Message to arts organizations in this financial milieu: “Do not cut programming! Do not cut marketing!” This is the clarion call from none other than Michael Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a man who has been engaged in a long history of both.
Kaiser has embarked on a national tour for “Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative”, where he addresses the challenges facing non-profit performing arts organizations through such areas as fundraising, building more effective Boards of Trustees, budgeting and marketing.
Last week was 'Delaware Day”. Through the efforts of Paul Weagraff, ED of the DE Division of the Arts, a formidable crowd of statewide arts advocates assembled at the baby grand. To a man/woman, we are all feeling the pressures and looking for insights, collaborations use of social networking and guerrilla ideas
to let us continue down this yellow brick road toward both artistic achievement and black ink.
This is an emergency. We are in Code Red. Let's not quibble. To quote our Favorite Son: “This is a big blankity blank deal.”
The initiative, created by Kaiser, provides free and confidential planning assistance in areas pertinent to maintaining a vital organization in a troubled economy. Presently the program is working with near 500 organizations in 40 states. More than 120 experienced US arts leaders volunteer their time to serve as mentors to groups in need.
The performing arts (for those troglodytes who wish to cut funding) add $300 billion to the economy annually. 70% of foreign tourists are 'cultural tourists'. If you are more concerned with where Michael Vick or Don McNabb plays in the fall (with their vainglorious salaries) consider this: more tickets are sold to arts events than sporting events.
Are there quick fixes? Not unless leaders get creative real fast. Here are some excerpts from Kaiser's inspiring conversation with his audience, some of whom journeyed from Kent and Sussex County:
1.Raising ticket prices in NOT the short term answer. It disenfranchises a whole group of people who heretofore were passionate about your product but now can not afford the price.
2.Program to serve the WHOLE community
3.Think collaboratively with other non-profits and find a common ground. For example, 1st State Ballet Theatre staging Prokofiev's “Peter and the Wolf” with Delaware Symphony; Hagley Museum staging a Living History musical on the du Pont family; Nemours opening itself up to anything community related.
4.Keep Face Book and Twitter updated daily. Change the content. The viral networking will aid in reaching both younger and new ticket buyers.
5.Build 'drama' in your programming, as opposed to creating expensive new projects.
6.Create a 5 Year Plan. This for a few reasons. It gives you time to work through the process and it also excites your staff and your donors for what is to come.
7.Take Risks. Surprise your audience. Dream.
8.Create trans formative marketing. Do something strange.
Showing posts with label delaware division of arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label delaware division of arts. Show all posts
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Sunday, January 4, 2009
A 3rd Financial Revolution Needed for Delaware
So you say you want a Revolution, yeah, yeah, yeah? Delaware has experienced two financial revolutions; 1902 and 1972. Both fundamentally changed the course of our history. We need another one in 2009.
1902 - When the three duPont cousins, A.I., P.S., and T. Coleman bought the 100 year old company, the impact to the state was transcendent. Elderly and infirmed family members wanted to sell the gunpowder works on the banks of the Brandywine to an out-of-state competitor. A I argued that this was his birthright. $2100.00 was the total cash outlay the three whippersnappers paid (attorney fee!); the purchase being in bonds back to the family. That fact, allied with the eventual purchase of the competing company, only added to the legend of this seminal event.
No need to speculate on what Delaware would be without DuPont's presence and philanthropy over 207 years. Ergo...Delaware became the Chemical Capitol of the World...my father had lifetime employment and my dear sister Liz and I grew up in middle class America.
1972 – Another duPont, small “D” - Governor Pete - spearheaded the Financial Center Development Act allowing credit card banks to headquarter here with no cap on usury / interest rates. Ergo...The Credit Card Capitol of the World.
2009 is the time to become The Media Capitol of the US.
Dubai, nestled in the financial crossroads of the Middle East, has created a model whose mission is to become the enabling hub of all things media-relevant in the region, if not the world. It is called Dubai Media City (DMC).
Consider if all land from 4th and Market Streets to include the entire Riverfront became Delaware's “Media City”.
Dubai's vision is to create a world-class environment for every kind of media business, which broadly includes media and marketing services, printing and publishing, music, film, new media, leisure and entertainment, broadcasting and information agencies.
