Progress Report, Week #9

Final Project, Week of November 16th:

- Still hashing out a few little details with a director for "Exile" re: duties & responsibilities. I know, developing new work can raise a lot of questions about who owes what to whom, and who is willing to commit what. Trying to lay that out in writing for "Exile" so there will not be miscommunications later. Call me "little-miss-responsible".

- Submitted my first application for some grant money. Hoping for an interdisciplinary grant from the CalArts' Provost's Office for the "Exile" workshop. Every little bit helps.

- Approached video designer Roz Fulton for "Exile" and to engineer and oversee the project as a whole. She's up for it. Now I just need to find her some LA housing/transportation for the workshop & performance period.

- The Hollywood Fringe's application site went live this week. Deadline for applications is April.


And then I came down with some lingering sickness that I could not shake for days and days and days.

Next week is Thanksgiving so I am not optimistic about getting very much accomplished. Mostly thinking of ways to ask people for money.

"for the vision" -- Liz E

Progress Report Week #8

Final Project, Week of November 9th:

This has felt a bit like a "phone tag" week.

- I have engaged in multiple rounds of phone/email tag with various collaborators since last week. Good news is that we have stuff to talk about and want to talk about it. The tricky part is actually reaching each other on top of busy lives and a 3 hour time difference. I hope to actually have some substantive conversations over the weekend.

- I continued researching venues in earnest, and began inquiring about availability and fees. My working assumption is that I am looking for a venue that I can program for the Hollywood Fringe in June. Not necessarily exclusively, but that is the scope. One location, multiple presentatations within it.

- I drafted the following working "Problem Statement" (not that it's a problem, that's just my preferred method of attack) along with a Goals & Objectives/Timetable:

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Project: MFA Final Project, Tentatively Collectively Titled "Elektra, Petie & Other Misunderstood Girls"

Problem Statement: Artists of multiple performance disciplines sometimes need a reason to reach beyond their comfort zone, to collaborate with other artists whom they might not have known or with whom they might not have imagined working. Audiences may not realize that they have an interest in new and experimental work unless something gives them a point of entry, and audience members tastes will vary. Will a variety of offerings stimulate their interest, and encourage their participation?

Questions I Seek to Answer: How can I as a creative producer jump-start new collaboration partnerships and set a tangible destination for a "work-in-progress"? What is a comfortable environment to create and present new work, and to invite participation from audiences at an early stage? And conversely, how can I program multiple performances by artists of different mediums in a "tasting menu" of sorts that an audience will find engaging enough to explore and visit repeatedly? Is this a presentation model that will encourage dialogue and participation across disciplines, backgrounds and the spectator-spectacle divide?

Goal: To commission and collaboratively develop new experimental performances through a workshop process, organized around a theme. To present these new performance pieces together as "works-in-progress" in a shared performance space, along with pre-show art installation and post-show musical entertainment to create a total experience for the audience. To use this informal workshop and presentation model as a means of encouraging interaction and dialogue between the artists working on different projects and between the artists and the audience, and give all a sense of participation in the ultimate event.

Objectives/Timetable:

• Commission of 3 Performance Pieces + 2 Performance Art Installations, Fall 2009-Winter 2010

• One workshop per performance piece to take place April-May 2010
  

-- Includes Writer (for each), Director/Creator (for each), Video Designer, Ensembles of Performer/Musician /Puppeteers (for each)

• Inclusion of post-performance programming (Musical Acts), Spring 2010

• Presentation of All Pieces & Installations together in one venue (possibly as part of Hollywood Fringe), June 2010
  

-- Rotating schedule of performances, presented over the course of approx. 2 weeks

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I continue to be a work-in-progress
-- Liz E

Progress Report, Week #7

Final Project, Week of November 2nd:

- I have working title for the project, "Elektra, Petie & Other Misunderstood Girls". That seems to encapsulate the themes behind the pieces in the project in a way that I can communicate clearly.

- I have a lead on a venue. Need to follow up.

- Jen Barclay (Exile playwright) has a suggestion for a composer/songwriter she has just shared with me. Plan to look him up. I realized that some of my hesitation about working with people I don't know at all, is about expectation. 1) Getting them on-board with my vision, and 2) getting them to go along without any guarantee of financial resources. This has proven to be a stumbling block in confirming a director for "Exile".

- Now I'm working with a tentative budget. That's good, I guess, since now I have a clearer idea of the real scope of the project. And now I need to find away to raise the money. Sean (Rogue Artists) and I have been sending each other messages but haven't had a chance to talk. My assumption has been that we will be able to share the cost of producing their project. I also need to have a budget talk with Katie (puppetry project).

- Fundraising: Years ago I raised some money for a film project with a friend of mine. We never made the film, and we've held onto the money thinking maybe some day we would. It's only a few hundred dollars, but I have been told I can have what's left of the money. Baby steps.

- I've looked into setting up a small business account and made a comparison about creating a "Fictitious Business Name" (aka a D.B.A.) in either Los Angeles County of Kings County, NY. Considering I don't need a fictitious name to open a small business account as a sole proprietor I think it's more hassle to do now than it would be worth. I may change my mind in a few months, who knows?

- Working on a well-written project description to use for potential fundraisers and grant proposals.


That's all for now -- Liz E

Mission Paradox says something I wish I'd said: it's all about The Whales

All the questions we ask about many arts organizations:

Why don't they diversify their organizations more?

Why don't they do more interesting programming?

What don't they change their connection to the consumer?

All of them have the same answer.

It's because of the whales.

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Stay with me on this.

Let's imagine a fictional arts organization that has a budget of say, $7 million dollars a year. Let's say that 50% of that money from ticket sales. That means they have to raise 3.5 million from other sources.

3.5 million is a LOT of money to get via fundraising.

I know it may not seem like much, but really it is a LOT. Particularly when you need that 3.5 million EVERY YEAR.

Where are you going to get that sort of cash from?

Corporate funding/sponsorship? Not anymore.

Your endowment? That will be good for some of it, but not nearly enough.

Foundations? Please. Sure, they may give that big arts organization 50,000 a year, but that's a drop in the bucket.

Where is the money coming from?

The whales.

Or at least that's where they hope the money is coming from.

So the arts organization go whale hunting.

Most of their major decisions, the programming, who the Artistic Director is, etc. are all seen through this prism:

What will make the whales happy?

Read the full post here at Mission Paradox.