical
“The Drowsy Chaperone,” Zach Theatre
“I’ve Never Been So Happy,” Rude Mechs

Theatrical Event
“You Wouldn’t Know Her, She Lives in London,” The Hidden Room Theatre/Look Left Look Right

Click 'Read more' to view additional theatre recognition; Click here to see the full list given at the Statesman's Austin 360 Seeing Things blog

Budget Update from Texas Commission for the Arts, May 17

Just received via a non-profit arts organization:

May 17, 2011
TCA Legislative Update

Late yesterday, the Joint Conference Committee adopted the Senate's version of the budget regarding the Texas Commission on the Arts. This includes a budget of $3.7 million annually (a reduction of approximately 50%) and a 30% staff reduction (down to 12 employees).

The other option under consideration that did not pass was the House version of the budget which would have resulted in the transfer of an additional $3.5 million from TCA to the Department of Aging and Disability Services. Passage of that version of the budget could have resulted in TCA's closure.

Next steps are adoption of a final budget which must then be signed by Governor Rick Perry. Governor Perry has up to three weeks following the end of session on May 30th to veto specific aspects of the budget.

TCA will continue to provide updates on the legislative process. In the meantime, questions should be directed to Gary Gibbs, TCA executive director, at <gary.gibbs@arts.state.tx.us> or Gaye Greever McElwain, TCA director of communications at <gaye@arts.state.tx.us>.

Seeking the Millennials - Michael Kaiser and the Response

Thomas Cott's "You've Cott Mail" today provides a snapshot of Kennedy Center director Michael Kaiser's lament over the "millennials" (those Americansjust now reaching adulthood), a retort, and some statistics:

Commentary: We need to do 'remedial work' to bring Millennials to the arts

Michael Kaiser, The Huffington Post, 4/4/11

One of the major new initiatives I announced for the Kennedy Center's 2011-2012 season was a project aimed at bringing "20 somethings" into the theater. We in the arts face a major problem: we now have an entire generation of young people who do not go to theater, concerts, dance performances or operas. If we don't address this problem we will not have the subscribers, single ticket buyers, donors, volunteers and board members we need to sustain our organizations in twenty years as the members of this group hit their 40s and 50s. The arts have survived and grown in this nation because there is always a new group of middle aged people who replace their parents as our supporters. But the current group of twenty-year-olds (deemed the Millennials) does not have any experiences with us. Will they be there for us when we need them? The goal of our Millennials project is to do remedial work; to bring a group of Millennials into our theaters often enough that they build a habit of arts participation. We are attempting to attract this group with targeted marketing, ticket pricing incentives, and especially repertory that is attractive to them but also stretches their comfort zones. We also hope to develop enough projects that allow them to interact with artists and art forms and to participate in art making. We cannot do this alone. Our hope is that every major arts organization will join in this fight.

Click to read a response and to view relevant statistics at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Texas Legislature Budget Hearings: Arts Update (No Improvement)

Received from the Texas Commission on the Arts, March 8

(illustration provided by AustinLiveTheatre.com):

March 8, 2011
TCA Legislative Update

The 82nd Texas Legislature continues in Austin and the Texas Commission on the Arts has been involved in several meetings of interest to constituents.

On February 24th, TCA went before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government. TCA thanked the Subcommittee for the support demonstrated for the agency in HB1, the House Appropriations Bill. HB1 is the House version of the Texas state budget.

TCA also requested the Subcommittee reinstate several items to the proposed budget. These include:

- Restoration of funding for TCA’s contract for systems programming services which supports TCA’s online grants system.
- Restoration of five Full Time Employees and their salaries. Positions include 2 Program Administrators, 1 Program Assistant, Webmaster, and Director of Communications.
- An additional $2 million for the Arts Create grant category.


On Monday, February 28th, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government met to discuss their recommendations to the full House Appropriations Committee. TCA’s request for the restoration of items into the budget was not included and no changes were made to the original recommendations in HB1.

HB1 recommendations remain as originally reported:

- Budget reduction of approximately 50% as compared to the last biennium (this includes the grants budget)
- Reduction of 30% of TCA staff (a loss of 5 staff positions)
- Elimination of funding for advertising, promotion and cultural tourism
- Elimination of the contract for TCA's online grant system
- Reduction of 40% to TCA's travel budget

On Monday, March 7th, TCA went before the Senate Finance Committee. SB1, the Senate version of the appropriations bill, matches the recommendations in HB1 (see above). TCA again requested reinstatement of the grants system contract and the 5 Full Time Employee positions, as well as $2 million for Arts Create grants.

Public testimony was provided by representatives of Texans for the Arts, the Texas Cultural Trust, and the Texas Travel Industry Association.

TCA will continue to provide updates on the legislative process. In the meantime, questions should be directed to Gary Gibbs, TCA executive director, at ggibbs@arts.state.tx.us or Gaye Greever McElwain, TCA director of communications at gaye@arts.state.tx.us.

Upcoming: Round Rock's Public Sessions on Strategic Plan for Arts & Culture, January 20

From the website of the City of Round Rock:

Arts and culture community discussion sessions

January 20, 7 a.m. - 9 a.m., noon - 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

McConico Building Community Room

January 20, 7 a.m. - 9 a.m., noon - 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

301 W. Bagdad Avenue, Round Rock, Texas 78664 (Map)

The City of Round Rock invites you to coffee and conversation to discuss your thoughts on arts and culture. This will be the first in a series of three public workshops as the City embarks on a strategic plan and implementation guide to support the arts.

There will be three get togethers on Jan. 20: a morning session from 7 to 9 a.m., afternoon from noon to 2 p.m. and evening from 5 to 7 p.m.

A flourishing artistic and cultural environment enhances the quality of life for residents and has proven to be an effective economic development tool for communities across the country. In short, success and rapid growth has in some ways created a cultural gap that needs to be filled in Round Rock. Filling this gap will help retain and attract residents, a competitive workforce, and ensure that Round Rock is a destination of choice. With your input we believe the initiatives that evolve out of the plan can lead to outcomes that promote civic pride, differentiate the city within the region, and play an important role in sustainable economic development through the power of the arts.

New York City-based H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, LLC, and Webb Management Services, Inc., have been retained by the City to complete the study. Both are nationally recognized firms in providing cultural programming, research, planning, design, and fundraising initiatives for public and private sector clients. H3 was recently named one of the top five design firms for cultural facilities by New York Construction Magazine.

For more information, please contact Nancy Yawn at (512) 218-7094.