Perpetually Curious

"Perspective" by Flickr user Justus Thane, licensed under Creative Commons It is the end. Wait, that's not one of the things. But it is the end of this blogging month. I remarked to a friend, "I was surprised to find out how much energy it took to write, being unaccustomed to it any more." Said friend, a writer by trade, chuckled and agreed. I didn't hit my daily goal, but I did blog more than I have, well, ever. So I'm calling that a success. So, without further ado and in no particular order, 10 Things I'm Thankful For : 1. Live theater  2. A job in live theater  3. My family who make possible my job in live theater  4. My friends who encourage my job in live theater  5. The interwebs, which make working in live theater something immeasurably different than it once was  6. The best graduate program ever for those of us working in live theater who also have families  7. Coming to terms with how I can best support live thea

I recently graduated with my Masters in Arts Administration from Goucher College's MAAA program.  I'm not writing today to talk you into or out of applying for a graduate program in arts administration. I could espouse either side at length.  I would like to tell you, though, my personal most important lesson learned from graduate school.  Keep Asking Questions.  As time- and people- and resource- strapped arts organization administrators, we get caught in the mundane tasks of answering daily business questions. Did the press release get written? Did last week's box office receipts get deposited? Did we ever look into that children's programming?  Graduate school gives an arts administrator space to ask bigger questions. Questions like: --What if? --Why do it this way?  --What came before that I can learn from? --Who cares? --Why isn't there [insert idea here]? --Why now? --What happens if we don't do [insert action here]? --

This post was ostensibly about "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" But I don't believe in failure. At least, not in the way this question means it. Dictionary definitions of "Failure": 1. an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success: His effort ended in failure. The campaign was a failure. 2. nonperformance of something due, required, or expected: a failure to do what one has promised; a failure to appear. 3. a subnormal quantity or quality; an insufficiency: the failure of crops. 4. deterioration or decay, especially of vigor, strength, etc.: The failure of her health made retirement necessary. 5. a condition of being bankrupt by reason of insolvency. 6. a becoming insolvent or bankrupt: the failure of a bank. 7. a person or thing that proves unsuccessful: He is a failure in his career. The cake is a failure. So, what is "Success"? 1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts

When it is organization reflection time, what criteria do you use to make sure you're doing what you want and need to do? (This is assuming you have reflection time. If you don't, I suggest you start that right away.) One of my favorite guiding questions is a triplet: What should I stop doing? What should I start doing? And what should I continue (and/or increase) doing? These can be macro or microcosmic. Maybe your organization needs to stop. Maybe you need to call one donor every day just to say thank you (2 minute call, tops). Maybe you need to continue paying your artistic staff as much as you possibly can. Here are some of my organizational things for the next quarter: Stop: -doing the technical design work myself. -talking about payrates in a negative way -leaving strategic work for after the mundane Start: -varied networking to grow our audience -working the shiny new fundraising plan -find a pro-bono pr agency Continue/Increase -providing exce

Since I'm covering the Orange County Arts Commission office today to accept Fall Grant Applications, I thought I'd write a little about advocacy. A lot of people get nervous when they hear the word "advocacy." Maybe it has to do with a fear of public speaking or of being rejected. Maybe it's about being scared of a perceived power imbalance. I think people are scared of "fundraising" for the same reasons. But no one should be scared of advocacy. The verb "advocate" means simply "to speak or write in favor of." Advocacy isn't rocket science. It's communication. Here are 3 tips on starting advocacy emails: 1. Know who you're emailing. The best connection is with your local representative, be that a municipal or county commissioner, or state district legislator. Start your research with where they stand on your particular interest area (the arts, obviously). Then expand to their other special areas. There may be unexpect

A local theater acquaintance posted about her daily rituals and Forbes magazine recently published a list of 20 top-of-their-game-women's morning routines . At home, I am all about these things. At work, not as good. In order to be successful, arts organizations should build routines and rituals into the work day/week/quarter/year. Especially for smaller organizations, where employee(s) must juggle multiple work task hats: deliberate, consistent routines can help ensure that the work actually gets done. There are so many places to start or things to consider about setting up routines. Arts leaders need to have: -clear short and long term goals -strategies and tasks for achieving them -strategic thinking and professional development time -networking get-togethers -donor touches And other things to consider include: -which 8 hours out of the day are you really/do you need to be working? -familial commitments that require a flex schedule -personal "best" wor

