Theater management
Theater management encompasses the management, control and organization of a theater operation and can be transferred to any theater operation, as well as to theater festivals , production houses and independent groups.
Theater management is the umbrella term for approaches and instruments for managing a theater business and implementing its mandate:
- To show ideas
- reach an audience
- artistic personalities, styles and ultimately
- to further develop the theater as an institution.
A distinction is made between a personalized ( directorship ), team-oriented ( directorate ) and collective management approach.
To the subject
Theater management goes back to the American study by James Baumol and James Bowen (1966) Performing Arts: The economic Dilemma , in which the American theaters were examined with regard to their economic performance. 50 years later, this study - published in the publication Theater, Crisis and Reform - has been reproduced in a modified form for the German public theater system.
Up until now, theater management was understood as an administrative and legal system under the interpretive sovereignty of an artistic director. A holistic systemic theater management (STM) is increasingly emerging, which incorporates artistic and management aspects and instruments on an equal footing, and refrains from a purely economic consideration of the theater's performance and results. The STM takes into account the general conditions, the change in social values and the theater as an institution with a specific organizational culture . It is designed as sustainable and balancing management : geared towards the preservation and development of resources and the entire institution .
Instruments and approaches of theater management
The main instruments include business and human resources functions, legal, organizational, planning, conceptual and communication tools.
We essentially differentiate between an artistic and a business approach. So far, administrations have been set up to implement simple management tasks, which exercise legal, operational and personnel management functions. Today both artistic and business management instruments and goals flow into the management of the theater. These include B. the artistic quality of the productions, the box office quota, the viewers reached per monetary unit as well as the combined performance index, which combines several quantitative and qualitative indicators. As a result, the approach of the old school theater management, which has been closely followed up to now, which understands management as an administrative system under the interpretative sovereignty of the artistic director, is greatly changed and opened up.
Against the background of the societal changes taking place (call for participation and diversity) and the new requirements for the management of a theater ( compliance , organizational and personnel development ), the previous functions are no longer sufficient.
Systemic theater management
Systemic theater management understands the management and organization of a theater business taking into account:
- the equality of artistic and economic goals,
- the framework conditions (politics, economy, society),
- the change in social values and
- of the theater as an institution with a specific organizational culture
- in a system of other theaters and independent groups and ensembles.
While in the past the focus was on the use of the stages and the development of the audience, the theater makers are now pursuing four goals with their work: stability (balance), sustainability and future viability of the theater business, and artistic excellence. Over the past few years, the initially focused on artistic excellence has increasingly turned towards the sustainability and stability of the theater as an institution. Theater programs are designed according to their artistic, economic and institutional use. The management of environmental relationships is added to the classic management tasks. This synchronizes the theater with the framework conditions.
The functional areas of theater management
Organization of the theater and management based on division of labor
The task of modern theater managers is to assign the various functions and work areas to one another and thus to create a basic organization ( organizational chart ) as a prerequisite for theater operations. The management assigns tasks to the various departments and regularly checks whether the organization is running optimally against the background of the tasks and the resources available or whether it needs to be modified. Overview 1 shows the 16 management areas in the theater, whereby individual areas can also be summarized. In the following, the most important areas are presented individually.
