Attached is the text from an article referenced in a
recent Opera America email. In case the link no
longer functions, the text is below. Originally
published in The Washington Post in December, it was
written by the president of The Kennedy Center.
The Opera America web site has good information about
the state of opera in the US.
Enjoy -
DM
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To view the entire article, go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46119-2002Dec27.html
How to Save the Performing Arts
By Michael M. Kaiser
The world of the performing arts is sick and needs
attention. Several underlying problems currently
affecting the ecology of the arts were in evidence
long before the stock market collapse and Sept. 11,
2001. They need to be addressed, not simply accepted
as an unsolvable result of the environment in which we
live.
The arts world needs leadership. It needs concerted
action. And it needs them fast. There are five key
issues that must be addressed if we are to solve the
problems arts organizations face today.
1. Such organizations must once again be willing to
develop and implement large-scale, important projects
that are risky and energizing. The arts world used to
produce numerous big, daring projects each year: the
construction of major arts facilities from Lincoln
Center to the Kennedy Center, the production of
large-scale dramatic works, such as "Nicholas
Nickleby," the mounting of new Ring Cycles, even by
small opera companies. It wasn't so long ago that
Alvin Ailey or George Balanchine would create four or
five or even six new works in a season. Now a
choreographer is lucky to be able to produce one major
work a year.
We have been scared into thinking small. And small
thinking begets smaller revenue that begets even
smaller institutions and reduced public excitement and
involvement. No wonder so many arts organizations are
announcing record deficits.
The Sondheim Celebration we mounted this summer at the
Kennedy Center is one example of the kind of project I
am hoping to see duplicated by others. We took a large
but measured risk, and it paid off handsomely. The
level of press coverage was phenomenal. The way the
Kennedy Center is perceived has changed dramatically.
We will never be the same institution again. We must
all be thinking large and creatively at this time.
That is what the arts are about.
2. If arts organizations, large and small, are going
to take risks on meaningful projects and maximize
their impact, they need entrepreneurial management
better suited to the current climate in which they
operate. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent
throughout the world each year training young
performers, but only a small fraction of that amount
is devoted to training the people who will employ and
market these performers. While several universities
mount arts management programs, they are not
sufficient to fill all our needs. There is no shortage
of great artists in this world, but there is a
shortage of trained, skilled managers.
We are operating in a highly challenging environment,
and only the most sophisticated managers will be able
to acquire the support needed to help their
organizations thrive. I hope serious arts funders will
begin to pay far more attention to this need;
otherwise, we will see a serious decline in arts
institutions throughout the world.
3. As we train arts managers, we must actively focus
on the needs of all kinds of arts organizations.
The arts world is moving close to becoming a virtual
cartel of a few large mainstream organizations that
survive and thrive. This would be catastrophic. A
healthy arts ecology demands that we have large and
small organizations, mainstream and edgy, and of all
ethnic backgrounds. The theater world, for example,
has lost many of its minority organizations in the
past few years. Those that remain are terribly small
compared with their white counterparts.
We who run large arts organizations have become so
scared about keeping our organizations solvent that we
have forgotten we will have a healthy arts environment
only if we support the smaller and diverse
organizations that create great works, great artists
and new audiences. The tradition that created the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico
and the now-defunct Crossroads Theater is close to
evaporating.
4. The need for diversity in performers and performing
institutions is equally strong with respect to
audiences. Alvin Ailey said that "dance is for
everyone." I know he meant that "art is for everyone."
We are heading toward a world where only white,
upper-middle-class people come to the theater, because
only white, upper-middle-class children are being
exposed to the theater. Public school arts education
is virtually dead, not just in the United States but
in most countries.
The Kennedy Center, like most arts organizations, has
jumped into the breach. We spend $15 million each year
on arts education, working actively with 5 million
children around the United States. But our efforts are
not coordinated with those of other arts
organizations, and the arts exposure enjoyed by
virtually every child is episodic. For some children
in some schools, the exposure is tremendous; other
children may get no arts programming for years. We owe
every child in this nation a chance to experience the
joy of self-expression, the power of discipline and
the self-fulfillment of achievement that come from the
performing arts.
5. Finally, we must address the need to record the
performances of merit that are mounted each day of the
year.
The collapse of the recording industry, the lack of
resources available to public broadcasting to record
performances and the prohibitive costs of producing
recordings and videos mean that it is easier to obtain
a recording of Enrico Caruso than of most great opera
singers today. We need the support of PBS, the unions
and all artists to ensure that an entire generation of
performances is not lost.
This is critical if we are to create the history of
performance and creativity that inspires future
generations and that allows for performances enjoyed
by a few to be available to many. The Kennedy Center
broadcasts on the Internet the daily free concerts we
give on our Millennium Stage. But so many more
performances in our halls and in theaters around the
world go unrecorded.
If we can take all these necessary steps, we will
create an arts ecology that can withstand the horrors
of terrorism, economic decline and social unrest. If
we don't, even a healthy economic and social climate
will not save us.
The writer is president of the John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts.
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