{"id":579,"date":"2023-10-17T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=579"},"modified":"2023-11-06T06:23:27","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T06:23:27","slug":"but-thats-not-what-we-do-indeed-and-thats-why-youre-closing-nonprofit-arts-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2023\/10\/17\/but-thats-not-what-we-do-indeed-and-thats-why-youre-closing-nonprofit-arts-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBut That\u2019s Not What We Do.\u201d \u2013 Indeed. And That\u2019s Why You\u2019re Closing, Nonprofit Arts Organizations."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No one else cares what you do or how well you do it. They care about why your community is made better by you having done it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Eugene Lisyuk from Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s college football season in the United States. Not the \u201cbeautiful game,\u201d but a completely different game in which the foot is used on the ball sparingly. Still warmish in many places, possibly some wildfires and hurricanes still going on, but college campuses (especially those in the old Confederacy and in the Midwest) are all abuzz about the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most football games are forgotten almost as soon as the final whistle is blown, except for the diehard fans. But that\u2019s not why college football is played. At least until recently, when league realignment threw the sport into a giant Cuisinart of money-grubbing by individual college presidents and league commissioners (and boy, do they get paid well), the game was played for pride and opportunity. A tiny few go pro, but 98.4% either never make it or don\u2019t try.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at least they have the satisfaction of having represented their college. They have a built-in alumni network to help them move forward in their careers. And, unless they\u2019ve been hit in the head too many times (a real thing), they may have even completed a degree in a subject that they\u2019ll use to achieve in a way that would never have been possible had they not played college football and received a scholarship and an education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Alabama Crimson Tide football team, in front of a sold-out Alabama crowd in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Because, you know, Alabama.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the other side of campuses, there is usually an underfunded theater, symphony, art studio, art history, or dance program. Performers there are training to become better artists. Few are given scholarships just because they were standouts in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And off campus, there are a litany of artists of all kinds trying to use their talents to create a career from skills that are rare and wondrous when successful. These are the people who make the magic, who create something where there was never something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, some of those artists become arts organization leaders who believe, just as they did as artists, that the magic is in what they do. Anything outside of that \u2013 including any charitable intention \u2013 is therefore flawed. When asked about establishing and controlling their impact, they simply reply, \u201cThat\u2019s not what we do. We do art.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there you have it. Now you know why nonprofit arts organizations are going belly-up all over America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years ago, I asked a director (of a theater company with which I was not affiliated) why he planned on doing a particular play. To me, it was an odd choice: a 50something-year-old American play that had been done recently by another theater in the same city. There was no emotional tie to the play, even though it was a near-classic (with the accent on near)<\/em>, to the community. Nor was there an obvious marketing gimmick attached \u2013 no major anniversary of the play, no major birthday of the author, etc. So, why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great play,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, it\u2019s a great play, but why? And why now? Is there something new about this<\/em> production? What do you want your audience to do<\/em> with the information in the play?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t manipulate an audience like that,\u201d he replied. \u201cThat\u2019s not what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou manipulate an audience anytime there is an audience,\u201d I told him. \u201cHow is putting on a play any different from church? Isn\u2019t that manipulation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Cason Asher on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see it that way. I just put the play on the stage and let the audience think for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were equally stunned at each other\u2019s seeming lack of knowledge as to the purpose of an arts organization vis-\u00e0-vis <\/em>the purpose of art. And, sadly, that\u2019s not an unusual conversation between artistic leaders and others who ask them \u201cwhy.\u201d But now the chickens have come home to roost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Hana Oliver on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We know why people produce ART. <\/em>It\u2019s a wondrous product, a magical formation of thoughts, ideas, and tools to contextualize life. But anyone can produce art. Anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the public doesn\u2019t care about (and why they\u2019re not coming) is that YOU produce art. If you have been given the gift of a 501(C)(3) status from your state, you can provide that same public a \u201cwhy\u201d that differentiates you from that universe of \u201canyone.\u201d You can find ways to solve the hardest problems that your particular community faces. Right now. And use that magical substance called art not as the culmination of a project, but as the beginning of an answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By virtue of that 501(C)(3) golden ticket, you now have a wide path to success. By choosing to be a charity that measurably and positively affects others who need it, you won\u2019t be hemmed in by the outdated and perverted notion of \u201cart for art\u2019s sake\u201d that is killing the whole industry, company by company (as the news keeps coming in). That means that you\u2019ll need to investigate everything it takes to travel that charitable path, not just the attractive vehicle you choose to ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manipulate your audience freely if you believe the world is measurably better off because of it. Then show us all the measurements (we own your company, after all). Why? Because, as a charitable organization in your community, that\u2019s what you do.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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