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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Theater Intiman, Nonprofits, and Their Boards

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 5:06 PM

Over at Seattlest, theater regular Jim Jewell continues the discussion about Intiman and what its fall (or hiatus, depending on who's talking) means for theaters in general:

In the past 18 months, I’ve made some attempts to engage the community discussion around theatre, most notably through the Local Playwright Initiative and the marketing discussion group Holes Not Drills. Ours is a difficult, sometimes insular, often tribal community, and we need to have some frank discussions.

Brendan Kiley’s article about Intiman was a great place to start, and he is absolutely right about too few of us going on the record with what we believe. So, I’m going on the record about what I hope to see from Intiman’s board.

Open Letter to Susan Trapnell and the Board of Intiman Theatre

I don’t envy your position. You find yourself stewards of a troubled organization, and have the eyes of an entire community on you.

But, for all of the difficulties facing Intiman, you have also been presented a unique opportunity. While every other theatre in town, and really in the country, tries to figure out how to make difficult transitions, shifting the earned/contributed income balance and trying to break from the failing subscription model, you have a blank slate. Your only mission is a basic need - the sustenance of the art.

This is not the time to try to fix a broken model, but to take the pieces you have and build something new...

Read the rest here.

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Your big piece on what happened at Intiman was much about nothing, full of speculation, discussion of other theater and quotes from the NYT. You editor should have said keep digging.

Posted by Stranger should learn reporting 101 on June 16, 2011 at 7:38 AM