Filling in the Theatre Coverage Gap

This morning, in the wake of the Chronicle's threatened demise, a local theatre publicist sent me an email wondering if it was, in a nutshell, far-fetched that Theatre Bay Area's site could be the local touchstone for theatre news and coverage.

Funny you should ask.

As many in the theatre community know, Theatre Bay Area has been planning, for at least a year, on a major site overhaul. We recognized many months ago that we have an opportunity to fill in the gaps in mainstream media coverage. Unlike many other local sites, that mostly just sell tickets or list shows, Theatre Bay Area has offered real coverage of local theatre through the features and Editors' Picks in the magazine, and in the past several years I've attracted prominent theatre writers like Chad Jones, Randy Gener, Sam Hurwitt and many more, and I pay them.

The magazine offers both industry content and what I like to call "patron-friendly" content. A prominent arts editor at the Chronicle recently told me how impressive the magazine is and that it's "a must read, not only for theatre people, but for anyone interested in theatre." We have the opportunity to distribute this content across multiple platforms: the magazine, our site and our two e-blasts (one for members and one for patrons). We've been posting magazine features to the site for years, and we've started including Editors' Picks and sections of articles (with links to the complete article on our site) in the Theatregoer e-blast.

What Theatre Bay Area needs is a major site overhaul. We would like to become a theatre news portal for both people interested in making theatre and people interested in going to theatre. I want to increase our theatre coverage both online and in the magazine. Theatre Bay Area currently has a major proposal into the NEA for such a site overhaul, but you know the grant timeline at the NEA is rather long. We'll have a better idea of the outcome in a couple of months, but we do have pages and pages of plans and budgets. But the bottom line is that to do this right, we need financial resources.

Willows Benefit a Success

At the end of January I wrote about a special benefit performance over at the Willows for a teenager who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The Willows' Shaun Carroll e-mailed me an update: Although 35 people came to the benefit (it was Thursday at 10:30 p.m. in Martinez, after all), it still raised $2,000 for the family.

Says Carroll, "People were just so supportive and energetic; knowing the reason that they had come to the theatre that night. It was such a wonderful feeling to see the community come together for an important event, and to see the entire theatre company rally to support another cause."

Good job!

But I Like Ink on My Fingers

Dwindling arts coverage and the decline of print have been issues for years. But with the East Bay Express cutting theatre reviews after today's edition (well, we just heard that it may in fact still continue reviewing but giving those duties to someone in house), and with the SF Weekly cutting theatre critic Chloe Veltman down to two reviews a month, plus the merging of dailies in the East and South Bays, it seems pretty critical now.

The East Bay Express news came within days of Walter Isaacson's appearance on The Daily Show in conjunction with his cover story in Time magazine, "How to Save Your Newspaper." The article recounts what we've all recently learned: newspaper readership is actually higher than it's been in years and there's more demand for content. Problem is, everyone's reading the content on the web for free instead of paying for it (either paying for a print edition or paying an online subscription). Isaacson says the newspapers and magazines did themselves a disservice by putting their content on the web for free years and years ago, when they should have been charging for it. Problem is, the web was so new to the public that the companies couldn't sell online content, and now because no one sells online content, everyone still expects it for free.

Now, Sam and I have been chewing on all this "decline of print" and what it means for theatre companies, and it's a big meal. So I'll offer a side dish: Perhaps we shouldn't be looking to print lovers. See, here's what happens: Isaacson goes on The Daily Show and being a print journalist and author, we know he loves print. So he starts talking, and Jon Stewart, also a print lover, starts agreeing, and they fall into what I've come to hate to hear: "I just love having paper in my hands, I can't read on the screen, I want the ink to rub off on my fingers, oh it's all so romantic" (quotes not exact, obviously). As if these are compelling reasons for people who don't want to pay for content to suddenly start paying for it. So we can get our hands dirty. Here's the thing: I want to hear from people who don't care about print, but who care deeply about online content, on how we should "solve the problem." Last week I saw a young woman on Muni reading Jane Austen on her iPhone. Jane Austen!

But I love print too. And I'm going to get romantic about it and completely negate that last paragraph (or illustrate my point further that print lovers shouldn't be the only ones talking). I love novels and poetry (poetry, a field more marginalized than even theatre) and magazines. In the past couple of years I started collecting vintage paper ephemera. And despite all the talk of the decline of print books and the closing of independent bookstores, I've been buying books at an alarming rate (and joining GoodReads, and getting a library card (SF)), as if a sort of denial was fueling my obsession. Maybe it's because I'm coming to realize that all the assumptions I built my career on are no longer. I thought I could always get paid for being a writer and editor. No, now there are a whole bunch of citizen journalists willing to do that for free. So, I don't need more people who think like me telling me why print is so wonderful--I want to hear from people who don't really care about print but care about content. The catch is, I still want them to pay for it.

In the next week Sam and I will be planning what we hope will be a multi-component feature for the May issue about dwindling arts coverage, what it means for theatre companies and what tactics some are employing to attract new audiences. If you have ideas or comments, and/or your theatre is doing something quite different in online marketing (non-print marketing), let me know.

How to Make Sure the Public Doesn't Support the Arts

I'm really late to the party on this one, but I've been catching up on my Bloglines after putting the March issue to bed.

But the new Americans for the Arts public awareness campaign commercials are completed, and AFTA has proudly and with no hint of irony plastered them on their website. I want to direct you to the source, though they were probably first on The Playgoer, with the Wicked Stage and the Guardian UK referencing them. This way you can read AFTA's intro, which calls the commercials "incredibly informative and entertaining tongue-in-cheek commercials" and thankfully names the advertising agency responsible.

