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Proving theatre
by
(I want to preface this by saying that I clearly understand that every museum theatre program is unique with a potentially different set of needs and concerns from our own and in no way do I offer what follows as a blanket solution. I also realize that this isn't exactly what Catherine had in mind but here it is anyway.)
So, we were trying to come up with a theatre survey, the thinking being that once we had “proven” that the theatre experience is a major part of the visitor’s museum experience the decision-makers would naturally feel obliged to up our support. And somewhere along the way it became clear that in this museum, in the current funding atmosphere, no survey, no matter how brilliant, ever could solve the problem of quantifying the value of the theatre program to the decision-makers. They just don’t think that way.
We are planning on moving to a new (and much bigger) building in 2006 and nowhere has the question of the value of Theatre (and the need for designated performing space) been more hotly debated than here at Please Touch Museum. So believe me when I say I have been mulling and chewing and fretting over this for a long, long time. And I confess that more than once I found myself exclaiming to the decision-makers the equivalent of, “We’re doing great work here! Why can’t you all see that!!??” (Please note the desperate tone.) Now, if our work at PTM was solely judged on audience head count then the decision-makers would have to admit we have the most successful program in the entire museum. But the truth is the audience numbers are not enough at budget time and my piece of the pie keeps shrinking as my ambitions keep growing. The hard fact is we are a Museum with a Theatre component. Not the other way around.
All this has left me to wonder if we on the pro-theatre side are truly looking at this in the best, honest and most practical way. Now in this my third season here, I have come to believe the answer to proving our work’s worth in the museum setting is far simpler than we ever wanted to admit.
Jim Murtha from the New Jersey State Aquarium made a very simple and telling comment to me at the conference. He said, in essence, if the theatre program makes money then you can pretty much write your own ticket. And it’s true. All the surveys in the world can’t compete with the bottom line around here. And I fear that try as hard as we might it is just like any argument for the Arts when it comes funding time. “Prove to me Theatre is worthwhile for the museum” really equals “Prove to me it makes money.” And coming from an institution where our weekly attendance numbers are prominently displayed in the main staff stairwell and where funding and donations in the last two years have been a very difficult problem I can understand why the decision-makers are thinking that way. They have to.
So this year I have gone from trying to do the best theatre work I can while letting others worry about money to a stance that is much more proactive and business-minded.
I am looking at a number of financially minded ideas this season. Selling tickets at a nominal fee is one hard and fast method of measure and we are seriously considering it for our new building and may very well prototype it here next year. Several museums I have been in contact with have already gone that way. Jim operates a VERY successful outreach theatre program at the aquarium and I do not hesitate to admit I am stealing liberally from his bag of tricks this year and taking our shows on the road (for a price of course). We are also teaming with our Community Partners program to get our shows out into the community and cultural centers. We will soon be announcing that when you rent the museum for an evening event you can also get a show with it (for an added price of course). We are focusing on the school districts to get our shows into their assembly line-ups and we are contacting day cares and related service providers for the same reason. We are seeking grant monies aimed directly at touring educational programming and I am told by development that there are several untapped sources to fund exactly what we are proposing.
There is no question here that we do “good” work. The shows are aimed right at our target audience (0-7) and I do not boast too much in saying the kids and big people love what we do. But I know more and more the theatre program at Please Touch Museum has to carry its own weight and that means as Theatre Experience Manager I have to help with the bottom line. In every city where I ran a professional theatre company it was the same thing. I can’t expect to put up the shows if I can’t find a way to at least help pay for them.
This doesn’t mean I will soon be turning out a shoddy 20 minute version of CATS simply because it will sell. Nor has anyone asked me to. I tell you straight out that in the entire time I have been here I have not once been told by the decision-makers that I should re-tool or re-write or re-think anything with the goal of making it more popular. No one has pushed Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast on me and for that I am grateful. But in return I need to think like I did when I ran my own company. I need to be a business person as well as a theatre person. Heck, even Shakespeare understood that and I hit myself in the head for not realizing it sooner.