Tina Mion’s Stop-Action Reaction – Jacqueline Kennedy, King of Hearts. 1997. I was immediately and profoundly moved upon encountering it at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC years ago.
“Perfect moments.” That’s the beautiful insight that David Ira Goldstein, the beloved Artistic Director Emeritus of Arizona Theatre Company shared with me during my tenure as his administrative partner as ATC’s Interim Managing Director.
When the story is compelling… when the direction is inspired… when the actors’ delivery is flawless… when the set design is beautiful… when the sound is resonant… when the house is full… when the audience is generous… when the stars align…
That’s (some of) what it takes to lose oneself in a perfect moment of theatre; when distractions fade and you find yourself wholly-immersed in a story, a character, a gesture, a word, a sound, a feeling.
I don’t know about you, but I live for those moments.
And they’re not confined to the theatre. I’ve had them at concerts. I’ve had the breath knocked out of me by works of art in museum galleries. (Click the link on Tina Mion’s artwork.) I’ve been captivated by street performers. I’ll even admit to sobbing at movies, though careful to recognize the difference between having my emotions manipulated versus being deeply engrossed in a character. Remember when the Mets won the World Series in 1986? Yes, that produced such a moment, too. (Sorry Bill Buckner and Red Sox fans.)
For those who philosophize about the purpose of art, I have no qualm with definitions grounded in the virtues of creative expression, the nature of perception, and the pursuit of beauty.
But for all my intents and purposes, art is about “Engagement.”
It’s about transporting someone – or many people – into another’s perspective. It’s the ultimate expression of empathy. It’s about delivering an impactful interpretation of a direct experience. As Picasso said, “Art is a lie that tells the truth.”
“Engagement” means that an experience has been delivered and an impression has been left behind; not merely the memory of watching an event or activity, but the sense of having experienced it directly. What’s left occupies the most precious of mental space, adjacent to my wedding, the birth of my children, the passing of my Grandfather, the completion of my first marathon.
Since the launch of this blog in 2011, I’ve focused on “audience development’ as a strategic and tactical extension of an arts & cultural organization’s mission and marketing plan. Previously, I would have said that the primary function of “audience development” is to attract the attendance and revenue of attendees.
That’s no longer enough.
Though arts & cultural organizations must surely continue to grow attendance and revenue and serve relevance to the breadth of the communities they serve, there’s an even greater imperative.
Despite all the wonder and potential of this moment, we live in angry and divisive times. We live in a sense of hyper-awareness, charged by technologies of instant and constant communication. We live in times of rapid change, but with a trajectory that is not always clear. We live in times of suspicion, worry, and fear. We live amidst undeniable and untenable injustice. We live in a time of cynicism and withdrawal.
In other words, we live in a time when the very qualities of eagerness, openness, and trust necessary to the formation of audiences – the same qualities necessary to form communities – is under threat.
“Audience development” needs to be seen as more than the process of gathering bodies and revenue. It must also be about the fostering of spirit by which people come together.
“Audience development” can, today, reflect the reality that many other types of entities (i.e. companies, associations, causes, academic institutions, and communities) also aspire to the same eagerness, openness and trust support of their own customers and constituencies.
To practice “audience development” we must all recognize the responsibility to be worthy of that trust… to take our audiences, customers, and communities on a journey toward something constructive.
Please take a look at my updated ABOUT AUDIENCE WANTED post for an even fuller explanation of this aspiration and how I intend to address the topic of “audience development” in this blog going forward.
As I’ve stated before, non-profit arts & cultural organizations cannot survive if positioned merely as the beneficiary of a community’s attention and generosity. We must assert responsibility to drive the economy, education and inclusive spirit of our communities, and of our nation.
Artistry and empathy are among our “superpowers.” Other kinds of companies and organizations bring their own special powers.
Our shared responsibility must be to community betterment.
How do we bring people together in these divisive times? How do we instill optimism yet address painful conversations? How do we strengthen patriotism and justice while cultivating compassion and respect? How do we pursue strength without magnifying fear? How do we move forward, without triggering the knee-jerk reactions that prompt retreat?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. Do you? Does anybody?
So, we must keep asking them.
We must keep offering “perfect moments” that deliver the opportunity to experience – and appreciate – the world from the perspective of others. “Audience Development” is no longer just about greater marketing – it’s about bringing people together toward shared experience and mutual understanding.
