Read All About It! | By Libby Slate

BUSINESS BOOKS ABOUT THE PERFORMING ARTS AIM TO GUIDE PERFORMERS AND COMPANIES TO A FULFILLING FUTURE.

SOME YEARS AGO, for a book on the topic, Renee Fleming was asked to advise aspiring performers about a career in the arts.

The lauded singer—who returns to Dorothy Chandler Pavilion downtown in June for an L.A. Opera recital —addressed technique and artistry but added: “I would suggest taking courses in digital editing and website creation, personal finance and even general business and marketing. Learning the business side of the arts is crucial.”

The book to which Fleming contributed is The Artist’s Compass: The Complete Guide to Building a Life and a Living in the Performing Arts, written by Rachel S. Moore, president and CEO of the Music Center. Published in 2016 by Touchstone and available online, the book is one of a handful of tomes focusing on the business side of the arts, designed to help those involved navigate the various challenges of arts careers and companies.

Published in February by BenBella Books was Run It Like a Business: Strategies for Arts Organizations to Increase Audiences, Remain Relevant, and Multiply Money—Without Losing the Art by Aubrey Bergauer. Scheduled for publication this summer, undergoing revision at press time, is Champions for the Arts: Lessons and Successful Strategies for Engaging Diverse Audiences by Donna Walker-Kuhne.

Moore, a former American Ballet Theatre corps dancer who went on to become ABT’s executive director and then its CEO, wrote the book because, she says, “When I was a young performer, and I moved to New York, I felt really lost. I felt like there were all these rules and things I didn’t know. And I never wanted another young artist to feel quite so lost.

“There just didn’t seem to be a primer out there that was straightforward, for people who were starting out.”

The Artist’s Compass draws on Moore’s experience as an artist and administrator, pointing the way for performers to assess strengths and set goals, choose schools, network, self-promote, find representation and give interviews, and learn about budgeting and other financial matters, intellectual property and copyright.

Eight years after publication, technology and social media have resulted in some changes, but most of its content remains relevant, such as finding one’s personal vision, artistic mission and definition of success.

“Why do you feel like you have something special to give to the world? Why do you think others would find it compelling? I think that’s a really important thing for an artist” to consider, Moore says.

“As is trying to understand that being a star is not the point,” she continues. “To have a sustainable career, it’s about how you’re able to live this vision that you have, or make sure that you have these gifts to give.

“It’s not about your name in lights.”

Much of Moore’s advice is useful for anyone, whatever the chosen path.

“No matter who you are, you’re going to face rejection and tough times,” she points out. “We all have our doubts, we have our down days, our days when we don’t feel like we’re being treated with respect or that our contributions are valued.

“We all need to figure out how to manage through, and then get up the next day and put your foot forward and keep aimed at the right stuff.”

The arts are very much a business, Moore says— “There’s a reason they call it showbiz,” she notes— and that thesis forms the basis as well for much of Aubrey Bergauer’s career as a consultant, coach and speaker.

A former arts administrator herself—Bergauer was executive director of the Bay Area’s California Symphony for five years and audience development and online media manager of Seattle Opera—she has parlayed her knowledge and experience to work with clients throughout the U.S. and internationally. Local clients have included L.A. Opera, the Pacific Symphony and Santa Barbara Symphony.

Her book, Run It Like a Business, shares proven methods for applying principles of for-profit companies such as Apple, Netflix and Peleton to nonprofit arts organizations in order to increase audience engagement, revenue and donor base.

“As an industry, we’ve misidentified the problem and the solution as the product, the art itself,” says the San Franciscobased Bergauer, who grew up playing classical tuba and knew she wanted to be an arts administrator as a teen. “We have collectively been working on optimizing the product, at incredibly high levels, for hundreds of years —we should be really proud of the art.

“So then, what is the problem? It’s time to optimize everything else around that product— that’s where we have so much opportunity before us.”

Those opportunities include maximizing a company’s website— “the most public-facing ambassador for the brand,” Bergauer says —and using regular English rather than arts terminology, such as “aria” in opera, to explain to first-time visitors what’s going on.

“For a symphony, people want to know, is the music a romantic comedy or is it a tragedy? What’s the theme? What’s the vibe? ‘Someone conducts composer XYZ’ is not helpful to them.”

Offering discounts at the beginning of the season as an incentive to subscribe is better than last-minute flash sales. Newcomer-friendly experiences that are welcoming, dispelling the intimidation of the unfamiliar, optimize chances of retaining new patrons.

Bergauer’s efforts with L.A. Opera to retain firsttime visitors began in 2019 but were cut short by the pandemic in 2020. Nevertheless, she says, “They shared with me that already they were seeing results in the tens of thousands of dollars.”

Despite arts administrators’ concerns and media reports about the gloomy state of the performing arts since the pandemic, Bergauer says, “Growth is possible. I really think there’s a future where we ... have full houses, places abuzz with energy, all different kinds of people there.

“I believe our arts organizations can provide that,” Bergauer adds. “And hopefully, this book provides a path to help them plot that future.”