Three-Legged Dog, Soho Rep and ArtistCares
By Chad Fasca
While just about every performing arts group has suffered--in one way or another--from the September 11 terror attack, only Three-Legged Dog took a direct hit that day. In a matter of hours, their office space went up in a cloud of smoke when 7 World Trade Center collapsed onto 30 West Broadway.
Now, a few weeks removed from those tragic events, when the aftermath of the attack fixes its grip firmly on the arts community, Three-Legged Dog’s response to the situation as well as several others could provide the beacons of hope needed to rescue the spirits of the entire performing arts community.
The Show Must Go On, Three-Legged Dog
Just days before the attack, Three-Legged Dog had signed a lease to rent performance space on Debrosses Street, not too far away from its downtown home, to house a full-scale showcase of artistic director Kevin Cunningham’s new work "Campuchea/Loisaida." Aimed specifically at funders, producers and European artistic directors, the work was to be shown in full detail with video production (though at a reduced scale), and a fully-rehearsed (6 weeks) ensemble. Then, September 11th happened, and the company had a decision to make: what would be the fate of their showcase?
"We decided right after the attack that we were not going to let this stop us from doing what we are doing," Cunningham says. "If we hesitate, if we stop what we are doing, if we let this event change our lives, then they have won. Nobody in either company is willing to do that."
Three-Legged Dog, which has close ties to the European theatre community, draws strength and inspiration from its friends in war-torn regions of the globe such as Sarejevo and Jerusalem. How do they deal with these crises?
"If they bomb your pizza parlor today, you find a way to make pizza tomorrow," Cunningham says.
Despite losing a significant chunk of funding for its showcase, Three-Legged Dog is moving forward with the production. The showcase will open, as originally planned, on Nov. 1 and will cater, as planned, to funders, producers and European artistic directors.
Though the show will go on, the lingering effects of the tragedy’s aftermath cannot be completely dismissed.
"We are evolving right now," Cunningham says.
Three Legged Dog, which prides itself, on generating original work from within the company—"We don’t do the work of dead people. And we don’t do curated work."—is now looking at options for developing its own space that would be half curated work that matches its forward-thinking theatrical goals and half original work developed within the company. While this is not an idea born out of the attack’s flames, it certainly has gained added sway in recent weeks.
The problem right now is that Three-Legged Dog and a majority of the non-profit theatres in New York face an unprecedented economic crisis as foundations and other funders pulled back in the wake of the attack.
"The non-profit community is not really responding," Cunningham says.
"I’ve talked to three foundations that have supported us in the past and that had planned to support us in the future that have suspended funding. There was a serious effect on a lot of the endowments, especially the small and mid-sized family foundations that would normally help small to mid-sized non-profits."
His comments underscore the delicate position that arts groups are in. Some non-profits are raising money for the September 11th Fund in the hope that some of those funders will find their way back into arts organizations, something Cunningham believes is "unclear and unlikely." But in the same breath that he questions the fate of arts funding, he does not begrudge the funds going directly into individuals hands, which "is good and as it should be."
Fortunately, the company can share some of its burden with its two for-profit siblings.
"We’ve regrouped as a result of our for-profit activity [and] are in a good position looking for a new space," Cunningham says.
Three-Legged Dog, a non-profit theatre company, has spawned two for-profit arms that extract the technical know-how gained while solving problems for Three-Legged Dog productions and redirect it toward commercial use.
Shape of Time, one of those subsidiaries, is an intellectual property company that looks for technical innovations in the company’ work. The first fruit of this for-profit venture is Production Designers, a software company with 17 employees that has developed an interface to allow presenters to move all lighting, scenery, sound and video. It is currently in beta testing, and carries a November 15 release date. While all of the companies currently beta testing are in the theatre, the software potential goes far beyond this category.
Cunningham says: "If you look at Wooster Group's technical diagram, it has more in line with an IBM product launch than a theatre show. So the avant garde theatre groups are excellent testing groups for these products."
The company's other for-profit subsidiary, Special Art Projects Unit, is not faring as well. This arm of the company pulls together special design and technical teams of artists across multiple disciplines to work on large scale installations. The company has been successful until recently, when one large client, a photographic artist preparing a very large installation for exhibit at the Venice Biennale, backed out of exhibition.
"Unfortunately, that project was going to pay for the project ("Campuchea/Loisaida") that we are doing right now," Cunningham says.
Despite the setback, both for-profits are in OK shape, he adds.
In a way, Three-Legged Dog is fortunate to have recognized the dwindling level of operating support available to small and mid-sized companies well in advance of its precipitous decline. By identifying alternative sources of funding, it may have improved their resistances to contracting a fatal strain of this funding crisis.
"We have been working really hard to find other ways to fund ourselves without compromising our mission,"Cunningham says. "We have some models in place. It seems to be working pretty well. With our good credit and banking history, we are in a position to look at a space for our for-profit and non-profit."