| function | working area |
| Theater management | Ctrl. | Management and control of theater operations |
| Human resource management | Human resource management and development |
| Business administration | Economic and financial planning, accounting, accounting, auditing, controlling and auditing |
| Contract management | Legal department or legal department, contracts |
| program | Development and conception, planning, projects |
| Quality management | Quality of the program, the productions, the repertoire |
| Operations management | Planning and disposition of the rehearsals and performances |
| Production Manager | Management of the individual productions, complete process |
| Technical management | Management of all technical processes, technical disposition |
| Guest performance management | Management of cooperations and guest performances |
| Education | Theater education management |
| Audience Development | Visitor support and development |
| public relations | Public Relations and Marketing |
| Sales management | Prices, sales channels, ticketing, cash registers, visitor management |
| Lobbying | Management of contacts with politics, lobbying concepts |
| Sponsorship | Management of contacts with friends and entrepreneurs |
Overview 1: Functions and work areas in the theater
Theater management and control
Theater management in the narrower sense is theater management. Today theaters are usually run by an artistic director as the central and so far often sole manager. He is responsible for both artistic and administrative tasks. It is becoming apparent, however, that the management of a large and complex theater operation will no longer be handled solely by one person, even against the background of the wealth of tasks (overview 1), which is why new forms of management are emerging. This includes the dual leadership with a managing director, or the board of directors with a number of several directors with equal rights (artistic and administrative management, division heads, operations and technical directors) without artistic directors. Some theaters, for example in Essen, Mannheim and Lübeck, and also the Theaterhaus Jena are already practicing these modern forms of management very successfully. The theaters mentioned are characterized by high audiences, an optimized use of resources and artistic excellence.
Production management
The management of the productions is usually the responsibility of the theater management, the departmental director or a production manager. He is also responsible for the smooth running of the production cycle of the respective piece.
Human resource management
The directors of the theaters engage the employees and artists of the ensembles in the fields ( opera , drama , dance / ballet ). These are contractually bound to the respective house for a certain period of usually two or more seasons (years). There are also technology and administration. Personnel management also includes personnel development tasks in two respects: to better view and hire ( recruiting ) artists, as well as to develop career opportunities for employees and to promote colleagues with children.
Schedule
Most theaters create and present a repertory on the season away many new productions and pieces in a Schedule are summarized. The creation of such a program is one of the main tasks in theater management and is the responsibility of the dramaturgy department .
Planning and disposition
Theater management ensures the planning and implementation of performances, new productions and other work, and organizes the use of resources. This includes the creation, monitoring and safeguarding of economic, personnel and duty plans with the best possible artistic results and optimal allocation of resources.
Financial management
In the context of the increasing financial shortage of the municipalities and federal states and the associated cuts in grants, the careful management of financial grants ( subsidies ) in the theaters has increasingly come to the fore. Applied to the theaters, many positions and branches have been preserved in the theaters in recent years.
Market observation and cooperation
Theater management takes place in a social space in which the favor of the audience is highly competitive. In addition to the public theaters, there are also free and private theaters that also offer drama, dance or musical theater. However, if you look at the cultural expenditures of a federal state, the public theaters are much better off financially: They receive well over 50% of the total expenditures. For independent project work, which primarily includes independent theater ensembles and projects, the federal states and municipalities only provide between 5 and 15% of their cultural expenditure.
Stake-holder management
Almost every theater director today is confronted with a variety of problems. These include the falling subsidy rate, the theaters' high susceptibility to crises and fragility, and the insufficient political support for theaters. In the last twenty years alone, 14 theaters in Germany have been closed or merged, so that the number of public theaters in 2016 was only 140. Above all, the efforts of the public authorities to cut back and the increasingly common fact that the wage increases are not offset by subsidy increases have put around 40 theaters, especially in the new federal states, in acute danger of crisis in the last ten years. In addition, theaters have been losing audience and popularity in the cities for years, especially among young people. Associated with this is a decline in the legitimation of theaters among the population.
Networking with politics is therefore one of the most important tasks of modern theater management today. As a rule, cultural policy is less important than other policy fields in Germany. The pressure to legitimize continues to rise. It is therefore important that the management continuously monitors the political environment and lobbying work based on it in order to improve the standing of its own institution.
Participation and equal opportunities in the theater
Discussions (initiated by the ensemble-netzwerk initiative, among others) about democratic processes and the right of the employees to have a say in the theaters, is intended to improve the situation of the artistic employees in the theaters and strengthen their say. At the same time there will be a discussion about the role of the artistic director and the artistic director model.
Types of organization of theaters
For the work of a theater and its management, its organization, legal form and supporting structure are decisive working conditions. The sponsorship is determined by the articles of association and the associated statutes. This defines and regulates the relationship between the provider (federal / state / local authority) and the theater institution. These are the most important regulations for individual theater management at the respective theater. From this it can also be deduced what organizational and financial leeway the respective theater management has.
