THE GRADUATION SPEECH

You don’t have to read this book from start to finish to get the full benefit from it, but we couldn’t resist penning some proper closing remarks. This book started as a class, and this chapter is a version of the presentation given during the last class session each spring, just weeks before the students start their post-college careers. It’s something to send them, and now you, off on a good note.

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We have seen that the serious American performing arts industry is a complex creature to understand. It’s highly fragmented, relatively small economically, buffeted by changes in technology, and shrinking. Where does that leave a talented performer?

When we look at the future of the performing arts, we see opportunity.

The preceding chapters showed that others have “found the opening (opportunity) and gone through it.” Business creativity is different from performance creativity. You may strive for perfection in performance, but to be creative in business you need not achieve perfection— you just need to create something sufficiently different that will attract attention and create demand.

For starters, you can take advantage of the Internet by producing and marketing sample performances online like Petra Conti did (Chapter 4). This begins to build your brand and hopefully an audience that might pay to see performances. Get out there and perform in venues that have been anathema to others, just to be visible and unique. It’s okay to be afraid!

There’s a wonderful conservatory-trained pianist, Andrew Shapiro, in New York who “has his eyes on the fries.” That is, he took up playing the piano at a McDonald’s in downtown Manhattan in 2004. He gets paid for the gig and loves doing it. He meets people from all around the world and gets high praise for his performance. For Mc- Donald’s, Andrew increases sales and brings in new customers. The unusual venue has attracted media attention, and Andrew has received and accepted offers to play in places as far away as Poland. He is talked about and has built a following of people who like his work. Andrew’s career is proof that opportunity can be found anywhere.¹

There are many ways to make it, and you’ll have to work just as hard at promoting yourself, running your business, and raising money as you do at your art, at least at the beginning. Just about every artist we know who has made it tells us that. Of course, there are exceptions. If the stars align themselves just right, you might find yourself walking right into a successful orchestra or dance company or getting a spot on Broadway. But that’s clearly the exception. More than likely, you will experience slow, uneven, uphill progress toward your goal.

No matter what, you’ll have to understand the business you are in to make your career pay off. Mickey Mantle was quoted as saying, “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” Mickey had the advantage of playing baseball with team management people taking care of the business. If you just can’t handle the business, you’ll need a partner or friend, or you may have to work for an organization that will handle the business issues as the Yankees did for Mickey. Sure, it’s getting harder to find traditional arts companies that are growing and hiring these days. In the beginning, the responsibility will likely fall on your shoulders. But don’t worry. You can do it! You can see from what we’ve written that it’s not impossible.

KEYNOTES

For this final round of Keynotes, we think you’ve earned the right to forgo any questions and exercises. Instead, take these final tips. If we had to reduce everything we’ve written down into a secret sauce, here it is. When you’re stuck, or when you’re going so fast that you don’t know what the next right move is, one of the following 14 ideas will not steer you wrong.

1. 1. Be authentic. Don’t try to do something that doesn’t come from deep within you, and don’t try to fake it. If you don’t know something and are nervous, say so—people appreciate honesty. Conversely, if you believe deeply that something should be done differently because all your knowledge and training tells you so, speak up!
2. 2. Ask for help. We know that you are likely in a strange environment when starting a business or asking for money, but there are many people who will be impressed with your artistic gifts and be willing to help. You just have to ask. You can enlist friends for legal help or accounting knowledge right from the start.
3. 3. Offer help. Use your gifts to help others. You’d be surprised how being a “giver” pays back and increases the satisfaction you can get from the nonartistic part of your work.
4. 4. Start small. Don’t take big economic risks early on that could sink your enterprise while it’s still in the dock.
5. 5. Do something crazy. Play or dance in an unusual venue. Get some friends to help make a creative video that gets attention on YouTube, where you can direct folks to your work. As long as you are not taking on undue financial risks at the start, let your imagination be the only thing that limits your ambition.
6. 6. Network. And do it in every way and using all media, including the phone, Internet, and in person.
7. 7. Ask for advice. This complement to networking is going to others who have succeeded in the arts or business and getting their advice. Many more are willing to help than you’d imagine, especially those who are retired or near the end of their careers.
8. 8. Develop a business plan. The plan need not be complex, but it will help organize your thoughts, give you direction, and make it easier for you to explain what you are trying to do and what you need.
9. 9. Find a niche. Look for a need that you can fill or a type of work that you can specialize in. It needn’t be completely unique; it could be something that has already been done but in another place, or it could be something that was tried and failed elsewhere, but you could do it better or you are in the right place at the right time. The key here is a combination of trial and error. You won’t be able to find your niche by thinking really hard about it in isolation. You’ve got to get out there and get your hands dirty.
10. 10.Expect the unexpected in your career path. Your path to mastery of your art was linear; your career path will not be. The working world is full of chance opportunities and unexpected turns. There are no teachers and no grades. It will be scary, but above all it will be an adventure.
11. 11.Realize that you are in the people business whether you’re a performer or a manager. Cultivate your relationships. Attend to the mindset and the intangible needs of those around you at work and at play. When your colleagues or employees do a good job, tell them! When they don’t, tell them that too, but respectfully. Remember that no one is only the function she does. People are complex, wonderful creatures. Every working relationship is first and foremost a relationship.
12. 12.Know when to back away. If disagreements arise in your organization, you may need to back away from your struggle to find the right answer to the problem. If you and your colleagues can’t agree on the right answer, consider whether you need to ask different questions.
13. 13.Beware of burnout. Take a cue from Peter Gelb, whose employment contract actually stipulates that he has to be available 24/7. As general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, he is as vulnerable to burnout as anyone. He avoids it in two ways: by staying close to the mission of his organization, and by staying proactive.

    Gelb makes a point of showing up for at least some of each night’s performance. He says it reinforces that the excitement, glamour, and trascendent qualities of opera are why he keeps showing up every day. His advice is echoed by almost all the other administrators and artists we interviewed. Stay close to the art, and you are sure not to lose stamina for your work.

14. 14.Start. Get going! Stop thinking and talking about it (and even reading about it)—get moving. Time is wasting!

Finally, what makes all this effort worth it? The answer is suggested by this quotation from Plato, carved into the lobby wall of Cleveland’s Severance Hall. It’s about music, but we think it captures the essence of those rare, transcendent moments in all the performing arts:

Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to gaiety and life to everything. It’s the essence of order and leads to all that is good, just and beautiful.