Many people are looking ahead to a three day weekend. First, toasting their valentine and then celebrating President’s Day. This would be the perfect time to plan some outings that support the arts. Whether you do it singly, as a couple, or as a family your valentine to the arts through your attendance will mean a lot.

Our office spends its time focusing on the presentation side of the arts but we try never to forget the importance of supporting the arts and media as a member of the audience. From community based entertainment to Broadway, from student film festivals and screenings to major film festivals and commercial releases, from local art galleries to world-class museums we try to support and enjoy them all. Why? Because artists raise questions. They force us to think…and to think differently. They teach us about the human condition and invite us to open our thinking to solving its problems. Even in some of its shallowest moments, the arts bring us through a window into a view of humanity we might not have otherwise seen. In its greater moments, the arts free us to a broader more enlightened vision inspiring us and causing us to dream.

Now more than ever we need to support the arts. Everywhere we look funding to underwrite the arts is becoming non-existent. Theater and dance companies are folding, symphony orchestras are cutting back on programs, museums are shortening hours, and on it goes. Are we willing to allow man’s soul to whither from neglect? Let’s each of us find the answer to why the arts matter.

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Passion is a part of my life. I think I am always passionately engaged.
Either passionately for something or passionately against it! There’s no middle ground because for me that would be mediocrity. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to go to work every day resigned to go through the motions to make a paycheck.

Some would say I’ve been lucky, able to do what I’m most passionate about, but it’s not true. It is my passion that has carried me in to the careers where I’ve most enjoyed myself. What I’ve learned along the way is that creativity and “out of the box” thinking enables you to perform even the most mundane experience into a task that can be accomplished with enthusiasm.

There was an ad campaign a number of years ago for a popular fast food restaurant that asked, “Where’s the Beef? Frankly, that’s the question being asked by admissions departments as they read through applications today. They’re asking, “Where’s the passion? Where’s the real person? What is the fit here?” Too many students and parents are attempting to orchestrate what they think is the “perfect” application. The perfect essay. The perfect community service and enrichment programs. For many, prepping for the college application is more about ticking off a checklist than assembling the facts about you that help a college admit you. Remember, the office you’re sending your material to is the Admissions Office. It is not the Rejections Office. They are in the business of admitting students. That’s what they want to do. Help them do that. How?

1. 1. Discover a passion and show it through your resume – For instance, if you love the performing arts or visual storytelling and can’t imagine doing anything else, do it. Attend workshops to develop your craft, make movies, write plays and screenplays, perform in plays and musicals.
2. 2. Research colleges and universities – Know what school’s offer which programs. Where will you fit in best? Where will your passion and inspiration be sparked and nurtured?
3. 3. Write an essay that exposes the real you. An essay that shows emotion and maybe even your vulnerability. What was it about the experience that triggered that emotion? How did it shape you? What did you learn?
4. 4. “Fear Not.” Take a leap of faith. In other words, don’t play it safe. Be willing to take the risk of trying something new.
5. 5. Do it yourself! This is the beginning of your adult life. It is your college experience. It needs to be your research, your choices, your application. Prepared and signed by YOU.

Number 5 having been stated, there is an important place for parents in this process. Your parents are your best support team. They can guide you, give you financial parameters, throw the celebration party, and offer comfort, but the process is yours. Start the journey early and enjoy it step by step.

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It is always amazing to me how on top of it some of our students and parents are in planning for their future. At our staff meeting this week, as I was pontificating about the need to do our season “clean up” before anyone takes vacation time and suggesting that our slow season was coming, I realized that I was looking into smiling faces with all-knowing wide eyes. “Whaaat?” I finally said. “Do you know how long our lists are for students who want to register now for 2009?” was the reply. And so the 2009 season begins.

At some point this week the new season for US Performing Arts will be unveiled on our website so those who do like planning ahead and getting it done can mark their summer training off their list as “ready to go.” We will be taking registrations both online and over the phone. Our past students and parents will receive an e-mail announcing the dates and so presumably will have the first choice of our programs that sell out quickly. Others will find us through the web and might first request a catalog which won’t mail until much later. It’s funny how slow some of the more traditional marketing seems today in this internet global world of ours.

Speaking of the web, we have lots of new things happening this year and it will be interesting to see how you participate with us in these new ventures and to hear your feedback. Keep checking our website because new things will roll-out through the next few months. The first thing that’s slotted is a new look. That’s always exciting. Along with that is coming some new features and the first one I’m really excited about is our Student Profile section. It’ll be fun to see our students and hear about their artistic achievements. They truly are our next generation of artists and it is important to recognize them!

