1) Leave behind any potential for a performance career in New York City after not really having tried that hard, vowing that you'll be back just as soon as this super awesome project of yours is underway, probably in a few months.
2) Move to a city where you know nobody, are fairly unfamiliar with the arts landscape, and where you think of people as uncultured, and assume that your theater will change their lives.
3) Assume you know what you need to know after six months of research and dive in, even without any grants or decent amount of funding. You'll figure that out later.
4) Proceed to realize you are in completely over your head but keep going in order to save face.
5) Watch while ridiculous stuff happens around you. (This part you really didn't have any control over. This is shit you can't make up).
6) Repeat.
If you'd like to make it even more interesting you can also get romantically involved with several of the people who work for you.
This is my patented system for becoming an accidental Arts Manager. That's all you need to do to become one, that is. To stay one, or moreover, be good at being one, however, is another matter. Should you get through steps 1-6 several times while making small changes but never really assessing the important things facing your organization (money? You'll deal with that later), proceed to Part 2:
1) Alienate a lot of people, not out of malice or deliberate wrongdoing, but because people don't know you and you messed up some things.
2) Assess your life. You have no money, are working a terrible minimum wage job, are not using the thing you've trained your whole life to do, and are stuck in a city populated by artists who have heard through the grapevine that you have no idea what you're doing.
3) You are now at a crossroads. You can either give up, or make a big change. Select the latter. Admit your mistakes. Stick to your guns on the things you truly believe in.
4) Work harder than you ever thought possible. You're not starting at ground level. You're starting from six feet under. So dig your way up.
They tell me there's an easier way to do all of this. Apparently you can go to school, do an internship, start in a lower level arts job and work your way up to a management position.
What? Who's got time for that?
Okay you can't hear me talking but that was sarcasm.
But these are not the stories of someone who followed the tried and true path. This blog is a mix of stories of the way I got where I am, and the things I learned while I got there. They are significant in number. They are hilarious, heartbreaking, sentimental, mind blowing, inspiring and freeing. And depending on what day you get me they might be bitter.
These are the stories of someone who knew nothing about business and decided to run one of the toughest businesses out there. (I beg Donald Trump to try this. For a day. Actually I beg Donald Trump to get his head out of his ass but that's a different blog.)
These are the stories of someone who messed up. A lot. They are also the stories who had an unbelievable amount of brick walls slapped up in her path.
I am SOOOO not in this for you to tell me how brave I am. If you think that, thank you. I appreciate it. But there is a fine line between brave and stupid, and I have straddled it (or just fallen over to the stupid side) more than once. Way more than once.
Most importantly, this is NOT the story or advice of someone who has it all figured out. I am learning. Every day. There are those who know more than me. But I am relatively certain that there aren't many people out there who have had an experience quite as ridiculous as mine.
So enjoy the stories, the tidbits, the things I've learned. Use them as you wish. Or just laugh at how Music Theatre of Madison (a name I now hate) came to be.
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| From our first production, an outdoor version of Hair. See that firepit? The parks department dug it up and moved it midway through our run. Then it rained. But more on that later. |
Take this with you: You gave opportunity and confidence to at least one girl who had very little. And gave her a lot of fantastic memories. :)
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