Guest Blogger Jessica Wilt: Why Continue a Career in the Arts? (Part 2)

Jessica Wilt

In part 1 of my blog post, I started to talk about how the economy is affecting arts administrators. Specifically, how the financial and jobs crisis is weighing heavier on midcareer level individuals. Now, what we can do about it?

Here are three things I see happening today, mainly due to the economy:

#1 – Unpaid internships have now replaced what used to be the entry level job. Anyone can be an intern, no matter what age, and companies get by with more unpaid labor. Ultimately this helps with their bottom line, but in turn is destroying the pay scale. What used to be respectable manager/director pay is often times now entry level salary.

Guest Blogger Jessica Wilt: Why Continue a Career in the Arts? (Part 1)

Jessica Wilt

With the national focus shifting from the financial crisis to job creation (and now, this week back to the financial crisis once more), I thought I would use my personal story as a midcareer arts administrator to help shed light on the impact the economy is having on jobs in this field.

I’m in my mid-thirties and keep asking the question, “How much longer does work have to consume my entire life before the level of financial security matches my professional accomplishments and experience?”

“A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats” — The Dance/USA 2011 Conference Lives On

I was interested in spending the week back to the daily grind in New York before concluding my thoughts on the Dance/USA 2011 Annual Conference in Chicago last week. The conference was such a whirlwind, filled with incredible dialogue and crucial conversations, and I was afraid the surrealism of the event would fade upon returning to my normal routine again. In some ways I do feel removed from the event- on my Saturday afternoon flight back, I napped as I traveled in a 600mph moving machine that allowed me wake up to see Manhattan outside my window. Waking up and proceeding straight into work and familiarity created a lack of closure and an insufficient time for processing. And so, a week gone by.

Those Seats Aren’t Going to Fill Themselves — Reflections from Day 3 at the Dance/USA Conference

Let’s take a step back. There are hundreds of fantastic service organizations, thousands of dance companies, thousands of thousands of dancers, and billions of people to reach. The one thing we all have in common: fill those seats.

There is a habit of dancers to say they are but just a dancer, when in fact dancers are the also the greatest advocates for the field. No one can expect anything of anyone, and sitting back, (“dancing back”?) and expecting the public to fill the seats is simply a tactic no one has time to afford to waste. No matter our roles in helping the dance field function, we are all in the same boat and want the same fish. How do we abandon our own separate fishing poles, to work together to create an all-consuming fishing net?

I sat in on a presentation of the findings from the Engaging Dance Audiences report from WolfBrown. Their key finding and my giant take-away: majority of dance patrons are dancers themselves. How does the dance world engage, expand, and grow past only being self-serving?

Create Stillness — Day 2 of the Dance/USA Conference

Hyper-stimulation. Multi-tasking. Productivity. In an age with so many technological advances, new media platforms, and an overwhelming need to share, true improvement and increased efficiency can only truly progress with one key item– rest.

Clarity. Simplicity. Stillness. These were the underlying themes in absolutely every lecture and discussion I attended today…