It’s about giving space for education, expression, and dialogue.
That’s why I say, #EngagementisEverything.
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Thank you for this very well-written and thoughtful essay. Expression, dialog, compassion, shared experience, understanding the lives of others. These, of course, have been the purpose of art from time immemorial. So what went wrong? Why are we turning to them as if they were new ideas? How did we forget?
The 1930s and 40s were a great era for exactly the kind of art you describe. Those values were immortalized in works like Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath,” Dorothea Lange’s photography of the poor, Diego Rivera’s murals, and in plays like Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and “All My Sons.” In music and ballet, it was embodied in the communal spirit of works like Copland’s and Graham’s “Appalachian Spring.”
But then the great purge began. Steinbeck, Copland, Miller, and countless other artists were persecuted by HUAC, and to great detriment to the careers, works, and mental health. Rivera’s murals were scraped off walls. Public programs for the support of the arts were eradicated.
HUAC, the Truman Loyalty Acts hounded socially oriented artists. The CIA’s covert covert front organization called the Congress for Cultural Freedom had the specific aim of moving art away from social realism. A fanatic anti-Rooseveltian ethos defined the values of the era and metastasized into McCarthyism.
Social realism, with its concepts of dialog, compassion, and understanding the lives of others was replaced with an apolitical abstract expressionism. Compassion and a communal spirit in art was all but defined as subversive. So now, 70 years later, we talk about compassion, dialog, and communal understanding as if they are new ideas in the arts. In many respects, this is a measure of our loss of culture, and how deeply brainwashed we became.
We should also note that this era was followed by the era of neoliberalism, which proposes that the market should be be the ultimate arbitor of almost all human endeavor, including the arts. Marketing thus subsumed higher ideals in the arts like compassion and communal understanding. Truth and caring are often something less than profitable…
William, Thank you very much for this historical perspective. For those interested in learning more about the movement of (and away from) social realism, might you suggest any readings or resources? Thanks.
There are many books about HUAC, but unfortunately I don’t know any that focus specifically on the arts outside the film industry. That’s an unfortunate omission (or perhaps my ignorance?,) but Hollywood is a good place to start since it was massively attacked, and with far-reaching consequences. See:
“Hollywood on Trial: McCarthyism’s War Against the Movies” by Michael Freedland
For the activities of the CIA against social realism and left wing artists, I highly recommend “The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters” by Frances Stonor Saunders. This book is a real eye opener on many levels.
A good book about the WPA and its enormous physical and social accomplihsments is “American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work” by Nick Taylor. By seeing how much was accomplished, we gain a sense of how much has been lost by not continuing with similar programs for the arts.
I would also suggest, “Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America Hardcover” by David A. Taylor. He studies how the the WPA projects helped shape American social movements even after the New Deal programs were shut down. His ideas also help one understand how things might have been different if the programs or something similar to them had continued.
For more casual reading, another interesting source is the Autobiography of Charlie Chaplin. He devotes a good deal of space to his experiences with McCarthyism. It’s valuable because one gains a feel for how these events affected lives on a personal level. He was literally driven from the country. And it’s just plain fun reading.
Another good book that gives a personal feel is the biography of the screen writer Dalton Trumbo by Bruce Alexander Cook. The film by Jay Roach based on the book is also very well done.
I’m no expert in these matters, far from it. There might be other readers who have better suggestions. If so, I hope they’ll chime.
If anyone is interested in some simple, quick reading, check out the wiki article about the New Deal’s Federal Theatre Project.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Theatre_Project
Through it, the USA had a state theater system from 1935 to 1939. It was similar to what the Europeans still have to this day. It employed 15,000 people and created 1200 productions. During its nearly four years of existence it played to 30 million people in more than 200 theaters nationwide. It also played in parks, plazas, and other outdoor venues. One of the first acts of HUAC, which had been newly formed in 1939, was to shut down America’s state theater system because they felt it was too leftist. The ironies are like something out of a dystopian novel, except that they are real.
My apologies for these long posts, but the topic of compassion and social engagement in the arts leads to some interesting history, Thank you so much for addressing the topic in such a thoughtful way.
William, thank you very much for these reading and resource suggestions! I look forward to exploring them myself – and imagine many others will, too.