Theatrical Imperative

So, I keep coming across this word.  “compulsory,” in connection to arts education.  Many of our major institutional funders (including, these days, government funders) look askance at funding youth arts engagement that is “compulsory” rather than “self-selected.”   Many audience members and supporters, upon finding out that we at Epic have major arts education programs, ask first [...]

Seriously.  In 2000, Jaan Whitehead, a seminal figure in the revolution that led to the regional theatre movement – which brought art back to communities, back from a purely commercial enterprise, back to its roots as a place artists could matter in America – published an article in American Theatre magazine called “To Have and [...]

If we start from the thesis that theatre artists and their skills are critical to the health of our democracy – which I think we must if we want to matter – then it’s clearly incumbent upon non-commercial producers to increase these artists’ exposure and potential impact.  We have to put them in places and [...]

Despite the fairly widespread recognition of great artists as hard workers, the challenge of raising the overall value of theatre artists in the U.S. today is that most Americans just don’t see them as vital to improving daily quality of life.  Whole generations have grown up without rigorous, consistent, or engaging arts education in their [...]

  Before we can talk about the extrinsic value theatre artists ought to have in our society (what they get paid,   what status they are given, what percentage of taxpayer dollars funnels their way, etc…), we need to try to define their intrinsic value.  This encompasses both what they do uniquely well, and why what [...]

  Theatre-makers in America undeniably work in an embattled field.  Artists face low salaries, inconsistent opportunities, and the difficulties any freelance American worker must manage apropos of health insurance, retirement, and child-rearing.  The organizations that employ them face cuts, conundrums (e.g. as government funding levels decrease annually, their compliance and reporting requirements for not-for-profits increase, [...]