It had been so long since I read it, that I had almost forgotten. But a friend reminded me of Garrison Keillor’s short story, ”Jack Schmidt, Arts Administrator,” the other day, and I finally gave it a fresh reading: hilarious, thoughtful, biting, insightful…please go read it if you haven’t. It’s more than 20 years old now, but dead-on the money (in a film noir sort of way) on the struggle, insanity, and frequent hucksterism of the nonprofit creative industries. Just a taste:
”What your arts organizations need is a guy who can ask people for large amounts without blushing and twisting his hankie,” I told her one day, en route to Las Palmas for a three-day seminar on the role of the arts in rural America. ”Your typical general manager of an arts organization today is nothing but a begman. He figures all he has to do is pass the hat at the board meeting and the Throttlebottoms will pick up the deficit. The rest of the times he just stands around at lawn parties and says witty things. But the arts are changing, Bobby Jo. Nowadays, everybody wants arts, not just the rich. It’s big business. Operating budgets are going right through the ceiling. All of a sudden, Mr. Arts Guy finds the game has changed. Now he has to work for the money and hit up corporations and think box office and dive in and fight for a slice of the government pie, and it scares him right out of his silk jammies. That’s when he calls for Schmidt.”
Thanks, Sharon.
