I read this article in Business Week about organizations that started out as nonprofit and now have a for-profit branch to support them or became for-profits. I thought the idea was fascinating, even if I didn’t understand some of the technical aspects of it. It made me think, what would arts organizations look like if they were for-profit? Arts organizations seem like a money-losing business. If we had to make it work as a for-profit, what would we be doing differently?
Education is a huge part of what makes arts organizations nonprofit and, as an artist, I know that there are many of us that don’t like teaching. One reason I decided not to make my living as a dancer was that I don’t like teaching and I knew I would have to do that in order to make dance my living (or work a crap job with flexible hours, like waitressing - which I did for a year in NYC and I am over it). Some people do it and love it, but I am not one of them. At the arts organizations I’ve worked for, it is usually like pulling teeth to get artists to get their education credits in. And while education is one of the most talked about areas for funding purposes, it is usually the one with the smallest budget and the smallest staff.
So if we took out the education portion of our organization and focused solely on performing, it becomes the entertainment industry. No different than a rock concert. In competition with that genre, how would we do things differently? The budget would definitely shift. I think from a marketing standpoint, this would force marketing to edgier, broader, and more up to date. It would be great to see what a company would do when they put serious money in their marketing.
Could we afford to pay our artists union salaries? Probably not. Would we be more creative with our sets, costumes and amenities? The biggest question is would the artistic quality of the performance change? That questions leads me to think of the Ballets Russe, a company funded by an impressario, Diaghilev, which made the most fabulous works of art of it's time. The most amazing dancers, choreographers, set designers, composers, costume designers collaborated and made a profit (although probably not a huge return on investment). It has the possibility of being amazing.
Not that nonprofits are looking for ways not to make a profit, they are mostly trying to not have a deficit. On the other hand, I think arts organizations could do it and survive. Maybe just asking the questions could change our mindset and change our results.
2 months ago