The organization is based on the legal form of the theater. They regulate the supervisory, performance, liability and operational obligations. A distinction can be made between the following important legal forms of organization: Regiebetrieb , Eigenbetrieb , gGmbH , Zweckverband , Stiftung , Establishment under public law , gAG, Holding , GbR and an association . Over the past few years there has been a change in the legal form of theaters in Germany. In the mid-1990s, around 50% of all theaters were organized as directors, today most of the theaters are run as limited companies or as own companies. In many cases, this also enables important changes in the structures of theater operations and ensures that the institution is preserved in the long term. Unfortunately, the resulting reform opportunities are still not being taken seriously. In summary, it can be said that there is no one, best legal form for theater, but after intensive work, the advantages and disadvantages for your own theater can be precisely determined.
Crises and Crisis Management
Many crises in theaters are triggered by financial undesirable developments caused by oneself or others, e. B. Withdrawal of support from politics and financial security, rising personnel costs or the separation of artistic and administrative departments, which leads to friction losses.
Crises develop gradually at first and then very suddenly and quickly, e.g. B. because the supervisory bodies or theater managers lack a trained eye for the details and peculiarities of a company and for the smaller misalignments and imbalances, which are mostly signs of possible crises.
education
The University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt am Main is currently the only university in Germany that offers the master's program in Theater and Orchestra Management, an independent course of study for targeted preparation for management tasks and the management of theaters, ensembles, groups and productions. The course, directed by Thomas Schmidt and Norbert Abels , trains 8 to 10 new students every year in the courses theater management, theater and copyright law, orchestra and music management, business and management studies, production management and management, education, program planning and scheduling, cultural policy and aesthetics, combined with two specialist internships and a close connection to the theaters in Hessen.
The course is networked with the Hessian Theater Academy (HTA) headed by Prof. Heiner Goebbels , a training academy that also works on project-related issues with ten theaters and four universities. In addition, the course is currently building close cooperation with the DasArts Institute in Amsterdam and the Tisch School at New York University on the international professional profile of creative producers , for which a conference of the participating institutes took place in Amsterdam in April 2016.
See also
literature
- Baumol, William / Bowen, William (1966): Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma. NY
- ensemble network, newsletters 1, 2 and 3 (2015-2016)
- Fonds Darstellende Künste (2010): Report Performing Arts
- Föhl, Patrick (2011): Cooperations and mergers of public theaters. Wiesbaden
- Goebbels, Heiner (2011): Research or Craft? Nine theses on the future of training in the performing arts, in: Heart of the City, Theater der Zeit, Arbeitsbuch
- Hausmann, Andrea (2005): Theater Marketing: Basics, Methods and Practical Examples
- Henze, Raphaela (2014): Culture and Management. An approximation. Wiesbaden
- Klein, Armin (2007): The excellent cultural establishment. Wiesbaden
- Klein, Armin (2009): Cultural Policy. An introduction. Wiesbaden
- Lehmann, Hans-Thies (2009), Postdramatic Theater
- Nowicki, Mathias (2000): Theater Management - A Service-Based Approach
- Röper, Henning (2001): Theater Management Handbook. Operations management, finances, legitimation and alternative models. Vienna / Weimar
- Rühle, (2008, 2016): Theater in Deutschland, 1887-1933; 1933 - 1966, 2 vols.