In 1902 the cousins' perspicacity transitioned the company from gunpowder to chemicals. The same visionary thinking was extant in 1972. In Jack Markell we have a non-bureaucratic, “Delaware state of mind”. (First State attributes to The Piano Man).
In Dubai - in this dedicated media zone - all media businesses are given the freedom to create. DMC offers support services, interest breaks on capital improvement, tax-free income, no corporate tax and discounted rentals on office space. Infrastructure considerations include the highest levels of IT and telephony. DMC also offers easy access to decision makers. (That in itself would be a great asset here where “you're only a phone call away”.
Freelancers in the industry are given allowances to reside there. In fact, DMC solicits young, talented workers. They understand that the world – per Thomas Friedman - is flat and that we need the perspectives that people from other nationalities bring. Diversity is strength. This environment creates a synergy of inspiring interdependence amongst all the players.
DMC has a Partner Relations Board which constantly seeks and manages feedback from all media “partners”. They develop business opportunities by staging networking events, they analyze partner profiles to identify new opportunities and they develop and nurture the nature of this media zone.
Delaware gave many concessions in 1972 to entice banks to move here. A decade ago Governor Carper was criticized for the tax breaks he gave Astra Zeneca. Governors duPont and Carper realized that short term controversy is worth long term benefits. Both envisioned where the markets were heading and made the call. We're now in the information age and media is at the forefront.
In this Delaware Media City even the Shipyard Shops could be fully tenanted – for the first time! If Markell and the legislature embrace this idea, we could create the third Delaware Revolution. Www.DubaiMediaCity.com
1902 - When the three duPont cousins, A.I., P.S., and T. Coleman bought the 100 year old company, the impact to the state was transcendent. Elderly and infirmed family members wanted to sell the gunpowder works on the banks of the Brandywine to an out-of-state competitor. A I argued that this was his birthright. $2100.00 was the total cash outlay the three whippersnappers paid (attorney fee!); the purchase being in bonds back to the family. That fact, allied with the eventual purchase of the competing company, only added to the legend of this seminal event.
No need to speculate on what Delaware would be without DuPont's presence and philanthropy over 207 years. Ergo...Delaware became the Chemical Capitol of the World...my father had lifetime employment and my dear sister Liz and I grew up in middle class America.
1972 – Another duPont, small “D” - Governor Pete - spearheaded the Financial Center Development Act allowing credit card banks to headquarter here with no cap on usury / interest rates. Ergo...The Credit Card Capitol of the World.
2009 is the time to become The Media Capitol of the US.
Dubai, nestled in the financial crossroads of the Middle East, has created a model whose mission is to become the enabling hub of all things media-relevant in the region, if not the world. It is called Dubai Media City (DMC).
Consider if all land from 4th and Market Streets to include the entire Riverfront became Delaware's “Media City”.
Dubai's vision is to create a world-class environment for every kind of media business, which broadly includes media and marketing services, printing and publishing, music, film, new media, leisure and entertainment, broadcasting and information agencies.
In 1902 the cousins' perspicacity transitioned the company from gunpowder to chemicals. The same visionary thinking was extant in 1972. In Jack Markell we have a non-bureaucratic, “Delaware state of mind”. (First State attributes to The Piano Man).
In Dubai - in this dedicated media zone - all media businesses are given the freedom to create. DMC offers support services, interest breaks on capital improvement, tax-free income, no corporate tax and discounted rentals on office space. Infrastructure considerations include the highest levels of IT and telephony. DMC also offers easy access to decision makers. (That in itself would be a great asset here where “you're only a phone call away”.
Freelancers in the industry are given allowances to reside there. In fact, DMC solicits young, talented workers. They understand that the world – per Thomas Friedman - is flat and that we need the perspectives that people from other nationalities bring. Diversity is strength. This environment creates a synergy of inspiring interdependence amongst all the players.
DMC has a Partner Relations Board which constantly seeks and manages feedback from all media “partners”. They develop business opportunities by staging networking events, they analyze partner profiles to identify new opportunities and they develop and nurture the nature of this media zone.
Delaware gave many concessions in 1972 to entice banks to move here. A decade ago Governor Carper was criticized for the tax breaks he gave Astra Zeneca. Governors duPont and Carper realized that short term controversy is worth long term benefits. Both envisioned where the markets were heading and made the call. We're now in the information age and media is at the forefront.
