Diversity, part II: bringing it home

Picks fix

I just bought my ticket to the Ivey awards, and even though the ceremony in which I will be told what plays I didn't see last season were awesome is still a week away, I'm getting my pre-party buzz on already, which is to say that I have continued drinking at about the same rate as normal. (I like to keep up a pre-party buzz all the time, just in case a party suddenly breaks out) As the summer slips away, taking with it the fleeting promises of a theater season gone too soon, we here at Minnesota Playlist have been hard at work looking back at the past season to decide what was best of it before the Iveys can swoop in and say that they did it first.

But, since another theater season will soon be fading into the past, it's also the time of year in which the major publications start previewing what's coming up. So far, the the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press and Minnesota Monthly have all told you what to watch this fall. Be prepared for more.

Down to the wire

By now, you probably all know about Bedlam and its money woes. The company is drowning in debt and looking for a $400,000 lifeline by the end of the year to stay in existence. Bedlam has been trying to crowdfund $75,000 to start filling in the money hole, but as of the moment I type this, that campaign has pledges totaling $14,453, and by the time this article gets published, the campaign will have less than 20 hours left.

But, Bedlam being Bedlam, it was inevitable that there would be some last-second surprises. The company announced two things on its Facebook page today:

(1) An anonymous donor has agreed to match $35,000 in donations for the current $75,000 campaign; and

(2) Kim Bartmann (Minneapolis' reigning restaurant queen) "is partnering with us on moving into the future with our restaurant operations."

So, I guess we'll see where this goes.

Diversity (still)

We've been talking a lot about diversity in theater lately. A few weeks ago I shared an article from the Guardian with you that talked about the lack of diversity on Broadway this season, and now the New York Times is out with an article all about how freaking diverse Broadway is this season. So, now I'm confused. Should I feel righteously angry about this season, or should I walk around with a smug sense of accomplishment?

According to that Times article, "Those who work on Broadway caution against extrapolating too much from one theatrical year, noting that there is no artistic director looking for balance in programming a season — just a collection of producers and theater owners, trying to figure out how to make money and art at the same time." So, if diversity is suddenly a way for the fat cat producers to turn a buck, what does it mean for the nonprofit world?

Remember how mad Joe Dowling got at all you little people when you dared to suggest that his selections for the Guthrie's stage were less than inclusive? Oh, old Joe, what a time we had together! Now we've got this new Joe, and I'm sure that everything will be peaches and cream from here on out, and we'll never have another complaint about the way the Guthrie operates.

Except, after reading another interview with Joseph Haj in the Star Tribune, I'm starting to wonder if there really is much change coming to the big G's stages. It looks like Haj is making some structural changes to the staff in the blue box; but the upcoming season, which Haj apparently had some input in, looks remarkably like any other season under Dowling. And when asked the old diversity question, we got an answer that sounds an awful lot like the old Joe: "The Guthrie is a classical theater. That’s in our DNA and classical is going to mean largely Western European and American canons and largely from white male playwrights."

Selecting a season is massively complicated, and a completed season is never going to please every interest group, but when an organization actively makes a commitment to putting more diversity on its stages (see Oregon Shakespeare Festival for example), it actually seems to pay off. And, yes, season planning is enormously difficult for OSF as well. But while you should never assume that Joseph Haj will miraculously cure all that ails you, neither, I suppose, should I cynically assume that nothing will ever change inside that big blue box. After all, we will be seeing his production of Pericles, previously staged with a diverse cast at none other than Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Hopefully, in its transfer to the Guthrie's stage, it will retain that.

And, of course, there's the rest of that Joe Haj quote that I sneakily did not show you the rest of yet. After Haj told you that the Guthrie will probably stick to doing plays by dead white guys, he did say, "But who do we ask to frame those stories, whose lens do we want to see those stories through, whose experience? The further we involve people in the community, the further we involve the people who are our patrons."

Hey there, ladies

Speaking of "our patrons", most of them are women. Did you know that? Did you also know that this 50% of the populace is still vastly underrepresented in theater? (Thanks for making that blatantly obvious, Manhattan Theater Club)

While women have been winning some minor battles in the world of entertainment (suck it up, Harvard, and let the ladies into your Hasty Pudding!), we still seem to be having trouble talking about this issue and about how women are represented in entertainment. To help with this, I would like to share with you an article from the AV Club entitled "If you like Return Of The Jedi but hate the Ewoks, you understand feminist criticism".

Answer the questions

If you have ever applied for a grant from a large foundation or a government organization, you have probably felt yourself jumping through a lot of hoops, wading through a sea of legalese and wondering if the people standing between you and that sweet cash that you obviously deserve for your unmatched contribution to the enrichment of humanity ever actually talked to an artist before they designed the byzantine funding systems that are now sapping your will to live. I can't speak to what went on in the past, but I can say that right now you have some opportunities to make your voice heard (or at least throw your voice into the babble that will eventually become the next generation of vague and impossible application demands). To that end, here are said opportunities:

The Minnesota State Arts Board is conducting a needs assessment study of Minnesota artists. If you have about 25 minutes to spare, your information might help them design better programs in the future.

The State Arts Board is also in the middle of drafting new rules for itself governing just how it distributes all that money it gets from the Legacy fund as the program officially transitions from being pilot to permanent. They've assembled a draft of rule changes under consideration, and you can comment on them.

Now, I've poked at "creative placemaking" with a stick before, but that vague beast just keeps lumbering on. Since the city of Minneapolis is still moving inexorably forward with its Creative City Road Map thingamajig, why not try to hop aboard and steer it? The city is asking for your feedback on the Road Map and has invited you to an open house on September 17 to discuss it.