So here's what I like...

So here's what I like and dislike about The Metropolitan Opera and the American Ballet Theatre and how they run their business:

1. Great marketing. Sexy ads and opera trailers. The marketing peeps over there have done a lot to make opera and ballet more appealing to everyone.
2. Combination of old and new: every year they show the old classics (La Traviata, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker) as well as new programs.
3. Live HD broadcast of the operas to movie theaters. When will they have this for ballet??? I can't wait. Plays and other types of performance art should soon follow. I'd pay $18 easily to see a live broadcast version of anything out there now, Broadway or off, and I don't think it would cannibalize sales. I can't remember if I deleted this post or not - but for all the talent we have in this country - the thousands of people who are trying to make it in the arts - there's a surprising lack of stuff to watch. Or what I mean is that it's not very accessible. I don't know how many times I've gone to the movies and been unable to find anything I wanted to see. And I'm sure there's someone out there capable of churning out a hundred plays and screenplays to suit my sensibility perfectly. Someone who's dying to work and dying for an audience and who would give anything to just be given the slightest chance. It's a matter of someone facilitating that connection. Once that connection is facilitated, there will be many more opportunities for artists.
4. Educational initiative: I like that the operas are broadcasted for free to schoolchildren.
5. Affordability. $24 for a Family Circle ticket, $18 for the HD. Reasonable compared to the cost of martinis in this town.

Stuff I dislike:

1. Now I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but I know that ticket sales cover only half of their operating cost. The rest comes from donations. Is it really necessary to have costumes designed by Chanel or Valentino? Why not employ the services of emerging artists who are dying to have any sort of audience for their work? Why not make it a contest? Why not make everything a contest? It would be a lot cheaper, probably of the same quality, serve a good social purpose, and make for a leaner business. And contests are entertaining! Why not broadcast the contest? Open it up to the public? Charge admission? The surface area is endless.

Perhaps this is naive, but I just feel that if all the right minds came together, a good number of problems could be solved.

"Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country." JFK said that. Growing up, I never had much of a reaction to that quote. Just lame inspirational bullshit is what I thought. I wasn't the kind of person who ever considered "giving back," community service, charity work, etc. I figured that was for people who were sure of themselves and their place in the world. I used to be one of those writers who just wanted to get published and win prizes. Like most people, I wanted recognition and validation, the usual human nonsense. That used to be my whole life. Then I woke up one day - it was literally that abrupt - and thought to myself, "Alright, this is really lame. There has to be more to life than obsessing over prizes." I still loved creative writing, but I didn't want to love it in the old way - the jealous boyfriend kind of way. Immature, selfish love. That's when I decided to become a publisher, to try and generate a system that would enable others and create opportunities. Honestly, it has been very good for me as a human being. It is a bit like having a child, I think. It taught me about responsibility and humility and forced me to get off my ass and work. I hold my temper now. I think before speaking. I watch my expenditures. I try to do a good job at work, a really good job. It's so oddly healthy compared to what life was like before.