- Scheytt, Oliver (2008), Kulturstaat Deutschland. Plea for an activating cultural policy
- Schmidt, Thomas (2011): Theater in transition: From crisis management to future viability, in: Yearbook Cultural Management 2011
- Schmidt, Thomas (2012): Theater Management: An Introduction. Wiesbaden
- Schmidt, Thomas, ed. (2012): Research in a Theaterland, Frankfurt
- Schmidt, Thomas (2013): In Search of the Future Structure, For a Transformation of the German Theater System, in: Schneider, Wolfgang: Theater Developing and Planning, Bielefeld
- Schmidt, Thomas (2016): Theater, Crisis and Reform - A Critique of the German Theater System, Wiesbaden
- Schmidt, Thomas (2017): Theatermanagement, in: Scheytt, Oliver, Kompendium Kulturmanagement
- Schneider Wolfgang (2013): Theater Developing and Planning, Bielefeld
- Schneidewind, Petra (2006): Business administration for cultural management. A manual
- Schneidewind, Petra (2013): Controlling in cultural management: An introduction. Wiesb.
- Stegemann, B. (2015), Critique of the Theater; Hensel (2002), schedule (revised edition)
- Steinmann / Schreyögg (1997): Management: Basics of corporate management
- Throsby, David (2001): Economics and Cultural Policy, Cambridge / New York
- Throsby, David (2011): Economics and Culture, Cambridge
- Vorwerk, Christopher (2012): Quality in the theater. Requirements systems in public German theater and their management. Wiesbaden
- Weber, Max, (1904): The Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism, Stuttgart
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schmidt, T. (2016) Theater, Crisis and Reform; Glossary, p. 450
- ↑ Baumol / Bowen (1966), Performing Arts - An economic Dilemma
- ↑ Schmidt, T. (2016), Theater, Kris und Reform, p. 10 ff
- ↑ Nowicki, Mathias (2000), Theater Management - A Service-Based Approach
- ↑ Schmidt, Thomas (2017), Theatermanagement, in: Scheytt, Oliver: Kompendium für Kulturmanagement
- ^ Röper, H., Theatermanagement, 2003
- ^ Schneidewind, Petra (2006), Business Administration for Culture Management
- ↑ Schmidt, Thomas (2016), Theater, Kris und Reform, pp. 69 ff.
- ↑ Schmidt, T. (2011), Theater im Wandel: From crisis management to future viability, in: Yearbook Culture Management
- ↑ Rühle, (2008, 2016), Theater in Deutschland, 1887-1933; 1933-1966, 2 vols.
- ^ Röper (2003) Theater Management; Föhl, Patrick (2010), Mergers and Cooperations in Theater Business
- ^ Röper, Theatermanagement, 2003; Schmidt, Thomas, Theater Management - An Introduction, 2016
- ↑ Deutscher Bühnenverein, Theater Statistics, 1990 - 2016, Cologne
- ↑ Hausmann, Andrea / Murzik, Laura (2012), Success Factor Employees: Effective Personnel Management for Cultural Enterprises
- ↑ Stegemann, Bernd (2015), Critique of the Theater; Hans-Thies Lehmann (2009), post-dramatic theater
- ↑ Schneidewind, P. (2013), Controlling; Schmidt (2012), theater management
- ^ Schneidewind, P. (2006), Business Administration for Culture Management
- ↑ Cultural finance report 2014, State budgets Thuringia 2015, Saxony a. a.
- ^ Schmidt, (2016) Theater, Crisis and Reform, Wiesbaden; the evaluated figures are based on the theater statistics of the Deutsches Bühnenverein, Cologne (2000 - 2015).
- ↑ Klein, Kulturpolitik (2009)
- ↑ ensemble-netzwerk, Newsletter 1, 2 and 3, Osnabrück, 2015 - 2016
- ↑ Röper (2003), Theatermanagement, Schmidt (2012); Nowicki, M. (2000)
- ↑ Röper (2003), Theatermanagement, pp. 40 ff
- ^ T. Schmidt: From crisis management to sustainability. ibid .; Schmidt, T Theatermanagement, in: Scheytt, Kulturmanagement, p. 12
- ↑ http://www.hessische-theaterakademie.de/ ; Goebbels, Heiner (2011): Research or Craft? Nine theses on the future of training in the performing arts, in: Heart of the City, Theater der Zeit, Arbeitsbuch. (on January 22, 2017 not found at the linked location)
- ↑ Master's degree in theater and orchestra management. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 6, 2017 ; accessed on January 2, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