I found my way into theater a little later than other colleagues, according to informal conversation. I had "theater" friends in middle and high school, but I was never intrigued enough to want to join them on stage. 1 Until, that is, my local pro-am theater 2 produced the Finn/Lapine musical Falsettos. Through a series of poor teenager life choices, I served community service time at the theater while the show was going on. Luckily. Fortunately. Serendipitous-ly. If you don't know the show, it's the story of a Jewish family and their friends, many of whom are gay. Themes include being true with yourself and loved ones, growing up and the pain of adulthood, loving someone through good times and bad, and the importance of family.  I'm not Jewish. I didn't know any gay people (out, anyway). But I was moved to tears by every single performance I saw (including returning on my night off to actually purchase a ticket). I saw a story on that stage that not

Ladies of Triangle Theatre (LoTT for short) is a loose network of women in Triangle area of North Carolina who work in any aspect of theater. The short goal of the network is to say "Yes, And" to each other whenever possible.  All the statistics about national and regional productions by/led by women can be found elsewhere, as well as the ongoing dialogue/argument about why those numbers are low/aren't changing.  Here in the Triangle, we are blessed with an incredible number of talented women on both sides of the stage. LoTT exists to support these women in their theatrical work, through various means.  One is behind-the-scenes, much like a "support" group. Everyone needs that kind of safe space to work through problems and this is a difficult field to navigate by itself, let alone with family responsibilities and day jobs etc etc.  Another is through informal gatherings. These have been brown-bag lunches, attending a member's show as a group

(This post is a little more personal than usual.) I'm a mom. I know that doesn't come as a surprise; it's listed elsewhere (and I've written about it) on my blog and one of the things in my elevator speech about myself. I missed this because I was at an AFTA conference. I wish that I could list that on my resume under "experience." Because it is the main reason why there aren't more bullet points. Opportunities or jobs or positions or speaking engagements that I turned down or didn't seek out because I needed to provide hands-on support for my family at home. Because it's hard to do both at the same time. I've had to take my child to rehearsal this week for a show I'm producing/designing, which means she's up past her bedtime and seeing material that probably isn't appropriate for a 2nd grader (it's not R-rated, but definitely PG-13). I chose an online graduate school program specifically so that I could be at home

The single most common response to the "What do you do?" "I'm the [Insert Arts Admin title here] of this theater" exchange is: "Oh. Do you act, too?" I loathe* this question. For three reasons. 1. It stems from a baseline assumption that there is nothing else of value worth doing in a theater except for being on stage . Whether this assumption is rational or is simply inherent from years of mass media infused celebrity and bad sitcoms, it doesn't really matter. 2. It also questions whether I have enough work tasks to fill my day . Like, I must not have enough to do running the business aspects of the organization. (NOTE: this does not negate the idea of 168 hours and that one couldn't theoretically have acting as a side gig or hobby.) Me: College Freshman, Assistant Stage Manager.  3. It stops the conversation. ALWAYS . Yes, I have a pat, gracious response I give, but most people do not know what to say after that. I don't fall

So, obviously, these kind of fall across categories. But if you're looking to start down the path of leadership in a creative sector OR expand on your knowledge from sources that cross all kinds of industries, I'd suggest these books/authors. BOOKS! READ ALL THE BOOKS! 1. Good to Great and Good to Great in the Social Sectors, by Jim Collins . This was one of the books Dave Ramsey said he gave new employees when they started work at his company, and is probably the single book responsible for kick-starting this section of my leadership journey. I know some people who put down Collins' work, that some of it doesn't hold up to longer scrutiny, that he contradicts himself between books, and other arguments. But there is rarely a day when I don't reference ideas of his like "The Hedgehog Concept," "Turning the Flywheel," "Getting the Right People on the Bus," and "Confront he Brutal Facts." "Greatness is not a func

Seriously! At the end of this month, one lucky commenter will receive one of the following: 1. A free stakeholder service checkup from yours truly! This will be my combo package: examining your theater's customer service points with both outside patrons and internal employees and members. (This combo will be priced at $400, fyi.) 2. A season pass to Common Ground Theatre. That's right: 2 tickets to any show every month for the entire year. ($300-400 value) 3. "My favorite books " package: a copy of each of my favorite leadership/arts books. More on these in tomorrow's post. There you have it! Leave a cogent comment on as many of these posts as move you, and you could be the lucky winner of one of these amazing (if I do say so myself) packages!

