I’ve noticed some recent activity on some weblog entries I posted a while ago. Both related to Boston’s arts market, and both warranted a quick catch-up:
The saga of the Boston Ballet and their production of ‘The Nutcracker’ continues as they prepare to open this year’s effort. As faithful readers might recall, the company was ousted from its traditional home in the Wang Center for the Performing Arts to make way for the Clear Channel production of the ‘Radio City Christmas Spectacular.’
Now they have refit their production to work in a smaller venue with fewer seats and a resulting lower revenue potential. Said the ballet’s director in a moment of pith:
‘Yes, Clara, there is a Nutcracker,’ said Valerie Wilder, Boston Ballet’s executive director. ‘And that statement a year ago probably had some questions around it.’
It will be interesting to see how a venue with half the usual seats (Wang had 3600, this year’s space has 1640) will effect the usual cash-cow quality of this production, which also effects the solvency and vitality of the company’s other productions throughout the year.
Speaking of seats, I also had a weblog about the boom in theater space in the Boston area back in March. Now, many of those construction/renovations projects are opening their doors or planning to soon. And a bunch of folk are starting to realize the morning-after challenge of that enthusiasm. According to one player in the game:
‘I’ve always felt that the tide rises all boats, and more is better,’ says Steven Maler, a founder of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and vice president of artistic programming of the Wang Center for the Performing Arts. ‘I guess I’m starting to revisit my thinking on that.’
It all underscores the value of integrating competitive analysis into project plans and budget projections, and trending the full ecology of leisure/entertainment/culture options as you sketch out the program for a cultural facility of any kind.
