{"id":904,"date":"2006-06-09T06:54:55","date_gmt":"2006-06-09T13:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2006\/06\/of_mission_and_motion\/"},"modified":"2006-06-09T06:54:55","modified_gmt":"2006-06-09T13:54:55","slug":"of_mission_and_motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/of_mission_and_motion.php","title":{"rendered":"Of mission and motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are lots of conversation starters in this short article<\/a> on change and refocusing at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Arts Center. The three-year-old arts center is discontinuing its theater productions after the current season draws to a close, and focusing their efforts on other work.<\/p>\n


\n”Everything [we do] is really successful, except the theater season,” says [Artistic Director Matthew] Kwatinetz. “If what we do is so important to the community, they have to come out.”
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At issue in the article are two things: whether or not an arts organization has a right to change (says the journalist, ”If CHAC doesn’t continue to produce these compelling theater works, who will?”) and whether the for-profit model is possible for an artsy, funky, socially conscious cultural organization. Most of you will know my personal opinion on the matters — of course<\/i> it does, and of course<\/i> it is, if both are consistent with the organization’s purpose.<\/p>\n

But, obviously, the two questions are related. The in-house theater season hasn’t drawn the crowds or the earned income necessary to cover its costs. For most arts organizations, that’s a fact of life, softened by the balance of contributed income. But CHAC decided not<\/i> to form as a nonprofit corporation, making economic sustainability through earned income an essential element of its mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tax status doesn’t make the Capitol Hill Arts Center more or less noble as an arts organization. That status certainly offers different tensions and opportunities than a contribution-supported theater might face — which is why they chose it. It will be interesting to watch how those tensions and opportunities play out over time, and what other arts organization choose a similar path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are lots of conversation starters in this short article on change and refocusing at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Arts Center. The three-year-old arts center is discontinuing its theater productions after the current season draws to a close, and focusing their efforts on other work. ”Everything [we do] is really successful, except the theater season,” says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}