How does one measure excellence in the arts? That’s a question that has always perplexed me. Certainly there are measurements of excellence that come into play in the various art forms but, once you go beyond the mastery of technique, how do you measure artistry? Who measures it? Must it be measured? Must it be “awarded?” What is the difference in being awarded and being rewarded?

Once upon a time there were precious few awards and even fewer awards ceremonies. Now, there are more award bestowals for which anyone can even keep track. You can’t help but wonder if these awards started as a true tribute to excellence or as a studio and/or producer’s press agents’ dream. Are we really paying homage to the individual inspired greatness that carries these presentations or have we developed a ploy to selling more tickets to movies, plays and concerts? And it’s one thing to award professionals trophy titles for their achievement to a standard of excellence, but what about all the dance and acting contests that are springing up in every category and genre for students? Isn’t it enough to study the craft and feel the sense of reward that comes from demonstrating your personal best skill in your craft without making a contest out of art? Can we think about being satisfied with the reward that comes from giving someone a pleasant evening of entertainment or having provoked their thought instead of receiving an award for our mantles?

In no way are my questions meant to belittle the nominees or recipients of these prestigious awards but merely my own search for answers. In fact these questions of “measurement” are similar to the ones I struggled with when grading acting and directing students or dancers. Is the ability to absorb and implement the technique the median/average? The expected? If so, then isn’t what goes beyond that subjective? Is every soul touched by an artist in the same way or does one react to artistry individually? If you’ve ever stood in the lobby of a theater during intermission you have heard the diverse opinions of individuals as they have discussed the first act! How many reviews have you read where you adamantly disagreed with the critic?

The New York Times Magazine had a very satisfying answer for me to at least one of my questions in its recent slide show entitled Breaking Through. The Editor-at-Large Lynn Hirschberg, in well articulated capsulized paragraphs, gives you the “ah, ha” moments of why an actor has been nominated and is being recognized for an outstanding screen performance. It is really worth taking the time to look at it before the Academy Awards. See if you agree.

If you thought I was going to have answers to my questions, I don’t. I’m still working on the answers for myself. I hope you figure it out too and please share it with me when you do.

Last week as I was sitting in an airport waiting for my plane I had some time to read e-mail that I had set aside as “not a priority” when they first came in. One was a NY Times review of a new Broadway play by Tracy Letts, August: Osage County. When a review contains the words, “the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years,” it gets my attention.

I’m inquisitive and I’m a questioner. I would have been one of those kids that drove their parents crazy except for the fact they were the ones that encouraged the querying. I not only want to know why something is good, I want to know what makes it so. At face value, it’s easy to see why August: Osage County would be good and the review touches on it. Excellent text, talented actors and exceptional direction, perfect sets and costumes and lighting that set the mood. But now the question. Would the theatrical experience be what it is without all the ingredients? Have you ever baked a cake and left out the “pinch of salt?” Without the salt the cake is flat because that little pinch aids in the complexity of the mix. In other words, it takes a collaboration of ingredients to bake a good cake just as it takes a collaborative effort to present a good play…or movie, or dance. Can you imagine what would happen to a symphonic arrangement if a section of the orchestra was missing?

Now I can climb onto my soapbox. It’s my often heard hue and cry. The artists laboratory is not a vacuum. No one in the arts can create alone and if you ask yourself enough questions about the different aspects of the arts you will realize that even those creative souls who think it comes from from their own inspiration find their original inspiration in muses and the environment. Actors, by nature and/or training, are generous. Playwrights and screenwriters are solo venturers forced into collaboration in order to see their work come alive. Others in this collaborative structure would not even see their career specialty become a reality if the others did not exist. Fame and notoriety would make one believe that it is the “star” that carries the show. Perhaps notoriety draws people to the box office but it will not extend the run of a bad play or movie. It doesn’t get a symphony or dance performance an encore run on the program for following years. A good collaboration, however, will make new stars both on the stage and behind the curtain.

A wonderful humbling experience is the repertory company where collaborators work in rotation all season. Often actors will have a leading role in one play and a supporting role in another. Writers may have one or more plays presented in as season and sometimes will have the opportunity to direct. Steppenwolf is one such company, along with others like Seattle Repertory Theater and Milwaukee Repertory Company. Repertory companies allow artists to work together under the direction of an artistic director to engage audiences in what hopefully becomes solid artistic endeavors. No wonder these companies are often workshop resources for bringing something very special to Broadway and Hollywood. For that reason, I remind all post grad artists to consider auditioning for a professional regional company. Talk about a great way to hone your craft!