In this Delaware Media City even the Shipyard Shops could be fully tenanted – for the first time! If Markell and the legislature embrace this idea, we could create the third Delaware Revolution. Www.DubaiMediaCity.com
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Delaware Division of Arts Grants for 2009
Brandywine Hundred, Del. —
Our state's creativity fills our museums, our libraries, concert halls and community theatres, cinemas and retail shops. These works help to sculpt and define who we are. We must nourish creative thinking.
Arts education is not about creating creative individuals--the First State is awash with them. It is about creating more productive individuals. The benefits in doing so are clear. It's no secret that math is linked to music, that fine art is linked to critical thinking, that acting builds self-confidence.
Yet over the last 15 years, the National Endowment of the Arts' budget has been cut from $175 million to $125 million. Many state and local agencies receive direct funding from NEA. The outgoing President speaks of the importance of his signature educational program, No Child Left Behind. However, one of its unintended consequences was a decline in arts education in schools. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have pledged to turn this around.
On a local level, Gov. Elect Jack Markell will introduce legislation for a Delaware Arts Trust, modeled after the highly successful Arts Stabilization Fund. The latter aims to buttress facilities and maintenance of institutions; the former will be for programming.
Outgoing Gov. Minner used a meat cleaver with across-the-board agency cuts to achieve a balanced budget. Markell, who argues that some departments are run more efficiently than others and are not deserving of wholesale and arbitrary reductions, is likely to employ a more delicate and judicious slicing. The Delaware Division of the Arts might not have received the unkind $120,000 cut (5 percent) for Fiscal Year 2009 under Markell's scenario.
Its been a shrinking pie, and further, one that's not been cut justly. An examination of who got what in the Division of Arts Grants 2009 grants shows a disproportionate amount of monies to a few non-profits like Wilmington's Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts (DCCA), the Schwartz Center in Dover, and Yorklyn's Center for Creative Arts (CCArts), who attract few guests and have a relatively negligible impact on the cultural landscape. I think the money could have been better served elsewhere.
Eighty-eight organizations received 118 grants -- the vast majority were small and garden variety at $3,000 - $8,000. The largest grants were given to Delaware's large, recognizable institutions: OperaDelaware, Delaware Art Museum, Delaware Symphony and The Grand – ranging from $83,000 to $107,000.
But the DCCA, which averages 10 guests on an Oklahoma land rush type of day, also received $107,000? They do have an outreach education program, but to receive as much as the Grand? Compare that with venues where people actually attend: Delaware Children's Theatre received $2,500. New Candlelight Dinner Theatre received a paltry $5,000.
Then, CCArts got $68,000? That group reports to serve 10,000 in a year, but it is a limited market in a high per capita income locale.
Other inequalities: the Newark based Delaware Dance Company received $40,000.00, while the First State Ballet Theatre, which travels statewide and has a much higher level of training and personnel, received one-half of that.
The most egregious handout, reminiscent of Treasury Secretary Paulson's bailout to Wall Street execs for their severance packages, is the $62,000 hijacked by the Schwartz Center for the Arts in Dover. Renovated in 2001, the Center is billed as the premiere performing arts center in central Delaware. The Schwartz has been a white elephant since the day it opened after its renovation. It does not have sufficient seats to draw even third tier national talent. Listed on its web site presently are a whopping eight performances for 2009; six of which are one-nighters. The Schwartz board should turn over the center to either Wesley or Delaware State for $1, accept reality and be done with the misery. It will never, ever be a success. It's size and location mitigate against it. Aisle Say's olfactory meter smells a political earmark worthy of Senator Ted Stevens' Bridge to Nowhere.
This is the Aisle Say column of the year. I have greatly appreciated the opportunity to comment on the arts.
One last plug...former News Journal reporter Nancy Lynch's “Vietnam Mailbag” has been reported extensively by Community News and elsewhere. The coffee table book compiles letters home from Delawareans as they served in Nam. The quote below, dated Dec. 23,1972, was never published in Lynch's newspaper column but made her book. Navy Seaman Ed Cycyk, a P.S. duPont High grad of 1971, was channeling George Santayana with this comment: “I know this is the season to be jolly, but how can I be happy with all the hatred and discontent in the world. I'm just praying everything will come out alright.” Mr. Cycyk, this letter could very well be postmarked Dec. 23, 2008...from another foreign land with the same plea for peace. Www.VietnamMailbag.com.
