No, you're not too small

The Kennedy Center's Michael Kaiser is still spreading the word about how small arts organizations needn't despair, despite the Great Recession. 

His Huffington Post article makes several assertions: 
The importance of long-range planning, and of committing your organization to large-scale events
The importance of getting yourself mentioned in local media at least once every three months
The importance of appealing to movers and shakers
The example of world-class art in a small town, like Glimmerglass.

[ photo: Glimmerglass Opera, Cooperstown, New York ]

Create good productions and tell people about them

Michael Kaiser at HuffPo has a point: Arts orgs don't have an expenditure problem so much as they have a revenue problem.
Theaters aren't overspending; they're just failing to attract as much of an audience as they deserve.
Kaiser suggests the following: Don't cut back on programs. Don't make them "more accessible." Market them aggressively.

(photo: Michael Kaiser is president of the JFK Center for the Performing Arts in Wash., D.C.)