A Pretty Accurate Transcription of the Video:

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"My name is Matthew B. Cullen and I have a lot of questions. 

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Now first, let me say I’m not a dramatic writer, nor do I want to be. I am a director, producer, and administrator who’s been bring writers whose work I’ve been developing to this space. 

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When I’m not developing work or working in admin, I am either 
1.) looking for work (like I am right now)
2.) eating blueberries coz god there great
3.) I am interrogating the processes in which we make theatre

 

So what I propose are prose of questions, curiosities and deep concerns that have been making a home in my head about this industry, its integrity, and its intentions. 

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We begin
Why does it feel like this industry is always building the plane while it’s flying mid air?
Why don’t we fund artists and practitioners to examine their process and expand?
Lack of money is not a new problem in this industry. Has it always been a problem or when did it begin?

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Federal Funding
Why aren’t more people talking about Hallie Flanagan, the Federal Theatre Project, and the country wide benefits of that program in response to the Great Depression?
How come the arts have been abandoned by federal funding?
What is the knitty gritty of the funding models in Germany? In Argentina? In South Africa? 
What can we learn from those models?
What can be applied to our funding models here in the United States? 
What will it take to make that change?
What happens if theatres across the country unite to petition and protest the government for more federal funding? 

 

Money
If a budget is a moral document, who’s morals are being accounted for when it’s being created? 
Why are artistic and executive directors of non-profits making upwards of half a million dollars or more a year while others in that same institution have to fight for above minimum wage
Why are theater companies accepting money from oil companies destroying the earth?

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New Work
How can we better support writers and directors and generative theatre artists as the endeavor to create? 
What if we thought about developing new theatre in a similar framework as developing new technology? 

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Non-profit 
Does the non-profit system truly work and support theatre making?
How did so many non-profits end up crutching to commercial money to support the institutions operating expenses?
Why is it that our connotation of “non-profit” means that the organization is understaffed, underpaid, and underfunded? 
Is the singular leadership model really working for non-profit theatre? 
Why aren’t more people talking about the new collective leadership at HERE Arts Center right here in NYC, led mostly by artists of the global majority?

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Marketing
How can we re-invigorate potential audiences interest in coming to the theatre? (Because let’s be clear: post-pandemic, people ARE spending money. Just not at the theatre). 
How can we make going to the theatre an experience again? 
Theatre is about co-creation of moments between an audience and those on/off stage making each moment happen. Why did the American theatre silence the audience in the 20th century?

When are institutions and the commercial world going to recognize so many previously successful marketing strategies are stale? 
What might happen if an organization had an appropriately staffed marketing team with the freedom to break the model?

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Model Breaking
Why aren’t we encouraging more model breaking???
Again, why is there not space or funds to support practitioners who want to examine and break the model? 
What happened to slowly down and finely re-examining the models in which we work? 
Why is it black and brown individuals are being thrust into “fix” institutions without being given a foundation to even begin the work?
If institutions are a living thing, doesn’t that mean they should eventually pass on? 
And let me break from my questions for a moment just to say that a person or institution dying is not inherently bad. Absolutely, there is inevitable harm and empty space with a loss. But loss also means re-distribution. Re-investments. Making space for something new to grow from its well soiled ground.