What is an Artistic Director (AD) and what are his or her (I will use his and her interchangeably) responsibilities? I asked that question very early in my career, over and over again, addressing it to knowledgeable theatre people, and a few dolts, of course, but no one could give me a succinct and clear answer.
I had been a director, a coach and a managing director but I still did not know back then the scope of the artistic job and with no input, I decided I would have to do my own research and start talking to people who were involved in theatre production. And I chose very carefully.
What I came down to was this: The AD speaks for the community and for the theatre.
He should know the tastes of the community when he selects a season so he can push the envelope once or twice a year, just enough on the push to still have the audience coming back. It is, after all show and business, you know. And without the money coming in, there can be no show, no business and no theatre. The task is daunting. Yes, absolutely daunting. At least it was to me as a young director wanting to move up the ranks a little and take on a wider challenge.
Balancing on the other side the AD has the community, on the other, the theatre. The AD holds in one hand the community, in the other, the theatre. It is a real balancing act, let me tell you. The community will tell him what it wants (letters to the editor, boycotts, falling attendance or worse yet, no attendance, well, you get the picture) if he will but listen, but the theatre, as a venue, has no voice and cannot ask for help or plead for talent, it cannot suggest plays or paths that he might or might not see nor can it take flight and leave because things get so bad. Poor theatre, it just can sit there and be plummeted until some brave soul either rescues it or kills it off.
Ok, so who is the AD? What form does he take, this deity incarnate?
The answer is many and varied. The AD can be the people who start a theatre and make the artistic and business choices for the theatre and the community, and go all the way to the AD who is searched for in a long and arduous process, sometimes taking months, and makes all decisions and choices for the theatre. More on this later, defining some of the heights and valleys of artistic direction. More later on the director and the coach and their relationships.
That said, I am going to put this on the website for your perusal, and, hopefully, some comments and questions!
Oh, and by the way, I hope I will be able to find a way so you can subscribe to this blog. (If you know a way to find that on the net, please share!) I would like to invite you to read my musings at your leisure rather than having to remember that I exist down here in the beautiful Emerald Coast, locally referred to as the Redneck Riviera!
Have a great week. Gordon
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4 comments:
Looking at it from the other side, from someone who has been a "producer" of sorts over the year on the London Fringe. I think the AD is the most important person in the company, BUT needs the backup of - what would you call it? Administrative Director? Someone, anyway, who can handle all the business stuff leaving the AD free to pursue the creative stuff. And had I been lucky enough to do so, I would have loved to have been the Admin Dir. Or Producer, if you will.
Very interesting post raising interesting questions!
You are absolutely correct on the Managing Director position, Thora! Absolutely vital to survival and growth. I was addressing only the Show part of the Show-Business and will get to that after I sketch out the Show side of the management team.
And how I wish I had one, a Managing Director, that is, or at least one who did not have another full time job. As someone at the helm of a fledging theatre organization who's performing as both AD and ED switching hats does become quite daunting. Until reading this post I'd assumed the community responsibility was within the realm of the ED. Thanks for the perspective and I look forward to reading more.
Here we often use General Manager as the opposite term.
Interesting piece on the role of an AD. Service to the community is probably the best definition I've ever seen of the responsibilities. So when are you going to continue this?
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