How Much Are You Worth?

Pablo Picasso was sitting quietly at a boulevard cafe in Paris, when his reverie was rudely disturbed by a passing tourist. The tourist gushingly asked Pablo if he would run off a quick sketch for him, promising to pay for the privilege. The legendary artist acquiesced, sketched a portrait of the tourist on the linen napkin conveniently placed on the table. Awed and deeply gratified, the tourist asked “How much?”

Picasso said “Fifty thousand and five dollars.” Awe and gratitude very quickly became conspicious by their absence, as the tourist asked “What? How can you ask that for twenty seconds work?”

Picasso replied “Five dollars for the napkin, the ink and the twenty seconds. Fifty thousand dollars for the forty years of practice that preceded it."

I have been questioned a lot lately as to the value of my work. It's common for people to not think that what an artist (especially a local artist) has to offer is especially valuable, even more so when the work is intangible. I am a actor and comedian. I am a producer. I am a teacher and corporate trainer. Some of the events I produce take months of advance planning and constant communication. Some of the training I offer takes a couple hours or a couple days. Some of the consultation work I do can take just a few minutes. But all of it is possible because of the past 15 years of dedicated thought and preparation.

How much are YOU worth? 

And are you Paid In Full?

Revolutions Are Improvised

"There's something special about improvised music," Ajay Heble, professor of English at the University of Guelph in Ontario, argues, "something about the kind of activist listening it demands, that helps to disrupt orthodox standards of coherence. It encourages us to hear the world anew."

Professor Heble recently received a $2.5M grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to examine the relationship between improvised music and social change. Amazing news. Let's think about the world without Jazz. What would life had been like without the musicians that made that music? Now that we can all feel a chill to even consider that the American people might have been alone during the better part of a century, the depression, two world wars and the civil rights movement, let's consider the CORE beliefs and the fundamentals of improvisation: Active Listening and Fluid Acceptance. 

Where else are we seeing these fundamentals? How could we consciously apply the skills of improvisation to other forms of Art (Are we considering life Art?) so that we might have a more positive impact on the world around us.

** It should be noted that the Author of this blog doesn't need a grant to see the impact of improvisation on human awareness and social change. But if you have $2.5M we could certainly partner to create some change.

Arts Relevance

"With changes in audience behavior and the widening impact of technology, the live performing arts in America are facing unprecedented challenges." - Ben Cameron

Ben Cameron, Director of the Doris Duke Charitable Fund (DDCF) made this statement with a November 2007 announcement of a $15M donation to the Nonprofit Finance Fund. The hopeful objective of the donation, to provide leading Arts organizations with the resources necessary to test ideas for responding and adapting to the world around them and the complicated trends affecting the performing arts.

Are the countless social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, YouTube, imeem, Google, SuperDeluxe, Flickr, and other online media sites preventing Arts organizations from reaching the next generation of supporters? Does the open source (read: FREE) state of the internet influence potential audiences to feel as if ALL Art should be available at no cost? Has the immediacy of the Information Age affected the longevity and impact of artistic works?

Ben Cameron believes that Arts Leaders must convey, not only the quality of the work produced, but the VALUE that the organization and its work offers to the community. He suggests that every arts organization answer three basic questions:

• Hard: What is the value of having my organization in my community?
  
• Harder: What is the value my group alone offers, or that my group offers better than anyone else? Duplicative or second-rate value will not stand in this economy.
  
• Hardest: How will my community be damaged if we close our doors and move away tomorrow?
  

Answering these questions will certainly help you reflect on sustainability. By considering the community as a potential audience that can exercise CHOICE, you are forced to reflect on your VALUE to that community and to reflect on what works of Art that potential audience might find meaningful and relevant to their lives.