Re: venue struggles & audience sizes

[Willadance <Willadance...>]

In a message dated 12/14/03 12:47:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
MaxwellSt (at) aol(dot)com writes:

> Anyway, case in point: For a decade, every other year, a local prominent 
> JCC co-sponsored with my band's not for profit arm a Midwest Klezmer and 
> Yiddish Music Institute.  It drew as many as 800 participants but never quite 
> broke 
> even (although they said it brought them great kudos and kovod).  

In 1999, they told me that the new word coming down to the JCCs was: if it's 
not 
> profitable, drop it.  So they did (along with a lot of other really fine 
> programs, mostly for seniors).
Many JCC's are putting huge amounts of money into their health and fitness 
activities to the detriment of Jewish Arts and Culture and other needed and 
worthwhile programs.  The belief is that they can compete with the large 
fitness 
chains.  They hire staff for there fitness programs at salary levels that are 
thousands of $ higher than what they were paying Jewish progamming staff. They 
let their arts and culture and programming staff go and then form volunteer 
committees to organize the type of programming that should be offered at a JCC. 
 
But sometimes even when there were staffed arts and culture programs the 
offerings in terms of concerts, performances, classes and workshops has always 
been sparse.

I just personally lived through this experience.

Willa


Willa C Horowitz
Leader and Teacher of Israeli, Klezmer and International Folk Dance

130 Mt. Sanford Road
Hamden, CT 06518
(203) 248-0291

willadance (at) aol(dot)com