A little back-story is in order. I have been the director of
the MAC since February of 2006. Before me was Janie Oldfield from 1999 to 2005
and her predecessor was the man who shared Hal McAninch’s vision for a suburban
arts center and the first Director, Jack Weiseman. When the Arts Center opened
in 1986 the first seasons were a mix of theatre, music, dance and visual arts
presented by touring artists, student ensembles, community ensembles and local
professionals. As the years passed the number of touring artists increased each
season, some community ensembles became professional, and as enrollment grew
more students found their way to Arts Center stages and galleries. The number
of events or their amateur or professional status are important for the
archivists to recall, but for our discussion what is important to acknowledge
is that the center grew steadily for two decades. Budgets increased, more staff
were hired, revenues grew as did expenses. Many would concur that the quantity
and quality both trended up.
At some point the MAC reached critical mass. For our
purposes critical mass is defined as
the minimum amount of money or number of people needed to sustain a business. I
would estimate it was sometime before I arrived in 2006. Some time before 2006
and continuing to this date the College of DuPage has contributed an increasing
amount of dollars to sustain the MAC. Simply, it costs the College more
dollars, dollars that could be otherwise spent elsewhere, to support the
mission of the MAC.
The
mission of the McAninch Arts Center is
to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which
encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people
and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community.
Presently the MAC supports the following in service of
mission.
- College Music Ensemble Performances
- College Dance Concerts
- College Theatre Productions
- College student and faculty Art Exhibits
- Global Flicks International Film Series
- College Lecture Series
- Artist in Residence Program
- Community arts education and engagement programs
- Community Venue - Rentals
- Gahlberg Gallery – Contemporary Art Gallery
- Buffalo Theatre Ensemble – Professional Theatre in Residence
- New Philharmonic – Professional Orchestra in Residence
- MAC Artist Series – National and international artist performance series
- Schoolstage Series – Performances for K-12 students
The last five categories are considered professional
work presented for the benefit of the community at large and our community of
students. During the 2010-11 season that category amounted to 148 public
performances of 78 arts events and an additional 8 art exhibits. In that season
approximately 65,000 patrons experienced a professional arts event at the
college, 13,200 of them were school children. I’ll be the first to say it is an
impressive list, but is it sustainable? Presently, I would say no; neither from
the human or fiscal resource side of the equation. Could it be? Possibly.
So what should we be doing and how should it be
supported? Should the mission evolve? Must we evolve? How should we
re-conceptualize?
At some point we’ll have to discuss the gorilla in the
corner – money. To be continued…
Best
Stephen