It's What We're Fighting For, Soho Rep
"The biggest change is that people can come down to the theatre. Our area is now completely open," says Daniel Aukin, artistic director of the Soho Rep, referring to the opening of streets and business below Canal Street.
Of course, being open for business is no small triumph for theatres that fall within the recently-dubbed, Ground Zero theatre district. But for Soho Rep, it is a small victory.
"The reality is that even if we sell out every single seat in every house of every show we do, we still cannot cover our expenses," Aukin says.
While Three-Legged Dog supports itself partially with its for-profit ventures, the Soho Rep, like many other companies with their own leased spaces, supports itself primarily through a combination of ticket receipts and space rentals. With a full slate of rentals, many theatres barely make ends meet. Since the attack, many theatres like Soho Rep have lost a significant number of their rentals. Soho Rep has also learned from several of their largest donors that their businesses are in peril and, consequently, "they can no longer honor their pledges for this year," Aukin says.
So the two things that would be hardest for them to deal with during any period of time, lost rental income and lost donor income, are assailing them at the same time.
"The most important thing is for the theatre to survive," Aukin says. "One of the things that came under attack is our society and with it our way of life and freedom of expression."
And these are precisely the things that theatre and the arts stand for, according to Aukin. So, in a sense, Soho Rep has been compelled to move forward, although they move forward cautiously.
Soho Rep will go through its planned season through January 2002.
"After that we will have to decided whether or not we have the resources to go forward with the rest of our season or whether we will postpone it until next year," Aukin says.
The Bridge from Hopelessness to Action, ArtistCares
On Wednesday, October 3, 70 artists and educators gathered at the first, formational meeting of ArtistCares, a new group hoping to train artists to work with counselors as crisis response teams for catastrophic events such as the World Trade Center attack.
Founded by Alan Lynes, the organization will seek closer ties between artists and pyschologists, therapists and crisis intervention counselors, and will raise awareness of the artist's role as a source of healing for victims, the families of victims and the community.
"Artists are a compassionate, expresssive part of society," Lynes says, adding: "they have a unique skill to help people deal with their feelings."
Artists also want to help the communities of this nation cope. It is a call to arms, so to speak, that many artists are hearing.
For Lynes, the decision to help, to start ArtistCares, was a quick one, formed in response to the September 11th attack.
"I had a vivid image of being on a bridge and having a clear choice. I could stay where I was in that numb state or choose to act," Lynes said in an open letter to prospective members.
"ArtistCares was born on the bridge from hopelessness to action," he says.
For Lynes, the healing process began with that decision. The rest was a matter of contacting close friends and former collaborators in the artistic community and inviting them to help him form the new organization. He also posted a notice through ArtsWire to organizations in New York and throughout the nation. Subsequently, he received 500 email responses.
"It’s really obvious that artists all over the country want to do something," he says.
Lynes received inquiries and support from across the country. In one exchange, the artist who created the mural in response to the Columbine incident offered to come to New York to undertake a similar project here.
Lynes made it clear, like he has with others interested in the group, that this is a volunteer effort with no money involved in it. But it's remarkable how much can be done with very little beyond a "can do" attitude.
Eager to "do something," the artists assembled at Wednesday's meeting quickly broke out into five working committee groups, Lynes said. By separating into committees, the group could establish an organization structure and begin executing some of ArtistCares' plans and ideas simulatenously.
The five committees are as follows: marketing/media, community relations, funding, artist/counselor coordination, and Web site/communication.
According to Lynes, those working committees are already selecting their own leaders and working on their own agendas.
He hopes that, through their combined efforts, ArtistCares will provide a new way for artists to participate in healing efforts in grief-stricken communities and rekindle an awareness of the arts' value in community life.
In that sense, this is very much a political move, Lynes admits. By establishing ArtistCares, he hopes to demonstrate that "the arts are at the center of all our lives and not the outside."
Perhaps this beacon of hope, devised for members of the community-at-large, may pay its dividends back to the performing arts community; by reaching out, ArtistCares may draw the community in.
Editor's Note:
ArtistCares has already received interest and/or support from a number of organizations including Materials for the Arts, New York's Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Center for Arts Education, New York City Arts and Education Roundtable, the Cultural Collaborative Jamaica as well as several hospitals.
Right now, the group's fundraising committee is identifying possible funding sources. Besides looking for funding, ArtistsCares is also planning a series of events in public places to get the word out. The next step will be getting the training aspect of the organization together so that the training workshops can begin.
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These are but three of the many stories that are out there about resilient artists and artistic directors waging a quiet war to keep freedom's expressive light burning.
We will try to bring you more of these stories in the coming weeks and months, and, to that end, we request your suggestions of possible people and companies to include. Email them to me at: chad@actorsupdate.com. We regret that we cannot bring all of the stories to you, but we promise to do our best.
And we encourage our members--actors, dancers, singers, comedians--to volunteer a few hours at a New York metropolitan area theatre. It is a simple gesture of friendship and solidarity that can go a long way.
