Off Stage Conversations

Hello, it's Andie Arthur, Executive Director of the South Florida Theatre League, with this week's Off Stage Conversations, where we check in with what's happening in the national and international theatre community.

Landesman Leaves

Rocco Landesman announced that he's leaving he NEA. Lanesman has been a somewhat controversial chair, suggesting that the arts have a supply/demand problem -- that there are too many arts organizations. He also has knocked art in rural areas. It'll be interesting to see who President Obama appoints to replace him.

Magic

Lee Liebeskind has a really lovely article on the importance of magic in theatre.

It really resonated with me -- how often do you really feel completely connected to the magic of the medium? And what can we do to make every audience engage in that thrill of the suspension of disbelief?

Testing Ideas

Over at 2amtheatre, Devra Thomas talks about how theatres need to invest in their own research and development, a topic of consideration at the National Arts Marketing Project this year.

The Nate Silver of Arts Marketing

The Globe and Mail has an article on TRG (Target Resource Group) and what they're doing to collect useable data for arts organizations and turning it into dynamic pricing options that allow organizations to make better profits.

What's not mentioned in the article is that TRG creates regional databases that can be extremely useful for arts advocacy, allowing arts service organizations to show elected officials just how many voters are patrons of the arts and how diverse of a group arts patrons are. (To make the Nate Silver analogy ring a little clearer.)

Speaking of election related things...

Daniel Jones writes on the lack of conservative voices in theatre.

Giving Tuesday

Can non-profits rebrand the Tuesday After Thanksgiving as Giving Tuesday?

I'm personally unsure if we need another post-Thanksgiving branded day, but I admire the idea. Perhaps a campaign centered around giving to organizations you're thankful for instead?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!