Supply and Demand and Theatre - What Rocco Said

If you listened to the theatrical blogosphere this weekend, you probably heard that NEA chair Rocco Landesman made an interesting comment at Arena Stage's new play development conference. Mr. Landesman reportedly said the following:

“You can either increase demand or decrease supply, Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.”

Artists and administrators quickly responded including Chad Bauman - You're Mad -- What Are You Going to Do About It? (Reflections on Landesman's Speech), Barry Johnson's Arts Dispach - Dear Rocco Landesman, We don't want your Theater Death Panels, and the blog Theatre Ideas - On Rocco Landesman and Muhammad Yunus. The issue was even mentioned in the New York Times.

His comment reverberated through the blogosphere. “What does he mean there’s too much supply?!?” wrote Trisha Mead, the public relations and publications manager at Portland Center Stage in Oregon. “What does he mean we can’t increase demand?!? Who determines which theater companies are wheat and which are chaff?!?” In another post, Durango Miller, a playwright and director, said: “Why not just increase funding? Maybe the N.E.A. is outdated and should be replaced by another system for funding the arts in the United States. Or maybe the people who are running the N.E.A. should be replaced.”

In a telephone interview on Friday Mr. Landesman defended his comments. “There is a disconnect that has to be taken seriously — our research shows that attendance has been decreasing while the number of the organizations have been proliferating,” he said. “That’s a discussion nobody wants to have.” Foundations and agencies like the endowment should perhaps reconsider re-allocating their resources, he said, perhaps giving larger grants to fewer institutions. “There might be too many resident theaters — it is possible,” he said. “At least we have to talk about it.” This month a group of Republican lawmakers called for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Mr. Landesman said he was reserving judgment about that. “I think we have to see what comes out in the away of actual legislation,” he said. “I’m optimistic that the N.E.A. and the N.E.H. are going to be O.K.”

Many more words will be written about his comments and the reactions to those comments and even the reactions to the reactions. We want to know what you think? Did Rocco go to far? Is he right? Is this an issue that needs to be addressed one way or the other.

What, dear readers, do you think?