The Answer is Great Art!

Posted by: Lincoln Arts Council

Guest Column by DawnMarie Moe

We could learn a lot from Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This Wednesday he stopped at the Lied Center in Lincoln as part of their Arts In Crisis program, and for 3 hours held the rapt attention of an audience of about 175 local artists and arts organization representatives with his straight forward pragmatism. Boy howdy, can this man stay on message! How to make and keep an arts organization strong? Create great art and market the heck out of it.

No matter how he said it, "develop fantastically interesting projects", "don't cut projects to save money, you'll lose your audience", "the Web is the Arts best friend" -- the message remained the same. Want a voice for the arts in the political scene? Create great art and then create buzz around it so great, they have to come! Want to grow your family of supporters? Do projects that are unusual, fascinating, too intriguing to miss and then...tell them it's coming! Want to have supporters in twenty years? Create great projects to inspire the middle and high schoolers who will be the next generation of audience and the following generation of support!

I encourage everyone interested in the arts to visit ArtsInCrisis.org (after thoroughly exploring Lincoln's own ArtScene.Org). Our Lincoln art community already creates the great art -- and that's half the battle. In Michael Kaiser, we have a mentor committed to helping us learn to sustain the audiences that are inspired, educated, and entertained by the art our artists create!

Download a MP3 of the lecture here, courtesy of NET Friday Live Extra.

DawnMarie Moe, LAC board member