The Mission Paradox Blog

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This Is Mission Paradox

It's a place where we discuss arts marketing, management and leadership.  "We" includes me, your friendly host, Adam Thurman.  It also includes people from all over the world who leave comments, link to posts and keep the conversation going in cyberspace.

Feel free to take a look around.  On the right side of the page you'll notice a category list where you can browse through previous posts.  You'll also notice a spot where you can subscribe to the blog via a RSS Reader.  I recommend subscribing because it's the easiest way to receive current posts.  Don't worry, your email address will be safe with me.

Along the top of the page you can find information about my coaching and speaking services.  If you need some help with marketing your art effectively, take a look at what I offer.   For those of you that want a direct route, information on coaching is here and client testimonials are here

New posts appear every weekday. 

Death by 1000 No's

It's not about the one big mistake.

Despite what you have been told it's rare that the career of an artist, or the legacy of an arts organization, is crushed by one big mistake.

It's all the little mistakes that do it.

It's all the times you said "No".

No to producing that creative, but risky piece of work because you were scared of the possible financial downside.

No to hiring that younger, but less experienced person as your new Director of Development.  Sure she could have bought in new ideas and strategies but the Board wanted someone more "stable."

No to giving your staff that pay raise they deserved.

No to getting rid of that toxic staff member that is killing morale.

No to actively seeking that artistic mentor that could help guide your career.

That's how things crumble, one fear based decision at a time.

The good news is that the opposite is true.

I have seen organizations saved, careers re-ignited because of a few good, brave, timely decisions.

There are a thousand variables that pave the road to artistic success, luck, timing, skill, connections, etc.

But mostly, all of us are nothing more then the sum total of our decisions.

 

Both Sides of the Door

When we talk about the role diversity, or lack thereof, has in the arts we tend to use a common image, the locked door.

The door represents the barriers, intentional and otherwise, that keep people of color from reaching their full potential in the field.

But I want to talk about the people on the other side of that locked door. 

This link will lead you to a presentation done by author Chimamanda Adichie.  It's called "The Danger of a Single Story."

About halfway into her presentation Adichie, who was born and raised in Nigeria, talks about an encounter she had with a white roommate when she came to America for school.

Her roommate told her something along the lines of "I've read stories about Africa and I'm sorry all the men there are rapists, bad guys, etc."

Adichie's response:  "I just saw the movie American Psycho.  I'm sorry that all American men are serial killers."

The audience laughs.  It's a great story with a great point.  It's also a good example of how someone like Adichie can be harmed when there is only one narrative about her people.

But my thoughts tend to turn to that white roommate.  She's the punchline of the joke.

In a very real way, however, she has been harmed too.

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It's easy to speculate how she may have gotten to that point.  For most of her life she has been exposed to art and entertainment, both non-commercial and commercial, that often presents the "other" in the most one dimensional way possible.

Sometimes they didn't even bother to present "the other" at all.

And all that was fine.

Until "the other" walked into that woman's dorm room.

When faced with a new situation she did what most of us do, she relied on what she had been told in the past as a way of dealing with the present.

The problem is her previous experience was so flat and stereotypical that it left her totally unprepared to deal with someone in the real world.

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Age that young woman by 50 years or so and now I see the type of person that populated those health care town halls.

Can you see her?  Clutching the microphone and demanding that she get "her" country back?

Of course we know what she means.  She wants the world that exists in her head.

A world reinforced by what she sees and hears.

A world where the only viewpoint that matters is hers.

A world where she used to be able to go her entire life without having to consider a black person, or a lesbian.

Her ignorance is stunning and in a way it pisses me off to no end.

But I can't help but feel a little sorry for her as well.

The world, in a way, has failed her.  It kept pumping her the same messages, the same images over and over again.

Then, the world flipped on her.  And she is completely unprepared for what it is becoming.

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Whenever I see an arts organization that doesn't embrace diversity in a meaningful way I also see an audience that is being harmed.

I see an audience that isn't being prepared for the world as it is.

When we talk about diversity in the arts, we have to discuss the impact (and the harm) on both sides.

When we create an artistic world that is as rich, complex and different as the real world, everybody benefits.

When we don't, everybody suffers.

 

 

Defining Diversity Conference - Post 1

I'm in DC

Isaac is in DC

And thus the party that is the Defining Diversity Conference begins.

You can follow along in several ways:

1.  On this blog

2.  On Parabasis

3.  On Twitter.  #newplay

Entering the Arena

Starting on Friday, Arena Stage and Georgetown U are doing a conference on Diversity in Theatre.

Thanks to the generosity of Arena Stage, I am headed down to D.C. to cover the conference.  Blog posts on the conference will appear on the Arena Stage blog and will be crossposted here.  You can learn a little bit more about what's happening over the weekend here.

But I will not be the only blogger covering the weekend. Issac will be in the house as well. 

Plus, Prof. Scott will be participating in the conference and rumor is that 99 seats will remove himself from the Witness Protection Program and actually show his face.

It's going to be an interesting and lively discussion.  Be sure to check the blog late Friday afternoon and during the course of the day Saturday for updates.

In the meanwhile here are a few old blog posts where I talk about diversity and the arts:

Old + White = Problem?

