Walking The Same Road Over and Over

People who don't know their history annoy me.

People who don't understand their field annoy me even more.

Andrew Taylor recently said this:

I've often thought we need a national rapid-response team to swoop in on artists and arts enthusiasts at the moment they're pondering nonprofit status (mostly to talk them down from the precipice).

If we did have that rapid response team the very first thing I would require of any "arts leader" is that they understand how previous organizations in their situation have failed and how they would avoid a similiar fate.

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It's stunning to me that in this age, where a volume of information is a Google Search away, people continue to make the same mistakes . . . and then the rest of us act all shocked when they end up at a outcome that was completely predictable given their actions.

For example, in my hometown there's a lot of discussion about why a city with such a large African-American population has so few African-American theatres?

I understand the question, but we have to stop pretending that the answers to that question are somehow hidden from us.

If a group of African-American theatre artists, no matter how talented they are, come together and start an organization then there are certain obstacles that are ABSOLUTELY going to appear.

If that group is serious about being successful then they should have a viable answer about how they are going to overcome most of those known obstacles before the journey begins.  It doesn't need to be a perfect answer . . . just one that makes sense after it has gone through a bit of critical analysis.

That's not just true for arts organizations of color .  . . that's true for all organizations.

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Here's your homework:

Write down the top five things that cause organizations like yours to fall apart.

Hell, you probably already know three of them off the top of your head . . . just wager a guess on the other two.

Now, assume that all five of those things are going to happen to your organization.

What would you do different to avoid that fate?

Please don't fool yourself into believe that somehow you and your team are smarter, braver or more talented then your fallen comrades.  Really consider what you might do differently NOW to avoid the freight train that you know is coming down the line.

Don't make the same ol' mistakes.  Make new mistakes.  That's how a field moves forward.

 

 

 

Comments

[Deborah Cullinan]

"Don't make the same ol' mistakes. Make new mistakes. That's how a field moves forward." - Perfect!

[Tony Adams]

"Please don't fool yourself into believe that somehow you and your team are smarter, braver or more talented then your fallen comrades."

I wonder how much of this is driven by the same underlying rationalization as voodoo marketing, magical revenue projections, and the Beyonce syndrome? (to borrow a few phrases). Not that the answers are somehow hidden from us, but that we choose to imagine we don't see them?

[Adam]

"Voodoo Marketing, Magical Revenue and the Beyone Syndrome."

I think we have a title for the e-book.

[Tony Adams]

That'd be a pretty damn catchy title.

[Adam]

It's now officially the title of a chapter in the book. Doesn't work for the main title. I'm also debating using it as the title of my next Creative Chicago Expo Presentation.

Thanks Tony!

[99]

I can't believe this, but I'm actually not familiar with "the Beyonce Syndrome." I'm usually up on such things. Can you explain?

[Adam]

99

See here

http://www.missionparadox.com/the_mission_paradox_blog/board_development/page/4/

[Tony Adams]

You're welcome. I'll try to steal your words more often :)