Why am I starting off NaBloPoMo with a post about Facebook, you ask? Shouldn't I be writing about theaters or grad school or something less, well, trivial? I'll get to those things. This is about a core idea and I'm using my Facebook relationship as an example. Yes, that is me with Miss Piggy. I love almost everything about Facebook because of this one thing: it is a platform that engenders building relationships. (I'll get to the one thing I don't like in a bit.) Building relationships is what I do for a living; it is my special gift to this world. Facebook is designed to connect you with people you have a lot in common with (sometimes IRL, sometimes just online) and then make that relationship deeper by having a conversation about those things/people/ideas. It can happen anytime (unlike Twitter) and across facets of your life (unlike LinkedIn) and with words AND images (unlike Pinterest, Instagram, and Flickr). I have my current job because of Facebook:

I've always loved that line from the Sabrina movie (the remake, thank you, not the original, oddly enough). "Sometimes it's just more."  Problem: we don't have enough audience to fill our shows.  Problem: we need to run three weeks because the first weekend is just for marketing, we won't sell out. Problem: the local paper(s) is cutting theater coverage. how are people going to find out about us now? Problem: we post it on social media but the only people who see that are people who already know about the shows we do. Problem: there are so many different calendars/event listings/blogs. we don't need/can't afford another one. (Yogi Berra, anyone?) The REAL problem: we haven't a clue who our audience is or who we want our audience to be .  Those other things aren't problems. At best, they are marketing tactics that aren't being done correctly or efficiently. The first one listed is a metric, a data point that doesn't ha

Do you know who your theater's customers are? No, seriously. Your customers are anyone and everyone who comes into contact with your theater. So: -patrons -actors -crew -designers -directors -vendors -mail carriers -media critics -staff -independent contractors -volunteers -board members -anyone who calls your phone number -people on your social media channels -people who drive/walk/run by your venue Make sure ALL your customers are being served.

"Change isn't made by asking permission. We have an obligation to change the rules, to raise the bar, to play a different game, and to play it better than anyone has any right to believe is possible." --Seth Godin I am going to change the way people think about theater. From outside and from inside. When the nonprofit theater movement started, all it did was replace the business model. While this was genuinely revolutionary sixty+ years ago, it isn't any longer. We all know the days of "if you build it, they will come" are over. Even leaving out all other forms of entertainment, there is simply too much noise in the theater industry, too much spectacle in our own backyards to hear or see everything. But that's no reason to quit creating. Artists make art. If they are equally good at marketing, or have someone willing to help, they find the tribe willing to support the art. Let's change the rules about theater. Let's find our tribe.

Jonathan Katz, longtime and now retiring leader of NASAA, and Maryo Gard Ewell, second generation community arts activist and teacher, decided to write a book each about the history of their respective areas of arts support. This isn't the start of some fictional novel. This conversation actually happened during the AftA National Convention in Nashville in the middle of June. I was lucky to be standing there when they chatted and vociferously encouraged both of them to write those books. What a blessing for our field that would be, to have these first-hand accounts of what really happened over the course of the last sixty years during the rise of state and local arts support. For all the talk about the coming massive leadership shift (1 in 4 within five years), we have to acknowledge the body of wisdom that has the potential to be lost during it. Marcus Shelby AftA is informally about that delicious tension between learning--and learning from--our history and creating entir

The following was part of my final presentation for my internship with world-renowned dancer/choreographer/artist/amazing Liz Lerman . If you ever ever have the chance to work with her (or any of the dancers she's trained over the years, especially Elizabeth Johnson or Michelle Pearson), Do Not Hesitate. Jump at the fantastic opportunity. I wasn't certain what I wanted to do for my internship. I already had a lot of experience in theater, and there wasn't really much in that field that I felt would be worth exploring as part of this learning environment. By the time registration rolled around, I had expanded my job as far as my board would let me take it. My classes had both strengthened my confidence in my talents and skills and pushed me to explore being of more service in my community. I had figured out what my personal values were, and that what I wanted to do with my career--whatever that career would wind up being--was to honor, support, and nurture others who

