News broke earlier this month that the Chicago production of Blue Man Group was downsized.
A few extra blue men and musicians were handed pink slips, causing TV newscasts to do a slew of "sign of the times" stories about a long-running commercial show like Blue Man Group letting go of workers just like corporate America.
While some people have grumbled about Blue Man Group overstaying its welcome at the Briar Street Theatre, I'm still thankful that it's running and helping to generate entertainment traffic to the Boystown neighborhood. Still, the layoff news was unsettling, especially in consideration of depressing non-profit arts news coming from other corners of the nation.
In the past few months, three regional opera companies have gone under. The global economic crisis proved to be the final death knell for Opera Pacific in Santa Ana , Calif., and Connecticut Opera in Hartford, Conn. ( which isn't even offering refunds and is asking subscribers to write off the tickets as tax donations to help the company to pay off its debtors ) . Meanwhile, Baltimore Opera declared bankruptcy after canceling the rest of its season.
Even longtime theater companies aren't immune. It was a shock when Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis ( a 2005 Regional Theatre Tony Award-winner ) shut down this past summer after 30 years of existence. The 35-year-old Carousel Dinner Theatre in Akron, Ohio, shuttered this past January, while the 59-year-old North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Mass., has already let go of 57 employees and is scrambling to raise $4.5 million to pay off debts by the spring.
Worries about how the economic crisis might affect the Windy City prompted The League of Chicago Theatres to conduct a "fiscal health survey" of 70 area theaters. The survey results released this month were a mix of positive spin and dread about the future.
About 50 percent of the surveyed theaters reported increased or steady ticket sales, while 74 percent reported individual donations that were the same or higher than this time last year.
On the downside, the surveyed theaters reported plans to downsize their budgets for the fiscal year of 2010 in anticipation of funding being reduced as much as 60 percent from corporate, foundation and governmental sources.
"In this economic climate it is more important now than ever for our community to continue to support Chicago theatre," said League Executive Director Deb Clapp in a press statement. "We provide our neighborhoods with local entertainment; we provide our schools with arts education and our students with opportunities to discover their own stories on stage."
Stimulating art
One bright spot for the arts comes with the Obama administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package. An extra $50 million was allocated to arts organizations on top of the $145 million annual budget of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sixty percent of that $50 million is to go to individual projects by companies seeking grants from the NEA, while the remaining funds are to be distributed to state arts agencies and regional arts organizations.
While $50 million is just a drop in the bucket when compared to what European countries spend on the arts, it almost didn't make into the final stimulus package.
During debate in the Senate, an amendment was successfully added by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that threatened the arts funding. Coburn lumped museums, theaters and art centers as undeserving of stimulus money along with casinos, swimming pools, zoos, aquariums and golf courses.
On Friday, Feb. 13, the arts groups and museums were deleted from that restricting amendment ( hard luck to zoos and aquariums that will get no stimulus money ) .
Coming to the defense of the arts was U.S. Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis. As quoted in The New York Times, Obey said, "You know what? There are five million people who work in the arts industry. And right now they have 12.5 percent unemployment—or are you suggesting that somehow if you work in that field, it isn't real when you lose your job, your mortgage or your health insurance? We're trying to treat people who work in the arts the same way as anybody else."
Guests of the W.P.A.?
Of course, with America facing what economists dub "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression," one can be tempted to think of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. Otherwise known as the WPA, this federal New Deal program put artists to work specifically to artistically enrich the nation.
Loads of murals were painted in public buildings across the country, folk histories and songs were collected, while artists like Orson Wells came to the fore by staging innovative and groundbreaking productions.
We can only hope that Chicago's treasured arts organizations will survive the economic downturn. But at the very least, we know the Obama administration isn't ignoring the arts as part of its mission to stimulate America's economy.
