Give me your children!

[Cephas]

I'll get to the reason for the thread title in a bit...

Okay, I recently had an experience that was very frustrating on many levels. As many of you know, I am in performance (both as an actor and as a musician), and I live in Québec, otherwise known as 'la belle province'. Well, I'm very angry right now. I work at a company where I have a reasonably big profile (meaning just about everyone knows who I am. Whether or not that is a good thing I will leave up to you to decide), and I told people that I would be in performance this past weekend in Montreal, with details about my show, stressing the fact that it is a non-profit company that I perform for (we raise money for the Montreal Children's Hospital, and have for 66 years).

Several people (lying bastards) expressed interest in coming to the show this year (an encouraging thing, especially since it was my biggest role yet, and the biggest one there is at all in any of the G&S operettas) but NOT ONE showed up. "I'll try to come on Sunday!" ... "Yeah, it was a choice between the show and groceries, sorry.", etc.

I don't get it. I'm offering people a chance to support the community and a charitable organization, I'm not making any money here, and I'm giving them a chance to enjoy themselves while they're at it. I have never met someone who didn't enjoy a performance put on by my operatic society. Why the apathy?

I started to think about the cultural apathy. It doesn't only apply to this, but to anything relating to theater, the arts, music, etc. People will flock to a movie theater, but not to an auditorium. Why?!?

At first, I thought it was TV that killed us, but to my shock, TV is prevelant in other places where the arts are supported. Then a co-worker insinuated that if we could get beer and tobacco outlawed and only program Barney to run all day every day on TV, people might come out. I went in for that for a bit, but realized that I didn't have the influence to make it happen. I needed another solution.

Here we come to the crux of it. Give me your children, your offspring, your progeny! In most of the US, schools have bands and music programs. In Ontario, and probably the rest of Canada, music and the arts are still somewhat important in school. In Quebec, you have to look long and hard just to find a school where a two-fingered wombat will honk on a kazoo once in all of your schooling career. (I loved that wombat for his dedication!)

If I can control what the young receive, then I can control where society will go in the future! Now... How do I make a curriculum and force it down the throats of the children of the province??

(one other note, if you post and haven't read the whole thing, I will neg rep you for your ignorance, I can't stand it when someone doesn't even read the first post of a thread and posts some ignorant remark about the title...)

[Hellblazer]

Hm, I can't blame you. When I try to arrange something and people don't show up, it agrivates me.
I think it's a great idea to extend the band and orchestra and chorus classes to Canada.

[Devlin777]

Two words my friend, pre-sale. If they buy the tickets from you, you'll know what to expect. Then even if they don't show, they've contributed financially to a great cause.

Culture can't be forced down the throats of the masses when they've been "programmed" to expect instant gratification and to not have to think. People, on the whole, would much rather be sheep and do what everyone else is doing rather than be singled out. They have learned to be led.

Sadly, it's a long and arduous process to reignite the flame of culture in today's society. Even beyond that, most people aren't interested in the cause, they want something out of everything for their own selves.

I'm very sorry for the poor turnout of supporters.

[Jeffery]

having read your entire rant, i am now feeling sorry for the kids in your area. Exposure to music and the arts as a youth has been proven to have a posative effect on the person as an adult.

As for the specifics, I agree with the pre-Sales idea. Simply sell them ticket, then they will be forced to go, lest they lose the value of the money they spent on the ticket.

I, luckily, live in a very arts prone city. Actually, the city just dropped another $400,000 to buy a building and convert it into a Community performance center. We also have the University, with it's 5 theatres, as well as a local production theatre nearby.
There are plays available year round, usually several to choose from per weak. Around here it is hard to NOT be influenced by music growing up.

[Megabyte]

i havn't read the whole thread yet..mostly the title..here's a link to help yah along...http://www.black-market-babies.com/

We can always use more business there.

now...to finish reading the thread...(and hope that link isn't too off from the discussion)

edit:
I understand Ceph!! I'm a jazz musician...and if I might cringe at the term "operatic" its more from a professional preference than an apathy (ongoing debates between classical/operatic artists and jazz ones over which is better...its a musician thing).

Anyways, I see that sort of thing all the time. I've done a few community showings, and I'm amazed at how poor the response from people is at times.