Thursday, October 28, 2010

Make your own CST!

So, dearest ERPAns:

Today it is my true delight to share with you a startlingly simple set of steps to unlock some hidden value in your art-making processes. After concluding this exercise, you will be well on your way to discovering brand-new revenue streams for your art, income which is tied directly and organically to your company's mission, all the while engaging and activating your audience in ways that should be satisfying for both artist and art-appreciator.

Answer the following, either as a solo artist or as part of a collective/organization: (Stolen Chair's answers in parenthesis)
  1. What are my "works of art"? (We make original works of theatre)
  2. What is unique about my artistic process? (We research our work exhaustively and develop our ideas collaboratively with an ensemble of performers, designers, and dramaturgs)
  3. What are 12 steps I take in the creation of my art? (Can't disclose all of these--trade secret! One thing we always do though is a movie night where we screen clips from thematically/aesthetically linked films)
  4. Which of these steps could be informally shared or formally presented for an audience/observer? (Our movie night is easily shareable. Oh, and we could make popcorn! Oh, make that truffle-sage-parmesan popcorn!)
  5. How much would it cost me to share this stage? (Well, we already have donated wine, a projector, and a screen and popcorn is cheap, so I guess it's just space rental and labor. Oh, and most of the labor has already been put into curating the films for my creative team)
  6. Who might be interested in this stage? (Definitely anyone curious about how Stolen Chair begins new plays. Also, I suppose, anyone interested in the specific themes and aesthetics of the specific project.)
  7. How can I reach these people? (I can definitely use our newsletter, Twitter, website, Facebook, etc. I can also target cultural partners invested in similar aesthetics and themes. Oh, I can also recruit some "boosters," Stolen Chair fans with wide social networks, both digital and live)
  8. What is the value of this stage to potential audiences? (I think that if I could attract the right people, they'd probably be willing to pay about $20 for the experience. Films, wine, food, and discussion. That seems like a fair price.)
  9. Are there other stages which I can share? (Yep. Repeat steps #4-8)
  10. Plot the results of step #9 on a calendar. Be realistic. (Oh, nifty: looks like we have an event approximately each month for 9 months, culminating in the first public performance of our show)
  11. Add up each iteration of step #8. Multiply times your expected audience. This is your projected income. ($8k. Not bad!)
  12. Add up each iteration of step #5. These are your projected expenses.
  13. Subtract #12 from #11. This is your project budget.
  14. Go make art. Repeat as necessary :)
If you wanna see how this all plays out in practice, join us for the launch of PlayGround 2011, Stolen Chair's Community Supported Theatre program. Nov 21. 7pm. Free wine. Gourmet themed snacks. And the earliest stages of one scrappy theatre company's theatrical process! All the info is at http://communitysupportedtheatre.org.

See you there!


Sunday, October 24, 2010

Conni's Avant Garde Restaurant: Real-Time

We spend so little time really making a study of the way another group of performers works. As part of the ERPA program, Joanna Mendl Shaw, artistic director of The Equus Projects and I were tasked with finding out what we lessons we might share with The Field from the lives of our performing ensembles.

Joanna’s company dances with horses. My company, Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant, makes five course meals for our audiences. We both engage with a specific community that has a secondary interest other than theater or dance (food and horses). We both need a certain level of participation or “buy in” from the audience or community in order for the performance to exist. (Joanna needs people to lend her their horses. I need them to eat my food.) Joanna’s company has been working for decades. Mine will celebrate its fourth birthday this Wednesday. Her company has gone through several stages of turnover with the dancers. Mine is still founder-driven, but we have significantly padded ourselves with new people this year.

Naturally, we thought we might compare our experiences with the lifecycle of an ensemble and explore the question of “keeping the spark alive” when working with the same group of people over time. But this begged the question of what that spark is exactly that we are trying to keep alive. For both of our companies, we boiled it down to something Joanna calls real time. I call it suspense or the feeling that anything can happen in the room.

