The Board of Opera Australia has appointed Anson Austin as the new Director to fill the position of Mrs Margaret Fisher, who retired on 31 December 2004 after ten years on the Board. This is the Board position that is traditionally nominated by staff and artists through a committee composed of representatives from all groups of the Companys staff.

Representatives of theatres and festivals from Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia/Montenegro, Turkey and Croatia adopted Thursday a declaration of the New European Theatre Action (NETA), which is a professional theatre network. NETA will promote cultural cooperation in European countries, develop theatre and cultural space, and is open to new members.

The Piccolo Teatro of Milan, Italy, is one of the most prestigious theatre companies in the world. Founded in 1947, it offers a diversified and multidisciplinary program that includes over 650 performances a year in the Piccolo's three theatres. In addition to running an acting school, the Piccolo tours in over 40 countries.

Much Ado About Management

This paper analyses the transformation of Italian opera houses from public institutions to private foundations. This reform was imposed by legislation calling for a more managerial approach, including the introduction of private capital.

A Report on Practices and Performance in the American Nonprofit Theatre

The Southern African Theatre Initiative is a regional organisation formed by theatre practitioners who realised the need to come together and work as a unit for the development of theatre in Southern Africa. S.A.T.I. is a network that works as a central co-ordinating body for Theatre in SADC countries.

Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre is a true success story. The Walnut has found continued success at building the world's largest subscription base and generating repeat income, all while staying on message. Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard (formerly of Canada's Citadel Theatre and Atlanta's Alliance Theatre) and Managing Director Mark Sylvester have recognized the need to reward frequent ticket-buyers first and not erode earning potential by giving better benefits to occasional theatre patrons...

Over the course of three days artistic directors of theatre festivals and other important theatre administrators will gather in Prague to discuss the questions and problems of artistic direction.

In Britain, developments at the sharp end of arts management have been intensely controversial. Artists and arts workers have been highly critical of the way that management techniques have been imported into their organizations from the corporate sector, often with counterproductive consequences. Acknowledging their concerns, this paper argues that exchanges between management and the arts can usefully be developed in a two-way rather than predominantly passive or one-way fashion, with arts and other organizations drawing managerial value directly from artistic traditions and creative practices.

The purpose of this project is to create a platform for the development of contemporary dance forms in Russia and for exchange in this area between Russia and other countries. We see a need for innovation in dance education and intend to introduce new dance forms to the public, to the community and to the schooling system. Our fields of interest and activity are modern, postmodern and contemporary dance and movement forms, butho dance, contact improvisation, physical theatre, modern pantomime and performance art. There is a need to improve the conditions under which these forms can develop in Russia.

May 1-5, Bourgas, Bulgaria
International Workshop "Contemporary Dance Management", organised by DANCE.BG Association

There is no single definition or job description for the tasks performed by the person who accepts the title of Stage Manager for any theatrical production. Every theatre or production company has different ideas and expectations regarding the Stage Manager's role in the production process. Each Producer or Director may ask different things of the Stage Manager for each individual production. Therefore, the individual who accepts this position must be as flexible as the job description itself.

Commercial Producers had an early Christman present last year, courtesy of the Government. In an article in Prompt, published by the Theatrical Management Association in UK, Neil Adleman of Harbottle and Lewis explains how the grippingly titled "Financial Services and Markets Act 2000" is a vital piece legislation of which producers need to be aware.

In 2001 RAND released a report on performing arts in the U.S., Performing Arts in a New Era. The report predicted that it was going to be a difficult time for performing arts organizations for the foreseeable future. Almost a year later, Frances Phillips, in Grantmakers in the Arts Reader, examines the prediction by comparing it to recently published field reports from different performing arts disciplines: Dancing with Dollars in the Millennium, a ten-year study of trends in dance published by Dance/USA in Dance Magazine in April 2001; TheaterFacts, the annual fiscal survey published by Theater Communications Group (TCG) and Reaffirming the Tradition of the New, a report on five regional round table sessions on the future of the National Performance Network (NPN). Phillips identified eight elements in Performing Arts in a New Era and examined them in light of the findings in the other three reports. Following are the eight Performing Arts statements (in bold) and her findings in the other reports.

Contributed by Crispin Raymond, Arts Council of England


When Crispin first started to write Essential Theatre his task, or so he thought, was to update what he had advocated in Clear Sightlines, a book which was much read and valued by those involved in touring. Life is never that simple, however. In the past two years much has changed on the touring circuit and, while it is true to say that the arts never stand still, the pace of change has been phenomenal and not just because of the appearance of National Lottery funds. As a result, Crispins update has evolved into a more complex undertaking. Essential Theatre offers an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of all aspects of presenting theatre management today.

Versucht nicht jeder Theatermanager, etwas out of the box zu erreichen? Eine echte Innovation an den Markt zu bringen? Den Produzenten des Broadway-Erfolgsmusicals The Producer mit Mel Brooks ist jedenfalls ein solcher Coup gelungen. Am 27. Oktober kündigten sie an, zukünftig für jede Show ein Kontingent von fünfzig Last Minute-Karten zum stolzen Preis von $480 (in Worten: vierhundertachtzig) anzubieten. Diese Idee jedenfalls kam direkt aus der Box, der Ticketbox. Das Management erwartet - trotz der $150, die von jedem Ticket für Mayor Giulianis Twin Tower Fund abgehen - wöchentliche Mehreinnahmen in Höhe von $120,000. Hintergrund der Entscheidung, auf die sowohl mit unverhohlenem Neid als auch heftigster Ablehnung reagiert wurde, sind die sogenannten scalper, die Schwarzmarkt-Verkäufer. Solche ticket broker haben bereits (zum Teil auch illegal) The Producer-Karten für $800 verkauft. Die Entscheidung des Management ist ein erstaunlicher Schritt. Copy cats sind vorprogrammiert, sollte dieser Versuch, der darauf setzt, Marktkräfte auch beim Ticketverkauf wirken zu lassen, erfolgreich sein. Und damit wird allgemein gerechnet.

Ein Rückblick auf die Konferenz von unserer Korrespondentin Julia Glesner, Mainz