The New Face of Arts Leadership in the West - westaf - The Western ...

One last thing: When we were talking a little bit
earlier, I wrote a note that programming—this
is probably blasphemy—programming doesn’t
mean anything. It really doesn’t. You could
have the best programming in the world, but
if you don’t have the infrastructure around to
get those people in those doors, it isn’t going
to mean jack. If you want to get people in, do
some comedy and do things that are geared
toward women because women are the primary
people who come to the arts. If you want to
start doing other stuff, you have to have the
infrastructure to bring that in. The most brilliant
programming is not going to make it for you.
Danielle Brazell: I also think, just to continue on
that train of thought, that flexibility and mobility
are very important. One of the big challenges
with Highways is that we program 52 weeks out
of the year. Because we have to sell tickets to
pay the rent, this places a tremendous strain on
not just the facility but the staff. We were constantly
trying to get butts in seats and get people
to see things, and there is something new every
single week. So, 52 weeks out of the year—talk
about balancing life and family—it is nonexistent.
I think there is a time span when we can do that
physically, but at a certain point, our bodies start
to wear down or move into different modes,
and it can be difficult to get up in the morning.
But I really like the idea of temporary spaces
and temporary projects. In that scenario, a
temporary space can be available for just five
years. Maybe a temporary project lasts two
years. There is an organization in Los Angeles
that started as C Level and went to Beta Level.
They are constantly thinking about how to
actively transition and transform based on the
needs of their community and the changes
in the community and its political structure.
Orit Sarfaty: You mentioned the challenges of
paying rent and health care, and it seems that
the government is not taking on its share of the
responsibility to support the arts. We all know
that. But besides very direct support of the arts
through arts commissions and arts facilities, there
are other things that the government and labor
organizations can do. I wonder whether we
can start demanding more from government.
I was engaged in a conversation the other
day that centered on the questioning of what
government is responsible for. With Hurricane
Katrina, we have had to actually ask very basic
questions, such as “Is government responsible
for our housing and food?” Many people in
New Orleans thought it was. There may be food
and housing, but what about the fulfillment of
the person through the arts? We, as artists and
arts advocates, shouldn’t be the ones begging
for money because it should be as basic as the
food, water, and housing that the government
should be providing. We shouldn’t be in three
jobs as baristas at Starbucks just to secure health
care because artists are just as important to our
livelihood as streets and filling potholes. I think we
should be demanding more of our government.
Amanda Ault: I think that if we have a vision
of the support we need to have balanced,
successful, vibrant lives, we do need to
become individual advocates and participate
with our government. But I also think there
are organizations like WESTAF, Americans
for the Arts, National Alliance for Media Arts
and Culture (NAMAC), the Alliance for Artists
Communities, and others that are already
providing and trying to provide support for
such things as professional development,
health care, and, in some cases, infrastructure.
These institutions work hard to strengthen our
capacity to accomplish our goals, and we
can and should be in dialogue with them
on how they can better support this work.
Nan Elsasser: For 14 years, we were a program-driven
organization and, at the end of
1993, we were burned out and were close to
bankruptcy. Every one of the staff made a
commitment to pursue management training.
One of the things we discovered is that we
weren’t tapping the support that was there for
us. When we asked and lobbied, the response
was huge. We lobbied the Albuquerque City
Council and received grants totaling $100,000.
We had been in this city for 15 years. We had
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