Artsy Schmartsy - All Comments

Secured Home Loans for UK Homeowners

Secured Home Loans for UK Homeowners — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:39:08 GMT

links to good articles on secured loans / homeowner loans

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make money online — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:50:33 GMT

Thanks for the great post! Looking forward to many more. B>)

Art matters and matters of art

Artsy Schmartsy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:56:03 GMT

I'm getting a bit reflective in my old age. Well, my middle age. And I always reflect on things when

All About Eve » Blog Archive » This one is good, you all

All About Eve » Blog Archive » This one is good, you all — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:58:34 GMT

Pingback from All About Eve » Blog Archive » This one is good, you all

re: This is just naughty and maybe nasty, but...

Mike Q. — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:48:24 GMT

I think we should destroy Mecha-Godzilla. He smashes too many buildings and tramples innocent citizens underfoot.

Other things that I'm not in favor of should be fixed instead of destroyed.

re: Tell me some things...

Mike Q. — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:42:58 GMT

Things seem to have quieted down here, but I wouldn't be opposed to a message board where conversations wouldn't necessarily end because there has been a new post. (Especially for those long stretches where I don't necessarily have internet access)

re: Tell me some things...

Rex Winsome — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:42:59 GMT

An idea:

Mary Louise's Openings and Closings lists are really nice. If you could set something like that up on this blog, for theatre events, it'd be a great resource and help keep me from missing shows i really meant to see.

re: This is just naughty and maybe nasty, but...

Rex Winsome — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:55:00 GMT

There's nothing i need to destroy in Milwaukee. It seems like everything that has ever dissappointed me here serves a purpose for other people, we should all be able to co-exist just fine.

There are lots of things i want to criticize, directly compete with, revile, mock and play off of, and an even longer list of things i had hoped would be useful, but now have to ignore because they've proven themselves otherwise, but wanting them gone? There's no need for that.

The one thing i'd like destroyed is the idea some people seem to have that it's okay to blacklist, censor, or otherwise attempt to destroy someone else's art just because they aren't nice to you.

re: This is just naughty and maybe nasty, but...

meepos — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:46:21 GMT

I'd like to destroy the notion that good, or bad, art only takes place in certain places.

The Milwaukee Theater community has this pervasive notion that "good" theater only happens in larger venues, performed by larger companies, with a select group of actors. Aren't we getting tired of seeing the same Whitewater Alums doing the same schtick over and over and over again? I don't want to detract from the worth of these actors, but something tells me that there are plenty of other deserving actors who are getting the same opportunities as others. Heck, I'm not even being called in to audition for roles that these Whitewater dudes are getting. Again, I'm not saying they're better or worse than any other actors, I'm just saying they're being presented with far more opportunities than others.

This fraternal instinct amongst Milwaukee Theater companies is hindering the growth of theater in the community. Milwaukee isn't nuturing is theater talent like it should be. Smaller companies are giving new talents a chance, but those companies produce to much smaller audiences. To make matters worse, these larger companies aren't doing anything to support smaller companies. If anything, they're perpetuating this notion that "good" theater only exists in certain places.

I may be wrong, but there seems to better a more concerted effort to bolster support in other arts communities. I see bands play and they encourage the audience to check out other bands. Gallery night seems to do a good job of featuring most of what Milwaukee has to offer. The same can't be said about theater, in my opinion. I want to division between the "haves" and the "have nots" to narrow.

re: Happy America!

Rex Winsome — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:23:00 GMT

The most important artists today are the ones who use new technology, email, the internet properly. Which means they use it not as content delivery (youtube) but rather as networking (tour booking, self-promotion). These artists have used new technology to create their art sustainably and almost entirely outside the bourgeois strutures of the entertainment industry. Meanwhile the content is greatly advanced, and is un-co-optable by the establishment.

I've got a couple relevant examples:

The Missoula Oblongata. This is a company that tours constantly, using email and the internet to connect with like-minded communities all across the country and then using Grotowski's towards a poor theatre ideal to mount their shows in almost any setting, including a place in Milwaukee tonight. They aren't making tons of money, they need other sources of income to keep alive, but they're doing well enough that they've put on three touring productions in as many years.

