Kris Vire put up this post asking this question:
Have we hit the a cash ceiling for the number of [theatre] companies [Chicago] can support?
You can replace theatre for dance, Chicago for New York, or your town . . . or whatever. It's a very valid question.
So let's think about this:
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I think one of our problems is that we get too caught up on the word "art". Here's what I mean. Imagine if I said this:
I want to start my own law firm.
I want to grow the business at my coffee shop.
And then I asked you for some advice. What would you tell me?
Being fully aware of all the competition in both worlds, you would probably tell me that if I wanted to start or grow my company I would need to make some pretty creative business decisions.
Maybe I think about a way to reduce my overhead.
Maybe it's about thinking of a way of generating multiple sources of revenue.
But if I told you that my plan for building my law firm was to emulate the business model of bigger, more resourced firms then you would be skeptical.
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It's no different in the arts world.
If I took the business plan for your theatre and it looks exactly like the business plan for my day job . . . then you lose.
Do you get that?
So if you start your theatre company today and tell your team . . . "look, we are going to work every day to find a business model that is unique to us and not be satisfied until we do" . . . then now is as good a time to start your theatre as any.
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(brief update)
See I think part of the challenge is that when I tell an artist they need to think creatively about their business, they narrow themselves to just thinking creatively about their "product" i.e. their stage production, or their dance routine.
That's important, but it's not the whole story.
Running an artistic organization is a fully creative enterprise, which means that your marketing, or fundraising, or whatever has to be as creative as your work.
So again, if your plan is to start or grow a fully creative arts org. then I believe the arts marketplace will expand to make room for you. That's as true if you start it now or start it later.
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