Wealth
I once read somewhere that real wealth is not about having money, but rather about having time and space. While I don't remember who said that, I'm pretty sure he or she wasn't talking specifically about the arts. In essence, it is what Virginia Woolf was saying in A Room of One's Own, except she mixed in the monetary: a room of one's own and 1000 pounds a year -- which, in essence, buys time. When I read the blogs of many of the theatre artists, this really comes home. Playwrights, directors, actors, designers all need the time to create, and a place to do it in.
It seems like a truism, really, and yet what happens to our idea of fundraising if we shift our focus just that little bit? If, instead of raising money, we went out to try to raise time and space. Many artists work day jobs in order to pay the rent, i.e., they make money to buy space. Artists, what if a patron or foundation offered you, not a grant, but a rent-free apartment for a year -- would this make any difference in your artistic life? What if a grocery chain offered to give you groceries for a year? Or the electric company paid your utilities for a year? How much real estate stands empty while someone seeks a buyer? What if they could get a tax right-off for renting it to you? What if empty warehouses could be leased for a penny a year to artists looking for a place to rehearse, or a place to put together a very basic performance space?
Of course, this is the world of bartering -- I am not having any particularly new and brilliant ideas. But it seems to me that the grantwriting scene has become so professionalized that another approach -- one involving smaller amounts of basic goods -- might lead to more time and space for artists.
So a question to the artists: would any of this make a significant difference to your artistic life?
It seems like a truism, really, and yet what happens to our idea of fundraising if we shift our focus just that little bit? If, instead of raising money, we went out to try to raise time and space. Many artists work day jobs in order to pay the rent, i.e., they make money to buy space. Artists, what if a patron or foundation offered you, not a grant, but a rent-free apartment for a year -- would this make any difference in your artistic life? What if a grocery chain offered to give you groceries for a year? Or the electric company paid your utilities for a year? How much real estate stands empty while someone seeks a buyer? What if they could get a tax right-off for renting it to you? What if empty warehouses could be leased for a penny a year to artists looking for a place to rehearse, or a place to put together a very basic performance space?
Of course, this is the world of bartering -- I am not having any particularly new and brilliant ideas. But it seems to me that the grantwriting scene has become so professionalized that another approach -- one involving smaller amounts of basic goods -- might lead to more time and space for artists.
So a question to the artists: would any of this make a significant difference to your artistic life?
Comments
Nosedive's director recently moved to a large studio apartment with wider dimensions than most rehearsal studios, which has helped save the company a substantial amount of money (we're able to rehearse in a space for free as long as we want opposed to paying $15-$20 an hour for a room half the size).
But again, would this change what I write and how I write? I don't know. I'm guessing probably not. Then again, I've always been more of a "shoot first, ask questions later" kinda guy when it comes to writing, anyway.
I think it's not so much that we need to stop thinking about money... it's that we need to change our business model. Stop spending so much time on grants and more on small donors.
Either way, if certain spaces were available cheap, they'd be filled up rather quickly and then we'd need to figure out how to find MORE space. In NYC, it's not that there aren't spaces, and that spaces can't be afforded (although some are very hard to afford.) The problem is that the balance gets off so easily. How to commit time and talent to an artist project and raise money OUTSIDE of the money to eat and live and then put time into practical production issues.
I do agree that we should look to other kinds of "goods" in order to alleviate those drains. But either way, it comes back to "resources" and there will always be a need to raise them. No free rides (no matter how generous) will remove that issue overall.
Theatre blogs are few and far between, compared with movie release blogs, or music blogs, for instance, which is a great shame.
Here in the United Kingdom, there is a major revival in Dario Fo-style satirical drama. The United Kingdom’s “Komedy Kollective Theatre Company” are carefully crafting an upbeat and funky big-stage comedy horror theatre musical with meaningful political subplot about an unpopular British prime minister seeking re-election, called Restart, which will be finished in the near future, and ready for national and international touring.
If any theatre lovers reading this, would wish to find out more, our web address is: -
www.komedykollective.com
Bye for now,
Komedy Kollective Theatre (UK)