Chris Ashworth

I'm adding a new blog to the ol' blog roll today, a blog a happened upon after chewing on the thoroughly depressing topic of "How to make theatre pay?" 

And so I took a stroll through the internets to see if any bright soul had found an exploitable crack in the no-to-low-pay theater curse.  And I found Chris Ashworth.  I'm reading and ruminating on his blog, and so far I see a whole lot I agree with (and have observed myself, on this here soapbox that nobody reads.)

His blog post "Toward a New Funding Model for Theater" throws down an awful big gauntlet that I've only hinted around at:

You know what annoys me a little bit? Theaters may fit inside a non-profit structure, but they share a lot of territory with for-profit companies. Any non-profit that fits inside the Beneficiary Builder model shares huge swaths of territory with for-profit companies. Unlike other non-profits, their beneficiaries are their customers. And from where I stand, it can look like an awfully fuzzy line between a great non-profit company providing a service their customers can’t afford…and a crappy for-profit company that can’t make their service affordable.

So you know what? Forget I ever said theaters should be non-profits. I hate that idea. It might be true, but just forget it. For the purposes of this conversation, that idea is a crutch and I am kicking that crutch out from under you RIGHT NOW.

Go read the whole thing, and be inspired.