Small arts groups are dying to be heard

"What I take from it is, 'Look, here are these big organizations. They're big. So they must be good,' " Jurgen Weiss of Snappy Dance Theater (above) says of the Boston Foundation's idea that struggling arts groups find an exit strategy. (Michele McDonald/Globe Staff)

Tomorrow night in an alternative gallery space in Cambridge, a self-proclaimed group of "artyrs" will drink Kool-Aid, eat chili, and participate in a "die in."

It's a joke, of course, meant to poke fun at the Boston Foundation's recent report on the state of the arts community. Organized by local theater prankster Ian MacKinnon, the spoof, which begins at 8:30 at the Outpost 186 space in Inman Square, plays off the foundation's suggestion that some small organizations consider an "exit strategy" rather than try to soldier on.

Released on Dec. 19, the foundation report contended that while large institutions such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Museum of Fine Arts remain healthy, smaller groups are losing audience and struggling to balance their budgets. An organization "whose vision has either dissipated or lost its resonance with its audience or supporters" should consider shutting down, the foundation wrote.

"It would be so much easier if we could just have quality control and have a laser-like focus on creating the strongest organizations that will be there for our children - the BSO and MFA, for example," said MacKinnon, head of the 14-year-old Artezani Theater, a company that he says will "die" tomorrow. "We agree with the Boston Foundation."

While MacKinnon declined to criticize the foundation - he preferred to sarcastically praise the organization repeatedly - Al Nidle, cofounder of the Zeitgeist Gallery and one of his frequent collaborators, said the report lends itself to satire.

"These arts groups, if they share something, they share creativity. To show everybody just how absurd this idea is by creating a celebration around it, that's what Ian's attempting to do," Nidle explained.

Among the organizations participating tomorrow will be Mobius, the artist-run experimental art center. Mobius will remain very much alive, though, as it has leased space on Harrison Avenue in the South End.

Some local arts advocates don't feel the report is a laughing matter. They complain that the foundation has done little to close the gap between the haves and the have-nots, giving too much money to large groups without building support for innovative start-ups.

"The report takes a very naive position in the end," said Jurgen Weiss, executive director of Snappy Dance Theater. "What I take from it is, 'Look, here are these big organizations. They're big. So they must be good. And all these small organizations are having trouble keeping afloat. So by some kind of Darwinian process some of them should die off.' "

Kathy Bitetti, an installation artist who heads the Artists Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, said her organization's board hasn't met yet to discuss the report. But she's got her own opinion.

"They don't fund us, they never have, and they have no sense of who we are," she said of the Boston Foundation. "Unfortunately I think this report does more harm than good. They're looking at a corporate model. Instead of spending money on these reports, they could actually be funding organizations."

The report has sparked some local artists to propose other solutions to the squeeze on smaller groups.

Robert Couture, principal trombonist at Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, and Handel and Haydn Society, was provoked by the report to talk about his ideas with colleagues in the music world. For years, he has felt that Boston's ballet and opera companies need to band together to build a proper performance space that they could control. Right now, those companies rent space.

"When you talk about the architecture that could be going up - skyscrapers, a new City Hall - no one's talking about [building a proper arts space]," said Couture. "And that's surprising to me because we think of ourselves as a world-class city. My premise is we'll never have secure, viable ballet and opera companies until they have the autonomy their own venue would provide."

Ann McQueen, the senior program officer at the Boston Foundation who cochaired the study, said that the organization doesn't just focus on the region's largest groups.

"I think we do a lot for small groups," she said. "The problem is that they're small and you don't see it as well. The fact that we've been supporting the Friends of Franklin Park and the summer performance series goes pretty much unnoticed next to clearly the larger grant to the Citi Center. But it has just as big an impact to the organization and the people they're serving."

Last June, the Boston Foundation, as part of its regular grant cycle, gave the Citi Performing Arts Center a $225,000 grant, though it will only be fully paid if the organization merges with two other groups. In December, the foundation gave out grants to a range of arts groups, including New Repertory Theatre ($65,000), Theater Offensive ($50,000), Boston Modern Orchestra Project ($50,000), and Boston Children's Chorus ($40,000).

As part of the "die in," MacKinnon had another request for the Boston Foundation. Noting that "funerals cost money," he asked that the foundation provide 20 $500 grants to groups that agree to die off. He said these grants should be called "encouragement grants."

McQueen said the Boston Foundation would not be paying funeral costs. But she did suggest groups that are struggling could apply for other grants in the future.

"We support mergers, and if an organization is interested in investigating how to go out of business, sure," she said. "If it makes sense given our priorities and if it's an organization that has interest to us, there are costs involved in going out of business. I'm open to considering all sorts of things."

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. For more on the arts, visit boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist.

• Searched
• E-Mailed