Long Live Theatre

Holland Cotter's article in the NY Times several days ago, titled "The Boom Is Over. Long Live the Art!", talks about the visual art world, but it bears more than striking resemblances to the theatre industry. As we try to sort out the economic mess and what it means for theatre, sometimes looking at a different yet similar industry can help.

For one, Cotter describes the industry machine that the visual arts have become, where commodity rules, and talks about the proliferation of graduate programs. It seems that true artistic ideas did not proliferate at the same rate. Economic recessions had a way of clearing the air in the art world, and I very much think that the same may be true in the theatre world.

This is my favorite passage from the article:

"At the same time, if the example of past crises holds true, artists can also take over the factory, make the art industry their own. Collectively and individually they can customize the machinery, alter the modes of distribution, adjust the rate of production to allow for organic growth, for shifts in purpose and direction. They can daydream and concentrate. They can make nothing for a while, or make something and make it wrong, and fail in peace, and start again."

In the March issue of Theatre Bay Area magazine, executive director Brad Erickson discusses the rise in nonprofits over the past several years, as noted in the January NEA study, and that audiences have not risen in tandem. That is just one of many facets he details, so do keep an eye out for it in the next couple of weeks.

East Bay Express Cuts Theatre Reviews

News came today that the East Bay Express has cut its theatre reviews. My understanding is that theatre reviewer Sam Hurwitt (also Theatre Bay Area magazine's associate editor) will have maybe a couple more reviews in next week's paper. After that, no more theatre reviews in the paper. I hear they will continue to preview theatre.

Sigh. I can't imagine (well, actually, I can) what effect this will have on East Bay companies.

Write for American Theatre

American Theatre is entering round two of the Bay Area Commissioning Fund, and has sent out the info. Here it is:

With generous support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the national monthly arts magazine American Theatre is entering the second round of a two-year grant program intended to establish and strengthen ongoing professional relationships with selected arts writers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Area Commissioning Fund, administered by the magazine’s publisher, Theatre Communications Group, covers the theatrical seasons 2008–09 and 2009–10 and is designed to bring Bay Area theatres and artists to national attention and to heighten visibility for the region as a whole.
Four arts writers were selected last year for the program. The magazine is now accepting applications for a new group of four Bay Area writers of diverse backgrounds, strengths and interests. Each selected writer will be expected to complete three articles and will receive $2,500 over the course of his or her affiliation. Applications for round two are now being accepted and must be postmarked by March 23, 2009. For further guidelines, please visit www.tcg.org/grants/bacf/bacf_guidelines.cfm or contact Nicole Estvanik Taylor: 212-609-5900 x 219 / ntaylor@tcg.org / 520 Eighth Ave., 24th Fl., New York, NY 10018.

Fast Magazine Delivery

I don't know about you, but the February issue hit my mailbox on January 30! Some may remember a few months ago we changed to periodical rate delivery, which could take longer than the first-class delivery we were using. I sent out a bunch of e-mails about it, telling everyone that the beloved audition, job and Playwrights' Opportunities listings were on our site a couple of weeks before the magazine even hits.

The first month, the magazine was indeed a week later than usual, but that was due to an internal problem and had nothing to do with periodical rate. So far since then, the magazine seems to have hit around the same time as it did under first class. Part of me wishes I never said anything, because no one would have noticed. We do have a few members who are upset we are mailing under periodical rate instead of first class, and don't seem to be convinced by the fact they are receiving the magazine at the same time as usual.

But I'm thrilled we are able to get the magazine to subscribers at roughly the same time as first-class, but for half the price. The magazine receives no dedicated funding, other than Zellerbach, which is much appreciated but doesn't even cover the printing and mailing costs of one issue. Our advertising has been on a steady decline for the past few years, even though we haven't raised our rates. It's really important that I watch our costs, and if I can do that with minimal impact to the membership, even better. We just heard late last week that LA Stage, the bimonthly audience publication in LA (obviously), has ceased as a print publication and is planning on launching an online version in the future. The future of print magazines is uncertain, yet Theatre Bay Area magazine continues, according to our most recent survey of the membership, to rank as the most popular membership benefit. It's heartening to know that the magazine is well-loved, so I'll continue to ensure it stays around.

SF Free Civic Theatre on Chopping Block

Late last week SF Free Civic Theatre artistic director Glenn Havlan put out word that the theatre company, which is part of the Recreation and Park Department, is on the chopping block. Like every other city agency, Recreation and Park must cut its budget (I've heard that City Hall has asked most city agencies to cut their budget by 25 percent), and it looks like the theatre company will be the latest in a number of theatre closures, and Havlan will be laid off.

Says Havlan in his e-mail, "SFFCT has served hundreds of theatre artists who have been directly involved with producing plays. The group's sizable audience will lose the free performances that many of them, especially seniors, enjoyed as an affordable way of making theatre part of their lives. It became an important component of the San Francisco Arts community and an extraordinary public service. The program director, Glenn Havlan, has repeatedly gone above and beyond the requirements of his position to create and develop this unique resource. He was recognized by the Rec/Park Commission for his outstanding work. His access to public facilities, especially the Randall Museum Theater, will be lost to the private businesses that will soon take over."

Havlan urges supporters to contact their representative and other government leaders, and he supplies these e-mail addresses:
gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
michela.alioto-pier@sfgov.org
david.campos@sfgov.org
david.chiu@sfgov.org
carmen.chu@sfgov.org
chris.daly@sfgov.org
bevan.dufty@sfgov.org
sean.elsbernd@sfgov.org
eric.mar@sfgov.org
sophie.maxwell@sfgov.org
ross.mirkarimi@sfgov.org
jared.blumenfeld@sfgov.org
terry.schwartz@sfgov.org
elizabeth.gee@sfgov.org