Quotation of the day

October 15, 2010 by Greg Sandow

From Lawrence Goldman, CEO of NJPAC, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. He’s going to step down to run a new real estate corporation NJPAC is starting:

The arts centers that are going to be successful in the next decade or

two are the ones that diversify their revenues, The basic economic model of presentations, tickets sales and

fund-raising is beginning to break down.

Note that NJPAC has been highly successful. As a New York Times story (the source of the quote) noted:

The move does not reflect a state of emergency at the center, a need for

a quick infusion of money or any shift in priorities, Mr. Goldman said.

Rather, it represents a recognition that, given the economic climate,

it makes sense to develop alternative sources of income and to play a

more active role in animating the center’s neighborhood.

I don’t think it’s just arts centers. Orchestras, anyone? Opera companies? Music schools?

Comments

Paul H. Muller says

October 16, 2010 at 9:32 pm

I suppose any innovation in fund-raising should be welcomed, but isn’t this an implicit admission that the public cannot be counted on to support their organization? I understand that the economy is down and I don’t doubt the NJPAC offers a fine musical product, but are we going to have Brahms, Beethoven et al because the people want to hear this music or because the NJ real estate market is good?

The implication is that the public that wants Brahms and Beethoven can’t supply enough money to support those performances. So the institutions presenting Brahms and Beethoven have to develop new forms of funding. This has happened before, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, when non-profit institutions in the performing arts had to learn to raise money in all the ways we’re used to today. Now, it seems, we’re moving to yet another model.

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