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Public Theater and Community Development in Detroit

 In 2017, the arts – including performance arts, museums, fine arts schools, motion pictures, photography, and more – contributed $877.8 billion to the nation’s total gross domestic product (GDP). Of that amount, performing arts companies accounted for $14 billion to the United States economy. These figures represent the significant economic value of the performing arts, which includes theater. Theater also provides an important escape from the world while teaching life lessons. Although most people think New York City is the primary home of the American theater industry, theater can be a tool for development in communities all around the country.

Public theater, which can span from regional to community theater, offers accessible means to theater performances while providing opportunities to engage the local community in events and programming. Furthermore, theater can stimulate economies through investing, ticket sales, and job creation. However, theaters face substantial operational challenges due to budgetary constraints, stage space, and access to theatrical works.

Although job creation accounts for an important portion of the financial contributions of the industry, job sustainability and wage equity can be a challenge for small theaters.[1] The securing of theater space can also impose a financial burden on a smaller theater company. One example is the Detroit Public Theater (DPT), which opened in 2015 without its own theater to call home. It took DPT seven years to open its own black box theater, but prior to that DPT had to secure $200,000 in funding and use space in the Max M. Fisher Music Center. Although the new location adds economic pressure to the company, it also creates a space for the company to maintain a relationship with the community throughout the year regardless of when they have performances.

One of the most valuable tools that public theaters have to develop a predominant role in a community is job creation. Once a permanent location has been established, a company needs employees to help execute the overall mission. Public theaters, like DPT, can also use employment to create opportunities for artists to advance their talents. As it establishes formal programming and jobs, public theater companies should always remember that a goal of a public theater is to encourage community engagement and contribute jobs in an industry that is historically expensive and inaccessible.

 Theater and Employment

The National Governors Association has recognized that creative industries “provide direct economic benefits to states and communities,” and one of these benefits is the creation of jobs.[2] The sheer quantity of available jobs in theater makes it an exciting industry to seek opportunities. Even though there might be a high number of jobs available, public theater companies might not be able to afford to pay competitive, stable wages. If a company cannot afford these wages, then certain people might be prohibited from entering the workforce. Accordingly, it is important to evaluate the implications of employment in nonprofit theater and offer creative solutions.

The lack of protection for theater employees has created inequities in the industry where some wealthy producers take advantage of cast and crew members. Members of a production can be forced to spend grueling hours working without receiving sufficient compensation, even with federal labor and employment standards in place.[3] Despite the industry practices, public theater should be a driving force for change to show that productions can be executed without forcing the cast and crew to risk their financial stability for the sake of the production. One way that public theaters can try to find this balance is through residency programs.

 The Residency Program

Theaters can create opportunities through residency programs in which artists are given full access to the spaces and resources of a theater to produce work or practice their skills for a defined period. These programs are not typically full-time employment positions. Instead, a theater will bring the artist on board as an independent entity, while providing full access to the theater’s resources. DPT, for example, launched a residency and partnership program for the 2022-23 season. This kind of program is an effort to give local Detroit artists an opportunity to engage with the company and establish a community of artists with resources to explore their work.[4] The fully subsidized DPT residency provides artists with access to resources in a theater that are otherwise difficult to obtain, including a stage, equipment, and staff.[5]

Hosting residency programs can be costly and impose a financial burden on public theaters. Immediately upon obtaining its own space, DPT established a residency program to support only one fully subsidized artist with a term of up to thirty-five hours over five days. This limited time shows the types of restrictions that nonprofit theaters face because of the financial constraints of the theater industry. As theaters like DPT consider how to execute more substantive residency programs and create longer term employment opportunities, it is vital for them to consider how to access diverse funding to secure financial stability. Otherwise, these programs are not feasible for public theaters to sustain on their own.

As public theaters consider how to create jobs that provide financial stability while allowing creatives to work on their craft, theater companies should keep in mind that they have an obligation to both produce high quality productions but also be a resource for the surrounding community. Jobs are one resource that companies have to stimulate economic growth in communities, and public theaters should be looking for ways to provide job security to artists.

By: Jacqueline Diggs 

[1] Shelley Attadgie, Combating the Actor’s Sacrifice: How to Amend Federal Labor Law to Influence the Labor Practices of Theaters and Incentivize Actors to Fight for Their Rights, 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 1045, 1046-47 (2019). http://cardozolawreview.com/actors-sacrifice-amend-labor-law/

[2] National Governors Association, Arts & the Economy, Using Arts and Culture to Stimulate State Economic Development, https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Redevelopment/0901arts_economy_nga.pdf

[3] Shelley Attadgie, Combating the Actor’s Sacrifice: How to Amend Federal Labor Law to Influence the Labor Practices of Theaters and Incentivize Actors to Fight for Their Rights, 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 1045, 1046-47 (2019). http://cardozolawreview.com/actors-sacrifice-amend-labor-law/

[5] Id.

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