Today I opened the newspaper (well, read it online, thus contributing to the death of print media) and found out that all four local Harry W. Schwartz stores were closing. I have a book coming out on April 6. I simply wanted to walk into a Harry W. Schwartz on April 6 and buy one copy of my book. Of course, I feel like a heel right now because I can't remember the last time I walked into a Harry W. Schwartz bookshop. It shouldn't be every time I write a book. That would mean at least a couple months between trips (I'm being ironical folks.) Thank goodness the Downer shop and the Mequon shop are being reopened independently by current Schwartz types (I for one know Lanora at the Mequon shop and know that one is in very good hands.)
Tomorrow I have found out, the death of Madison Rep will be made public. This venerable institution is closing its doors. Not maybe a huge surprise as we've seen them cut huge amounts of their staff in the past few months, but certainly a blow to the state's theater scene.
Let's see, since October two major Equity theater companies in Wisconsin have announced their closing (Milwaukee Shakespeare and Madison Rep). During that time other major institutions around the country have cried "Help!" faced with ginormous deficits and the wolves barking at the door. In many of those other cases (Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Magic Theatre being the prime examples) there's been a big push from the institutional forces (Board and staff) to come clean and say, "We're fucked, we need your help, and then we'll fix how we're doing things so we're not going to the well for more bailouts." But that doesn't happen in Wisconsin I guess.
What's the deal? Is our Midwestern niceness just plain meekness? I'm not advocating continuous bailouts for arts groups, but I'm just amazed at how we don't ask for help in big creative ways more around these parts. Now, I am, of course, the world's biggest hypocrite because I once closed a company with somewhat of a whimper (Bialystock & Bloom for those of you just tuning in). But I'm getting fed up with all the closing without at least a, "Yeah, we crashed the car, but we'd like another chance to drive it." Give us all the chance to say, "Hell, no!" or "Oh, okay, just this one more time." It should be the choice of the public to help saving a sinking ship since it is the choice of the public to not support those ships in the first place, thereby sinking them.
Sigh.
Thank God tomorrow someone is going to Crawford while someone else is getting new keys to The White House.
2 smart alecky remarks:
Here here. That's all I have to say. Oh, and I'm glad I'm married to you.
I'm generally very distrustful of bailouts - including the ones that both guys involved in the transfer of power you're so excited about support.
I think that behind every bailout is a big fat lie. That anyone who says: "We're fucked, we need your help, and then we'll fix how we're doing things so we're not going to the well for more bailouts." is lying. They secretly know one of two things: A. they've already tried everything they're willing to try in order to avoid getting fucked in the first place, or B. they'll just take the free money and return to business as usual. What bailout beggers do is lie, they make false promises, and bailout granters know it. They usually have some short term ulterior motive and don't actually expect the beggars to keep their promises.
Cuz, lets face facts: bailouts don't fucking work. Ask any parent or recovering alchoholic what effect one more free cookie or free drink will have on discipline and reform.
From this perspective companies that don't beg for that last hit of free money have too much self-respect for that kind of obvious manipulation. Which is to say "Midwestern niceness" isn't meekness, it's honesty.
All the examples you list are of entities that were using or approaching the corporate model of business. That model is broken. Schwartz oughta be 5 totally independent stores, not 5 quasi-independent, nigh-franchises. So the breakup of Schwartz, like the breakup of anything that's gotten too big for it's own good, is in the long run, a good thing. Same would go for Alterra, i just hope they don't sink too many already existing coffee shops before breaking up themselves.
And theatre companies? Theatre companies oughta be small artist-run collectives that aren't dependent on patronage, don't have to deal with labor unions, and don't seperate their company into an administrative class and a creative class, with competing interests. This isn't just my opinion, it's an economic fact. Artist run enterprises thrive today, while the corporate model fails.
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