{"id":114,"date":"2009-06-12T07:53:03","date_gmt":"2009-06-12T07:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp\/2009\/06\/money_back_guarantee_-_can_you\/"},"modified":"2009-06-12T07:53:03","modified_gmt":"2009-06-12T07:53:03","slug":"money_back_guarantee_-_can_you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/06\/money_back_guarantee_-_can_you.html","title":{"rendered":"Money Back Guarantee – Can You Take The Risk Out Of Paying To See Art?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"moneyback.jpg\"<\/span>Richard Cahan had an idea. If theatres were worried about programming risky work because audiences might not shell out money to see it, and audiences were balking when it came to taking a chance on something new, why not just eliminate the risk?<\/p>\n

Cahan’s a part-time program officer with the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation in Chicago, so he came up with a plan: the foundation would back a money-back guarantee for some plays and take the risk of new work out of the ticket-buying equation. He went to the theatre community<\/a> with the plan:<\/p>\n

Cahan was surprised to find that “some people thought
\nit was a bad idea. They were worried about the commodification of
\ntheater,” thought there was already enough tension there, and didn’t
\nwant to emphasize it.<\/p>\n

Cahan had stumbled into quasi-taboo territory. Most
\nmedia coverage of theater is written as if the author were blissfully
\nignorant of the fact that normal people have to fork over hard-earned
\ncash to be in the audience. Critics, who usually get the best seats in
\nthe house without having to pay for them, aren’t compelled to think
\nabout what it means to pony up for a ticket and then have to peer
\nbetween heads from a seat under the balcony at a show that might turn
\nout to have been overrated. <\/p>\n

When critic Kelly Kleiman brought the
\ncost-value equation into a blog discussion on the WBEZ Web site a
\ncouple months ago, she reaped abuse from numerous commentators,
\nincluding some of her peers in the critical ranks. But Kleiman, who
\nwrote that her reviews are intended to provide her “listeners–people
\nwho might or might not spend $45 a ticket to see this production–with
\nan answer to the question of whether they’ll get their money’s worth,”
\nhad her finger on the real world’s pulse: if you’re selling tickets,
\nyou’re dealing in a commodity, and if you’re buying them, price and
\nvalue count. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I love the phrase “commodification of theatre”. Theatre as product. Which, of course, it is if you’re paying money to see it. There is, of course, another transaction going on – the payment of one’s time and attention, which is often undervalued. So what basis would you use for asking for your money back? For me it would be indifference. Too many things I see are performed without passion. A faulty premise not well tested during rehearsal, a performer going through the motions, a dumb idea nobody challenged…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Cahan had an idea. If theatres were worried about programming risky work because audiences might not shell out money to see it, and audiences were balking when it came to taking a chance on something new, why not just eliminate the risk? Cahan’s a part-time program officer with the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-1Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/05\/how_perfection_killed_classica.html","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":0},"title":"Is Perfection Killing Classical Music?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"May 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Not literally, of course, at least not yet. 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In the non-profit world, the relationship between profit and success is more complicated. \"Profit\" (or balancing the books) is regarded as a hill to be climbed over rather than the objective. 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The system has been developed over several years and is an attempt to create a matrix by which arts experiences can be measured and evaluated. Here are the criteria:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cultural issues"","block_context":{"text":"cultural issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/cultural-issues"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C583&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1015,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/08\/what-happens-when-critical-opinion-separates-from-the-audience.html","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":4},"title":"What Happens When Critical Opinion Separates From The Audience?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"August 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Three stories this week get to the heart of the question. 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