Second: Theodor Adorno, the great pessimist of the Frankfurt school held out one hope for artists: to create art that is so aesthetically severe that it cannot be appropriated by the media machine that turns all efforts at revolution into brand strategies. There's a thriving subculture in america that is realizing this hope in the medium of music. The biggest local contributor to that movement is Peter J Woods. He's on tour to the west coast right now, comes back for a few days in July (just enough time to see our production of the show he wrote) and then goes out again, coming back just in time to head to the east coast with Paint the Town in August.

This class of artists are challenging and reversing the edicts of critial theory (max horkheimer, walter benjamin, adorno, marcuse, etc etc etc). They are unconsciously rebuffing the pessimism that allowed the eighties to happen, and yes, meepos, they aren't doing anything that has NEVER been done before, but they're doing things that have been done so very rarely, and they're doing them in new ways. New ways that're, more sustainable, less dependant on bourgeois institutions, and un-co-optable.

re: Tell me some things...

Rex Winsome — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:31:10 GMT

The only thing i've ever wanted from Artsy Schmartsy is more of the same. Much more. Mainly more feedback from other readers and discussion, but that's not in your control.

The round table talks were great, using the blog as an online connection to facilitate real life meet up and discussion is wonderful. i'd love for them to happen again.

The last week or so was also great. It's good to know what other people are doing and thinking, even if i don't agree with them.

re: Please let me know...

Rex Winsome — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:08:28 GMT

It must be stated that, as Mike Q alludes to, Hipsters are nearly indistinguishable from artists on first gloss, and often even after further inspection.

Is this person acting aloof because they think it makes them look cool, or are they acting awkward and distracted because their mind is on some art project of theirs? Are they elitist or shy? Is it a clique or a group of artists who are too busy with their art to learn how to invite more people into the fold?

All these determinations are rather subjective, and in the end, the only measuring stick we have is the quantity and quality of what is produced.

Meepos, there's a 'pretentious art snobs' audience in Milwaukee? Really!? How do i get in touch with them? i've got some pretentious art that they'd just LOVE to see. Seriously, find me someone like you describe living in Milwaukee, someone who ONLY sees theatre in found spaces, and i'll find you someone who doesn't actually see any theatre at all. Cuz that *** barely happens here. Just because something is rare or daring does not mean it's exclusionary.

re: Tell me some things...

Dramagoons — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:32:03 GMT

I know that blogging for MKE required your topics to center around the downtown and eastside arts scene. Without that tie, I would hope that you could expand your scope a little. There is good art going on in the 'burbs. You have mentioned some of it in the past but more balance would be nice.

re: Something I don't get anymore, maybe you can help

Regina Darling — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:52:17 GMT

I think that most theaters rely on donors, because they don't know where else to look for help. Grant programs can be problematic as well. If they fail to meet their goals, it may mean that theatres may fail to meet theirs. In Milwaukee, UPAF is definately helpful, but the way in which the money is distrubted is a little skewed, I think.

Alternatives to both methods are greatly needed in order for theaters to become a little more self-sufficient. Outreach programs and partnerships are good ways to generate revenue. A chance to workshop a piece with a group of professionals might be worth paying for. It's worked in the short term for us, the problem we face is how to build on that.

That's the question for all of us, I think.

re: Something I don't get anymore, maybe you can help

Rex Winsome — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:55:21 GMT

We've charged less than the cost of a movie for everything but Play in a Day, we've done hardly any fundraising (with the exception of Bring the War Home, which was a fluke based on post election anger more than pro-art sentiment) we've made money on every production except Play in a Day.

We do it by working with free / super cheap venues, doing original works, avoiding insurance companies, and paying actors, writers and crew a cut of the profit (never a significant sum) and building sets ourselves, often from other people's garbage.

Our system doesn't really work. There are significant limitations (obviously) and costs (my mental health). But we NEVER make decisions based on what anyone but the artists want.

