Saturday, February 12, 2011

Too Big To Fail?

Isaac asks whether we should save the Initman. A while back, I asked when we should save failing arts organizations.

I never got any answers, although I did get a bit of condemnation through private channels. My questions still stand.

  • Is there such a thing as being culturally too important to fail -- so that even if evidence of poor management came up, the community should protect the organization (perhaps while pushing for a change in leadership), because of the value of the works that get created there?
  • Is there such a thing as being socially too important to fail -- where the community relies on that organization even if there is poor management? Presenting venues, for example, that present work that may not get presented if they went out of business?
  • Is there such a thing as being to historically important to fail -- arts organizations that we bail out to preserve our history?
  • Are any arts organizations too economically important to fail?