TACA’s State of the Arts: Conversation About the Performing Arts in Dallas Provides Perspective

Nov. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Barriers to attendance, identifying potential audiences, arts accessibility, and much more was discussed at The Arts Community Alliance (TACA) State of the Arts conversation held at the Nasher Sculpture Center on October 31.

Zannie Giraud Voss, Chair and Professor, MA/MBA, Arts Management and Arts Entrepreneurship, Meadows School of the Arts and Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, moderated the discussion with an esteemed panel:
•   Victoria “Tori” Bailey, Executive Director of Theatre Development Fund (TDF), New York, NY
•   Donna Walker-Kuhne, President, Walker International Communications Group, New York, NY
•   Melanie Ríos Glaser, Executive and Artistic Director, The Wooden Floor, in Santa Ana, CA
•   Michael Lessac, Artistic Director, Colonnades Theatre Laboratory and Truth in Translation, New York, NY

Afterwards, the panel joined 140 attendees at the Crow Collection of Asian Art for lively, round-table discussions about what they heard, as well as to make suggestions for increasing attendance and participation in the performing arts in North Texas.
Professor Voss said, “In Dallas right now, there’s a real sense of artistic vibrancy, and it’s because of all of the work that you create and that you cultivate here.  It’s significant in that we have more performing arts organizations than ever before, which means there are more performances, more facilities, and more seats to fill."

Victoria “Tori” Bailey started the discussion about working with community groups in New York City on how to educate people to attend the theater.  “You would be surprised how many people don't know how to go to the theater. We have a section on our website called Theater 101 that basically just takes somebody through all of these questions.” She also discussed the importance of letting people know about the production and what they are going to see, so that they understand it.

Donna Walker-Kuhne talked about engaging diverse audiences. “It's not just race and ethnicity, but actually in America I think the more important factor is class.” She started her work at Dance Theater of Harlem in the 1980s, a time when many black people didn’t attend their performances.  “So I developed a strategy using volunteer ambassadors, which allowed us to engage cultural leaders in the African-American community. And so I would come out six months prior to the tour date, and really galvanize the community, empower them that you are the ones, the stakeholders that can really make a difference in terms of audiences. The invitation is so important.” She provided tools, tickets and recognition to these ambassadors, which led to increasing their audience by 45%.

Melanie Ríos Glaser spoke about her work with The Wooden Floor, a dance organization that works with 375 underprivileged predominantly Latino children ages 8 through 18, helping them lead a more fulfilled life through dance. “Now, 28 years later, it is a model for youth arts programs. Students come after school, and they are immersed in dance classes, which include modern, ballet, and improvisation, with live musical accompaniment, which really helps. It's also coupled with a rigorous academic program, so each kid gets one-on-one tutoring, a plan for their academic development and a collegiate mentoring program. When they come into the Wooden Floor the first time, we tell them, ‘In 2020, you will graduate from the Wooden Floor and you will enroll in college.’ And for many, this is the first time that they ever hear this, let alone the word college associated with them. So we're creating the expectation from the very beginning for them and for their parents.”

“The results of our ability to claim that dance can end poverty – that's a big claim, isn't it? – is that 100% of the youth who graduate from The Wooden Floor graduate high school on time and enroll in college. And this is three times the national average for their peers. So we now have 116 alumni enrolled in college and 75% of them are receiving financial aid from us. The Wooden Floor’s budget– 92%--is contributed from individuals, foundations, and corporations. And the reason we have been able to build a case for support is based on several different factors, but one of them is that we report on outcomes rather than activities.”

Michael Lessac talked about Truth in Translation, a play that has global reach in war-torn and peaceful communities.  “Our audiences and the places where we create the work are in a way the same. The process started with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. We went into South Africa with the idea of telling the story of the Truth Commission. We brought together people who easily could have been looking down the barrel of a gun or in some countries the blade of a machete and these people – and we took professional actors: Zulu, Kosa, Venda, Afrikaans, English liberals, English fascists, English, all of them, everything. You bring them together on one stage, and we say to them. ‘Please tell me the story you would like to tell about your nation, about yourselves in your nation.’ Now mind you, on stage now will be 11 people who either don't like each other, who certainly don't agree with each other, but they are charged with making a single production, one piece that tells everybody's story. So it's a collective consciousness that they have to come through. Now here's the beauty of it, and I know we'll all agree on this, that in every theater production there is an element of forgiveness and reconciliation that just goes on in rehearsal.” What he found is that when they took Truth in Translation to other war-torn countries—Kosovo and Rwanda—the “audience mirrors us and sees a piece of themselves.” This reaction even happened in Dallas.  

Lessac added that young people are the biggest partners and best audiences. Actors can add so much to what ought to be produced.  “It comes from the people who have been there, who have probed their own pain in order to create something with humor and music, and they share that with others. And that's how we relate to our audiences.”

TACA thanks the Communities Foundation of Texas and the Embrey Family Foundation for generously underwriting this conversation, along with the Nasher Sculpture Center and Crow Collection of Asian Art for hosting.  

ABOUT TACA:
Founded in 1966, TACA’s (The Arts Community Alliance) mission is to provide financial support and services and to increase public awareness and participation in the performing arts, which improve the quality of life for North Texas citizens of all economic, social and ethnic backgrounds.  Since its inception, TACA has distributed more than $19.3 million to emerging and established performing arts organizations with budgets as small as $44,000 to as large as $30 million.  Funds are raised through three signature events: the TACA Silver Cup Award Luncheon, which honors one man and woman each year for outstanding volunteer support of the arts, TACA Party on the Green and the TACA Custom Auction Gala.  In addition, TACA receives strong support from its Board of Governors, Founders Circle and Corporate Council. More information can be found at www.taca-arts.org or by calling 214.520.3930.