Michael Hirsch Executive DirectorIn my last blog, I talked about why I’m proposing changes to SBMT in the future. I cited several reasons for some of the changes such as the fragility of the arts ecosystem, rising costs, the importance of community connection, changing audience demographics, and SBMT currently being in a state where we are strong enough to act.

A modern performing arts company isn’t defined simply by how many shows it produces. It’s defined by the many ways it creates opportunities for people to experience, participate in, and support the performing arts. I thought I would talk a bit about what we are trying to accomplish:

Resiliance Community Pipeline Ecosystem

  • Resilience – We want SBMT to be a sustainable company for the long term. To accomplish this, we need to diversify our revenue streams, our programming, and organizational risk. By investing more in our core competencies and innovating on what it means to be a modern performing arts organization, we intend to create more ways for people to engage with SBMT.
  • Community – As a community theatre, we want to provide more opportunities for connection, participation, and belonging. Community is in a continual state of entropy and must be built every day through action and invitation.
  • Pipeline – We won’t be properly sustainable or have a community without developing the next generation of participants, artists, volunteers, donors, and audiences. We need to lay the groundwork to grow a community that values and supports human connection.
  • Ecosystem – We can’t accomplish all of this on our own. A healthy SBMT depends on a healthy performing arts ecosystem around us. That means building relationships with other organizations, sharing resources, creating opportunities for artists and volunteers, and helping strengthen the infrastructure that allows performing arts to thrive throughout the South Bay.

In my next blog, I’ll begin to break down how we intend to accomplish these goals. I hope you have your tickets for Once Upon a Mattress and Holiday Sunshine; they are going to be so delightful! And as always, feel free to write with any questions so we can answer in a future post. Thank you and see you at the theater!

— Michael Paul Hirsch, Executive Director