{"id":593,"date":"2023-10-24T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=593"},"modified":"2023-08-25T19:53:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T19:53:44","slug":"the-craven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2023\/10\/24\/the-craven\/","title":{"rendered":"The Craven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Halloween poem for the nonprofit arts leaders among you. Laugh at your own peril.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With apologies to the Poes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Once upon a desk so dusty, while I called a sixteenth trustee,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All about a new donation that would keep open our door\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I wept and gave a holler, \u201cOh, why can\u2019t we raise a dollar?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the tightness of my collar made me sweat profusely more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I wiped my brow with Kleenex, but I sweat profusely more,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweating bullets, nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Was it August or November? Oh that\u2019s right, it was December;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the year-end donor campaign still was struggling to its core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numerous solicitations had caused donors to lose patience,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with lack of revenue, there was a deficit in store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I cut the budget down, alas a deficit in store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cut and cut, and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

As I raised my head in terror, I could see a message bearer,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking in? But no, he floated! Floated in my office door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho?\u201d said I, as in a spell, \u201cBut who are you?\u201d and \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the bearer? He said nothing. Just sat down and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked at me disgustedly, and then did nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only this and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Then, he stared at me a while with a sly, ironic smile,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, can\u2019t you see I\u2019m busy???\u201d thus I rumbled with a roar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, our company is failing and we don\u2019t know what is ailing;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The art we do is excellent, just as it was before!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still he sat there, mute and puzzling, just as he had done before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He just sat, and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

As inside my rage was brewing\u2014oh, what was this bastard doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWould you go?\u201d I asked him brusquely, and then pointed to the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He nodded, slowly rising, and it wasn\u2019t that surprising,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That he handed me the scroll to read\u2014I dropped it on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He clucked his tongue, and pointed to the scroll upon the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He clucked, and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Presently, my will grew stronger, hesitating then no longer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSir,\u201d said I, \u201cor Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the fact is I am struggling, and so weirdly you came smuggling<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a scroll that\u2019s scarcely relevant to work I\u2019ve done before,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still he floated, growing larger than he\u2019d ever been before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larger still, and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

As I stared upon the scroll, I watched it shake and then unroll,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I then looked down and read the words revealed upon that floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words there numbered three, and were clearly meant for me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very purpose of our mission, and what we were fighting for,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was it we determined that we all were fighting for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019d forgotten from before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The first word there was \u201ccharity,\u201d that we should provide parity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To people who are struggling under homelessness and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cWe are <\/em>a charity,\u201d but now with foggy clarity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recognized our charity was to ourselves, in store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was our mission just directed to ourselves, in store?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do art and nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Then \u201cimpact\u201d was inscribed and its meaning was implied<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To mean that measuring our value changed from what it was before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t do social work,\u201d said I, knee in extended jerk,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And recognized that worth was measured not by inward goals in store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was our impact so internal, we had ne\u2019er considered more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do art and nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The final word had faded from the scroll so old and dated,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I looked upon the bearer who was there a-floating o\u2019er.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI cannot read the rest,\u201d I said, \u201cWould you please do your best,\u201d I said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo read the final word upon the scroll upon the floor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he floated down and read this from the scroll upon the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d, and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Why\u2019 what?\u201d I asked him gently, but he looked at me intently,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he somehow knew (correctly) that this problem was the core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My arts organization, in thus chasing rich donation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had just become a playground for elitist groups galore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019d just become the playthings for some toxic folks galore,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do art and nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

And then the message-bearer drifted outwardly, and then he shifted<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And before he left he gave me just a thought and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said he, \u201cArt without a purpose is a self-abusing circus,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he left me and my budgets just as it had been before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ghost it was a fever dream, and wrong, I loudly swore,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do art, and nothing more!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The next month, when we folded, and I was roundly scolded<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For allowing this arts company to shut its final door,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pondered what I should have; might or would or ought or could have<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Done to stem the reddest ink that anyone had seen before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We owed \u201ccharity\u201d and \u201cimpact?\u201d But we never had before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d indeed, and nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Quoth the craven, \u201cShut the door.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Halloween Poem for the Nonprofit Arts Leaders Among You. Laugh at your own peril.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594,"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":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,20,32,25,23,18,17],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-culture","8":"category-board-of-directors","9":"category-charity","10":"category-development-and-fundraising","11":"category-executive-director","12":"category-nonprofit","13":"category-nonprofit-arts-organizations","14":"tag-halloween","15":"tag-poe","16":"tag-poetry","17":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Why.jpg?fit=2211%2C1173&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":543,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2023\/09\/19\/if-your-nonprofit-arts-organizations-audience-is-comprised-solely-of-ticket-buyers-you-missed-the-point-the-boat-and-your-chance\/","url_meta":{"origin":593,"position":0},"title":"If Your Nonprofit Arts Organization\u2019s Audience Is Comprised Solely of Ticket Buyers, You Missed the Point, the Boat, and Your Chance","author":"Alan Harrison","date":"September 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you stuck by your audience? Are you stuck with your audience? 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