In the work of both companies, events unfold in front of an audience in real time as part of an intricately orchestrated, but unset, performance. Joanna talks about physical listening. The need for it is obvious. Her dancers are doing something that seems to me akin to a kind of intuitive, subtle, speedy, gorgeous, concentrated, wildly reactive computer programming. (If I do A the horse does B. If the horse does C, I must do D or I will get trampled.) In my company, we balance all the logistics and timing of meal preparation and service with our performance, thus our characters have occupations that empower us to able to troubleshoot and make speedy adjustments from within the world. For both of our companies, the performance involves crucial unpredictable components not completely within the performers’ control.

The experiment of it is so compelling that, for both of us, doing the work has a kind of self-propagating curiosity, and it draws people in—ensemble members and audience alike. Thanks, Joanna, for your commitment to your work and for sharing it with me!

The Equus Projects will be in Prospect Park on October 30. www.dancingwithhorses.org.

Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant will be at Cleveland Public Theatre December 2-19.
www.avantgarderestaurant.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Karl Cronin does House Parties!

I am including here an email I was cc'ed on from big thinker Karl Cronin to big heart-er Kahlil Almustafa. (Karl and Kahlil met as part of The Field's ERPA Planning grants!) THANK YOU so much Karl and Kahlil for inspiring me and The Field.....xoxo Jennifer Wright Cook, Executive Director

*************

Hi Kahlil,

I just wanted you to know that after months of brewing
I'm putting pen to paper and planning a series of house concerts
inspired by the model you developed with your ERPA project.

While the theme is still wavering between informal conversations about civic agency - http://newamericatour.tumblr.com/
and more focused conversations about social empowerment in rural queer youth - http://queerusa.wordpress.com/

the format is solid - offer art as a catalyst for folks to get folks together in informal settings and start talking.

I believe the intimacy, directness, and informality of house concerts
can create some of the most powerful moments of social transformation.

I have witnessed this first hand,
and am so pleased you chose to unearth and polish off this time tested social practice
and offer it to your fellow creatives.

Did you produce a "House Recital 101" article? If so, I'd love to read it.

Cheers,

Karl

Karl Cronin
karlcronin.com

*********************
And Kahlil's reply!
*************************
Karl,

Thanks so much for this message.

A poet named Sekou Sundiata did a project: "finding the 51st (dream) state: Sekou Sundiata's America Project," that included "citizenship dinners." Take a look. There is a whole curriculum. http://mappinternational.org/blocks/view/295

A friend of mine has a project she just began to empower Queer youth in the south. Check it out: "http://shoutinoutfromthesouth.blogspot.com/"

I do not know about Tumblr. How does it work? What is it? I will check it out.

Oh my god, the New America Tour website is amazing, super-inspiring. Yea, yea, yea!!! Keep me updated. So, when you say "House Concerts" you mean via Ustream. I have been thinking about something similar. How did that work out.

So many thoughts, keep me posted,

kahlil

***********************
I am so glad to know both of these me. They make the world a better place.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Why America Needs Artists (It's Not What You Think)



Consider this a call to arms!!!....errr, I mean to arts, to YOU, the artists!!!
In this compelling keynote address, Arlene Goldbard paints us all on the verge of an impactful paradigm shift. With wit and calm poise, she rabble rouses to move us, the artists, to help resolve our world's most pressing issues with our compassion, creative intelligence and capacity for empathy, intuition, and understanding. So what's next then? You tell us.

This speech is truly a treat. I'd encourage you to put it on your netflix cue, but alas, we're the only ones with the exclusive footage, so you'll have to watch it here. Take it in...consider the message. We know you'll be moved to decisive action through art! Make sure to keep us in the loop.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Missed the Event? Join the Discussion HERE



This is the FULL footage folks. Glean advice and inspiration from our entrepreneurial whiz kids, the ERPA four, and catch Jennifer Wright Cook's "F*ck Sustainability" moment*. It all happened live.

Want more? We've got a couple of options for you! Check out the e-version of We Are No Longer Strangers, the ERPA project up-to-date report here and if you're craving an alternative ERPA perspective, email jennifer@thefield.org to request a pdf link to our Strangers Addendum with straight talk from deft ERPA outsiders like NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund's Heather Rees.

Last but not least, don’t forget to tell us what you think! This is a blog after all…

*Esther Robinson quoting John Killacky.