Post-Covid VII: We’re All Startups Now
Alan Harrison FRSA
Nonprofits a career, writing a specialty || Cogito, ergo sum, ergo scribo.
“The thing is: we produce art to contextualize all the weird, wonderful, and terrible things that happen in the world. In a good piece of art, a thing presented can no longer be unknown or unseen by anyone experiencing it. It’s out there, this idea represented by art, never to return to the toothpaste tube. But have we artists figured out that the virus has contextualized art for the community? For audiences? For us? All these discussions about a ‘new normal’ cannot be taken seriously if the goal is to return rather than to start anew.”
Aging attendance, flagging interest, and social dissonance borne from irrelevance – and downright enmity – have rotted the arts in America. This is not news. The way the arts are viewed by the general public is a pastime for the elites – for moneyed white folks looking for something to do. They donate to the arts so that they can attend the arts. That arts organizations do other good works is nice, but it’s not crucial to the societal structure.
Do people donate money to food banks on Tuesday so that they can get food from food banks on Wednesday? Before you answer, consider this: nonprofit arts organizations beg people to donate in every curtain speech. In other words, many (if not most) organizations ask donors to give on Tuesday at 7:30 so that they can see a show at 7:35.
Why not take this opportunity not to reinvent, but to invent? Think of it as zero-based budgeting of the soul of your company. And let’s start with the idea of doing work that matters to people who cannot afford it rather than catering to the traditional arts donor.
Because arts donors are users, arts organizations are deemed elitist – mostly because they cater to the luxury of self-actualization, the narrow top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
When arts organizations spur achievement in the lower parts of the pyramid, most funders are confused. That’s because arts organizations – despite any add-on programs that are meant to educate the underserved – still hang onto the typical arts donor, seeking to cater to those who can afford the freight. But in a “new normal,” no such limitation is required. What if you helped people that really need it?
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
Americans do not fall into the category of those Fitzgerald would have defined as having “first-rate intelligence.” We are notorious from bouncing on the tops of the crisis waves without looking back. How else does one explain the commissioner of the NFL (the son of a US senator and generally considered to be a highly intelligent person) saying that Black Lives Matter while saying nothing about the league’s Washington franchise, whose nickname is a known vulgar and offensive slur toward Native Americans. And for those who believe the name refers to a particular variety of Virginia peanuts, here is the logo to put that to rest:
Erik Drost / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
Today, Americans are protesting racism. That’s a good thing. Non-racism is no longer acceptable; only anti-racism is. The US is a racist country likely to elect a racist to a second term unless an unusually “yuge” number of people in key states register and vote against him.
But two months ago, ridiculous Americans were protesting the color of their roots. Storming state capitals in camo gear and weapons.
And a month before that, Americans were frightened into either a) staying home; or b) proving they’re [not] immune at Huntington Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
And just six months ago, wayyyyy back in December, the president was impeached. He was acquitted 4 months ago. Remember that? Yeah, I know, no one seems to talk about that anymore.
It seems clear that most arts funders do not fall into the category of “first-rate intelligence” either. Nor are their advisors. If they were, large companies running huge deficits would not be rewarded for years of bad management by bailouts. If they were, measurements of impact would not be limited to commercial outcomes such as “butts in seats,” positive economic impact multipliers, or fiscal responsibility. Instead, just like other nonprofit organizations, impact would be measured by quantifiable data that proved that a goodly number of people were able to move up the Maslow pyramid by virtue of a charitable act.
Or, you know, the kids.
Nice, cute, moneyed, white kids. Girls mostly. Harmless. Inspiring. Clubby.
The truth? Companies offering harmless fare are more conducive to corporate funding than the myriad companies offering the chance to move up the pyramid shown above. There is little blowback from sponsoring a children’s theatre in a wealthy white suburb doing the Les Misérables School Edition. “Look at those well-fed faces putting on all that makeup and showing off what they worked on with their vocal teacher and acting coach,” say the high-tuition-paying parents. “They could be on Broadway!” cry the corporate and government entities subsidizing events.
Just a few short questions: isn’t it better when kids in Title 1 schools – kids who have no access to the arts because neither they nor their school can afford it – gain access? Or do “those people” not deserve it? Maybe the “new normal” can offer you, as a producer, with certain startup opportunities? What if you helped people that really need it?
The “new normal” offers a chance at redemption for the nonprofit arts industry. While a lot of activities will involve seating charts and subscription series, the center of a startup is not its seating charts and subscription series. Or about spacing and venue redesign. These are important steps, to be sure, but they are not the meat of the matter. Nor do they provide insight to any kind of joy to be shared with donors. What if you helped people that really need it?
In the same way that art contextualizes the issues of life to an audience that can never again un-see what they’ve witnessed, then the virus that rocked the country has contextualized the arts to smart nonprofit arts organizations who can never again un-see what they’ve witnessed. The next steps toward the new normal in the arts are important, but more critical in that they will reveal the motives and processes that have eaten at the power of the arts for years.
Will art provided by nonprofits change the direction of their impact? We know that many use an “art for art’s sake” ideal that is neither charitable nor useful to society. An academic ideal, “art for art’s sake” dismisses any notion that there is an intentional positive impact of a nonprofit’s production of art. Down here in the real world, there are people who are not currently benefitting from the various impacts of the arts. Your arts. Here’s an idea…I don’t know where I’ve read this, but What if you helped people that really need it?
When the virus comes back – there is every likelihood that it will, with a vengeance, because, generally speaking, few are social distancing and cases and hospital admissions are already hitting record daily highs…in June – will we just bemoan the loss of the arts or will we become startups?
“You need three things to create a successful startup: to start with good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it because they fail at one of these. A startup that does all three will probably succeed.” – Paul Graham
Your company’s success in the “new normal” may mean divorcing your self-owned venues, some of your longstanding donors, and your longest serving board members and senior staff. New elevator pitches…new mission development…new programs and impact. Just like a startup.
A nonprofit arts organization is, at its heart, a NONPROFIT organization. A charity. An aid organization. Rather than asking this question after creating your startup, what if the first question you asked was…
What if you helped people that really need it?
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Post-Covid Article #1: Don't Ask
Post-Covid Article #3: The Sacrifice After the Sacrifice - Go Small or Go Home
Post-Covid Article #4: In the New Normal, You're Going to Need Some Mischief
Post-Covid Article #5: Shedding Egos and Empowering the Tribe
Alan Harrison is a writer, father, performer, nonprofit executive, artist, blogger and impresario (in no particular order). He has led, produced, directed, promoted, raised money for, starred, and failed in over 300 theatrical productions on and Off-Broadway and at prestigious (and not so prestigious) nonprofit arts organizations across the country. He’s also a two-time Jeopardy! champion so, you know, there’s that. The arts invoke passion (mostly from artists), but nonprofit arts are only successful when they result in measurably positive change among those that need it most. When a nonprofit’s donors are also its recipients, then its mission is meaningless puffery, flapdoodle and codswallop.