The theater world in Milwaukee is reeling from the sudden announcement this week from Skylight Opera Theatre that they had dismissed their artistic director, and that the managing director would be taking over artistic leadership. Opinions are flying. Protests are planned (for this morning). Factions are forming. Petitions are posted.
The Playbill story on the subject claims this as the second such restructuring in an American Equity theater, the first being the BoarsHead Theatre in Lansing, MI. Both companies claimed financial hardship as the reason for the change. Both boards determined that eliminating their primary artistic leadership was the best way to continue operations and save the theater.
The implications of that choice, and the process by which it was selected, will be an on-going point of conflict in Milwaukee and in Lansing. On its face, it’s a troubling assumption that business leadership should trump artistic leadership in organizations committed to aesthetic mission. But clear already is how badly and opaquely the board of the Skylight managed the decision and its public conversation surrounding it (board president Suzanne Hefty has issued a statement here).
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal‘s theater critic Damian Jaques has the most balanced and reflective response I’ve seen so far on the subject, and his primary point captures the nut of the issue:
The foolishness of alienating customers — audiences — should be
obvious, but the boards and management of arts groups also need to
respect their artists. The people who make theater or music or dance
are not minimum wage employes who can be downsized in the dark of
night. Assuming we want artists in our midst, we must engage them when
difficult decisions have to be made, and give them a stake in our
cultural future. They may even have some fresh ideas on how to save a
buck…. Money may be short, but mutual respect and good judgment costs nothing.
For a great rundown of the responses and reports on the matter, see Leonard Jacobs’ great summary and insights at The Clyde Fitch Report.
I posted some further information about BoardHead on Monday…including their boards comments. Really bad trend.
http://bit.ly/rwrQ5
When a board dismisses artistic leadership and replaces it with or elevates the business leader, why is the default position necessarily one of the board and business side not showing mutual respect or good judgment. I don’t know of any place where artistic leadership anywhere has cornered the marketing on either respect or judgment.
That’s bad news…
I just finished a season-long apprenticeship at Actors Theatre of Louisville. You know, every theater is experiencing rough sailing, even ATL. One of their primary concerns is the Humana Festival, and, in an effort to keep the festival as full and rich as it’s always been, they’ve drastically cut their regular season.
A large part of the problem, I think, is the subscription model. It’s just old, and if you need proof of that then just take a look at the majority of your subscribers. They’re old! Subscribing to an entire season of productions is something that this new generation just doesn’t do. We don’t even subscribe to magazines — you can get them online for free!
Things won’t be this bad forever.
It’s sad times for Skylight. Trust is such a difficult thing to rebuild once it has been broken. The lesson for all arts organizations is, in this day and age of immediate communication and social media, to be on your toes and well prepared to make major organizational changes. It’s like going through a terrible and sudden divorce and not telling the children why – it will drive them crazy and lead them to hyperbolize the reasons. The internet doesn’t provide much room for reflection and fact gathering before rightfully upset people will gather and respond, so you must be prepared with the answers and exemplify honest transparency. If you don’t feed the beast, the beast will come after you.
Glad I found this page via Google!
and there’s plenty going on at the skylight this week too…
more here:
tuesdaysblog.com