Our state's creativity fills our museums, our libraries, concert halls and community theatres, cinemas and retail shops. These works help to sculpt and define who we are. We must nourish creative thinking.
Arts education is not about creating creative individuals--the First State is awash with them. It is about creating more productive individuals. The benefits in doing so are clear. It's no secret that math is linked to music, that fine art is linked to critical thinking, that acting builds self-confidence.
Yet over the last 15 years, the National Endowment of the Arts' budget has been cut from $175 million to $125 million. Many state and local agencies receive direct funding from NEA. The outgoing President speaks of the importance of his signature educational program, No Child Left Behind. However, one of its unintended consequences was a decline in arts education in schools. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have pledged to turn this around.
On a local level, Gov. Elect Jack Markell will introduce legislation for a Delaware Arts Trust, modeled after the highly successful Arts Stabilization Fund. The latter aims to buttress facilities and maintenance of institutions; the former will be for programming.
Outgoing Gov. Minner used a meat cleaver with across-the-board agency cuts to achieve a balanced budget. Markell, who argues that some departments are run more efficiently than others and are not deserving of wholesale and arbitrary reductions, is likely to employ a more delicate and judicious slicing. The Delaware Division of the Arts might not have received the unkind $120,000 cut (5 percent) for Fiscal Year 2009 under Markell's scenario.
Its been a shrinking pie, and further, one that's not been cut justly. An examination of who got what in the Division of Arts Grants 2009 grants shows a disproportionate amount of monies to a few non-profits like Wilmington's Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts (DCCA), the Schwartz Center in Dover, and Yorklyn's Center for Creative Arts (CCArts), who attract few guests and have a relatively negligible impact on the cultural landscape. I think the money could have been better served elsewhere.
Eighty-eight organizations received 118 grants -- the vast majority were small and garden variety at $3,000 - $8,000. The largest grants were given to Delaware's large, recognizable institutions: OperaDelaware, Delaware Art Museum, Delaware Symphony and The Grand – ranging from $83,000 to $107,000.
But the DCCA, which averages 10 guests on an Oklahoma land rush type of day, also received $107,000? They do have an outreach education program, but to receive as much as the Grand? Compare that with venues where people actually attend: Delaware Children's Theatre received $2,500. New Candlelight Dinner Theatre received a paltry $5,000.
Then, CCArts got $68,000? That group reports to serve 10,000 in a year, but it is a limited market in a high per capita income locale.
Other inequalities: the Newark based Delaware Dance Company received $40,000.00, while the First State Ballet Theatre, which travels statewide and has a much higher level of training and personnel, received one-half of that.
The most egregious handout, reminiscent of Treasury Secretary Paulson's bailout to Wall Street execs for their severance packages, is the $62,000 hijacked by the Schwartz Center for the Arts in Dover. Renovated in 2001, the Center is billed as the premiere performing arts center in central Delaware. The Schwartz has been a white elephant since the day it opened after its renovation. It does not have sufficient seats to draw even third tier national talent. Listed on its web site presently are a whopping eight performances for 2009; six of which are one-nighters. The Schwartz board should turn over the center to either Wesley or Delaware State for $1, accept reality and be done with the misery. It will never, ever be a success. It's size and location mitigate against it. Aisle Say's olfactory meter smells a political earmark worthy of Senator Ted Stevens' Bridge to Nowhere.
This is the Aisle Say column of the year. I have greatly appreciated the opportunity to comment on the arts.
One last plug...former News Journal reporter Nancy Lynch's “Vietnam Mailbag” has been reported extensively by Community News and elsewhere. The coffee table book compiles letters home from Delawareans as they served in Nam. The quote below, dated Dec. 23,1972, was never published in Lynch's newspaper column but made her book. Navy Seaman Ed Cycyk, a P.S. duPont High grad of 1971, was channeling George Santayana with this comment: “I know this is the season to be jolly, but how can I be happy with all the hatred and discontent in the world. I'm just praying everything will come out alright.” Mr. Cycyk, this letter could very well be postmarked Dec. 23, 2008...from another foreign land with the same plea for peace. Www.VietnamMailbag.com.
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