Abstract Title of Thesis:                                   Courting the Community: Promises and Realities of New Performing Arts Centers in Small to Midsize Cities Degree Candidate:                            Devra L. Thomas Degree and Year:                              Master of Arts Administration 2014 Major Paper Directed by:                Robert Wildman                                                             Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies                                                             Goucher College             The widespread construction of large-scale performing arts centers in order to revitalize downtowns has proliferated across the U.S. over the past twenty years. The economic research into the impact on the local arts ecosystem already established in these communities is slight. The goal of this thesis was to examine the arts ecosystems in four small and midsize cities located around the country that ha

The first two paragraphs from my forthcoming Master's Thesis: "The story is a familiar one: a city of a certain size decides it wants to increase the cultural offerings available for its residents. The city’s appointed leaders, or perhaps its unappointed ones, the businessmen or philanthropically-minded independently wealthy, look at the neighboring city, and the flow of people and money into and out of the beautiful new theater located there, and decide they should build one too. Capital is raised, land is acquired, and up goes a towering cultural institution, featuring the finest in touring performers and appealing to the patricians and the bourgeoisie. “For tens of thousands of urban theatergoers these local playhouses would become their most immediate--and for some their only--point of reference for experiencing French theater” (Clay 770). In the mid to late 1700s, France experienced just such a theater building explosion. By the end of the century, over seventy F

Thanks for all the love for the 1st 5 Lessons . I'm digging hearing from everyone who cares about Asheville and theater. Here are the remainder of my arts applications. 6. "Give away something free to build your brand. Offer a pre-show show."  There is a fine line between "not getting paid for your work" and "being generous with your work." It's up to every artist to determine where that line is. We can certainly all agree on the fact that we routinely--across the performing arts spectrum--undervalue our work and there is a dangerous continuum between commercial pay and community volunteer work. All of that, though, is for another blog post.   This lesson is about generosity. We went to one of the newer breweries, HiWire Brewing, to sample their wares, and lucked into a free performance by a local blues musician, Andrew Scotchie . Great stuff, all way around (husband said the Double IPA was the best beer of the trip).   First: the music show w

Because I never stop arts administering when I'm away from my theater, I tend to see details that are applicable to my work everywhere I go. Case in point=my family took a 36 hour getaway to Asheville, NC last weekend. It was a lovely mental break from the constant managing/thesis/internship work I have going on right now. I also constantly remarked, "we should do this in theater," much to my husband's amusement. Here is the list, in order of the weekend. 1. "Kids are not an afterthought but should be planned for within the experience." In a bigger sense, this is no detail is too small . Think about who comes to your shows, who you want to come to your theater, and make them feel comfortable. As a parent, I'm always impressed when a business includes touches for my kid: eye-level signage, stools in the restroom, and interesting things at the check-out counter. Tupelo Honey treats the under 12 set as valued customers in their own right, with palat

My problem has always been wanting to immediately jump to the end result without mucking about with the messy hard tasks needed to get there. Apparently this is quite normal. I'm finally getting around to listening to Daniel Kahneman's 2011 bestseller Thinking Fast and Slow . I'm not very far into yet (only listening in the car and driving has been on hold with the snow recently), but early on Kahneman points out that our brains are wired for the path of least resistance. Thinking requires effort and those tasks which require more thinking are less desirable because of the effort required.  That hit me rather hard. I had typed that first sentence two or three days before  listening to the piece in the book, as a place holder on a blog idea. When I listened to Kahneman's research and theories, I realized that what I had been doing all along was human nature and not a specific Devra defect. (I have lots of those, but another time.) I decided to write about

Parenting is tough. I'll put that out right up front. Parenting when you work a job that is not necessarily during traditional "work" hours is even tougher.  Parenting when you are doing this as either a single parent or in a relationship with someone who also juggles a non-traditional work schedule is even tougher than that.  I'm not writing this to get into a spitting contest. It's not a pity party either: a career in arts administration was my choice, much like my husband chose a career in retail management. We both knew what those choices meant as far as schedules and child-rearing before we had children.  I'm writing this to shine a light on what it is like to be an active parent working in theater management. Mass Media gives us a disjointed view, if any at all, of a career which resembles a luxurious soap opera. Much of what is written about our field in either scholarly or journalistic blog posts is written about the million-dollar comp