Gravity

Amen

 

 

Assets and Liabilities

Art and accounting don't always mix.

This is one time that they do.

Almost anything can be judged by a simple equation:

Assets - Liabilites = Total Value.

When you think about, live artistic experiences have a lot of liabilities.  It's often the most expensive, least convenient option a consumer has at a given moment.

In a world that tends to want their entertainment options to be available quickly, customized to their tastes and relatively cheap, those are big liabilities.

Now we turn to the assets.  More specifically we turn to your assets.

What are they?

If your first response was something along the lines of "talent" or "artistic skill" then I suggest you keep thinking.  I'm not saying it isn't an asset, but you probably need more then that to overcome the big ol' liabilities.  Here are some other things that could be an asset

A good relationship to your community = Asset

A really effective direct mail or email list = Asset

Good relationships with fellow artists = Asset

Good relationship with the funding community = Asset

A reputation as being a great place to work = Asset

Put those together with your talent and now we may have something.

Measure your assets.  Consider your liabilities.  They both matter

 

 

 

 

No Trust

Your life as an artist will become easier when you embrace the following:

Nobody trusts you.

When you say your upcoming performance is exciting and innovative, people assume you are self-serving.

When you say that your are doing work for "the love", people assume you have an ulterior motive.

That's just how it is.

It's nothing personal.

It's what happens when you live in a world where somebody is trying to sell you something 24-7.

People get a little cynical.

People worry about being burned.

It's true for the guy selling cars at the dealership.

And it's true for you.

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This is actually great news because it provides you with an opportunity.

An opportunity to earn trust.

An opportunity to exceed expectations.

But it's going to take a while.  Maybe longer then you thought.

You are going to have to demonstrate your skill, your passion and your commitment more times then you expected before people begin to move you from "no trust" (the default category) to "trust".

It's a hard road to take.

But it's so worth it.

Because when people actually start to believe the promises you make via your marketing, magical things start to happen.

Word of mouth spreads.

Marketing becomes easier and more fun.

But it all starts with the long journey toward trust.

Make promises.  Deliver on those promises. 

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

That's how you get there.

No good

Marketing is a huge field.

You could easily divide it into numerous categories:

Advertising, public relations, community relations, promotions, social media strategies, website design, strategy, research, budgeting and revenue projection, etc.

You can't be good at all of it.

In fact to be great at some elements of marketing you may have to actively ignore other parts.

It's vital that you gear your arts marketing toward your strengths.  It's the only way you can get the most out of your limited time and money.

The good news is that you get to choose what you want to be good at.

Maybe you decide that you are going to deliver quality visuals via your web and print advertising and not spend much time worrying about marketing research.

Maybe you decide that you are going to focus on community outreach and marketing research and not advertise much at all.

Each of those options could work.

What doesn't work is trying to do everything . . . and ending up being mediocre or bad at all of it.

 

 

Inspiration

What history teaches us is that times like these aren't without precedent.

There have been worst economic times.

I've had people tell me that the Regan Years were worst on the non-commerical arts then the present state of affairs.

What history also teaches us is that some people will come out of this stronger then ever.

10 years from some smart ass blogger like myself is going to talk about what we did.

What you did.

Did you push harder or did you let the fear shut you down?

Did we adapt to the impact that technology and different consumer choices had on our field, or did we overreact to it?

Somebody is going to thrive in the midst of all this chaos.

Make sure one of them is you.

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Happy Thanksgiving.  See you Monday.

Content Factory

Last year, over 3,600 films where released (in one way or another) in the U.S.

At any given time, a town with a strong theatre presence could have 100+ plays running at the same time.

We don't lack for content.  We don't lack for options.

What we lack is meaning.

So many options, people don't know what the point is of going to see any of it.

Thus, they go with the easiest option (pressing a remote control)

Or the cheapest.

Which often leaves the live performance options on the outside, looking in.

If you want to avoid being lost in the glut of options you have to be more then an event.

Don't create content.  Create meaning.

Because in a world with too much of everything, meaning is what matters.

The Money Factor

Some people take an odd sort of pride in not spending much money (or any money) on their marketing.

Many of those people also have difficulty drawing in consistent audience.

So maybe the solution is to . . . actually spend some money on marketing.

I'm not sure how we got to the point where only using free tools (email, facebook, etc.) became the preferred way to market art for many people.

Sure, it's a way, but not necessarily the best one.

And yes I've heard the excuses . . .  "we don't have much money, so we chose to invest all of it in the art" . . . but they always strike me as a little dumb.

You're doing art for public consumption, but don't want to invest money in some of the things that attract the public?

Do you really want to put your artistic future in the hands of a Facebook page and Twitter?

Do you really want to put your artistic future in a low grade website that you rarely update and don't want to invest the time, money or personnel to make better?

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I know we have all heard the stories about viral marketing took something from "rags to riches".  But remember, viral (also known as free) marketing takes time.

It is rare that is something is both free and effectively quickly.

So if you are relying on social media as your primary tools then you are also implying that you have the ability to give those tools a lot of time to be successful.

If you need results NOW, then maybe a bunch of Facebook posts shouldn't be your thing.

Maybe you need to break out your checkbook.