What i'd LOVE to see is a micro grants program. I've hears of an organization in Minneapolis, like UPAF, except focused only on raising money and giving it in small donations to small, half-formed, legally nonexistant groups. I think their money goes a lot further to enrich and support the arts (and their ecnonomy) than Milwaukee's philanthropists giving $850,000 to a bronze fonz and $1.1 million to a pastel light show.

in the meantime, we'll try to focus on generating a large number of small donations from people who don't require much in return, and who we don't need to spend much money or time on the asking for it part.

re: Something I don't get anymore, maybe you can help

MrJSpoons — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:25:31 GMT

I loved "Danny" too!

re: Something I don't get anymore, maybe you can help

Dramagoons — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:23:54 GMT

If you don't rely on donors then you have to raise the money some other way. Raising ticket prices or entrances fees isn't always the answer. Unfortunately, the business side of art gets in the way and the laws of supply and demand dictate what the average audience member is willing to pay for their art. Raising the ticket prices reduces the audience sizes thus reducing the money coming in.

Movie theater owners realized long ago that they couldn't turn a profit on ticket prices because the movie distributors charge them too much. Most movie theaters are in the business of selling concessions. That is where they make their money. In order to get people to buy concession, they show a movie for the concession buyers to watch. Wacky, isn't it.

I'm not in anyway proposing that art producers or live theatres do this. What I am suggesting is that to avoid begging for donations, we might have to come up with an alternative revenue stream that subsidizes the art much in the way that donations currently do.

I hate it when business gets in the way of art.

re: Something I don't get anymore, maybe you can help

mike.neville — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:17:14 GMT

Oh, the money thing again. So tedious and yet so key. Jonathan, I'm sure you, Scott, Stephan and the B&B board had many discussions about "How much should we ask for tickets?" (Or: "How much can we get away with asking for tickets?") For a lot of people who go to the theater regularly, $35. a ticket is nothing. For others, it's half the week's food budget.

The first time Playwrights Studio Theater raised the ticket price of admission to the Ten-Minute Festival (to $19.), the headline in the Shepherd-Express Review read, "Sticker-Shock." Again, to the folks who could afford it, it was pocket change; to those who couldn't, it was highway robbery.

And I 'm sure you know -- I'm heating up an old headache here -- that it does not mollify the disgrunted to try and run down the line items on a show's budget to justify the ticket price.

I can identify with the folks who have a hard time coughing up the necessary for the higher-priced tickets. And I know that even with higher ticket prices the producer still has to go beg.

So beg we must and beg we do.

Mike Neville

PS. I paid $35. to see B&B's production of "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea." It was worth every penny and images from that production stick with me today.

re: Something I don't get anymore, maybe you can help

MrJSpoons — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:08:17 GMT

Jonathan:

Some Arts can support themselves without donors. Like for instance, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA or CATS. Art that is interested in a less overtly commercial angle needs to get its funding from a more varied list of sources.

I guess that lots of people believe that (some) Art serves the public good. So besides being a member of say, the Milwaukee Art Museum, some people also donate their time and/or money. We all know the time-worn clichés of poor, tortured artists who never made a dime during their lifetime. (VanGogh comes to mind.) And then there are artists like Leroy Neiman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Jerry Herman, whose work has a particularly mainstream appeal. Thes guys don't need donations.

But if you want to produce an obscure, edgy play like "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," with professional actors, in a black box in Milwaukee, well, you might not be able to do it with box office alone.

I've heard rumors that the overall climate is different in other parts of the world, but I'm not sure.

re: Let's cut to the chase...

Regina Darling — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:19:59 GMT

The Alchemist has my heart for providing a great space for theatre at a competive price. I think they are trying to bring back a sense of community to what it is we do.

Insurgent is always challenging and refreshing. Everytime I see a piece of theirs I feel recommitted to my artistic goals and the material consistenly sparks conversations and debates.

Next Act, I think is underrated. I think the people there are all really great and they really strive to expand their patron base. Also, I think the Next Actors program is a positive outlet for high-school kids.