Chicago's theater scene is the subject of this week's Time Out Chicago cover story, and it reminds me of how fundamental press attention and reviews are to a robust arts community.

"... arts journalists.. have less ink and column inches than ever to spare.... You have more theaters competing for less space and the ones with the biggest money get more of that space.

"The Reader's once-liberal editorial policy of reviewing every play that opened in town no matter how below the radar, is no longer something any publication can accommodate... the more plays received reviews, the more butts there were in the seats, the more plays got produced, and back again.

"But Craigslist changed all that. Because the service site is free, the classified ad sales that helped finance the Reader have dwindled and major cuts in length and number of reviews followed."

At the CEOs for Cities national meeting earlier this year, LENS Venture founder Tara Lemmey (who actually helped name Craigslist), reminded us that we must find ways to reinvigorate the things that are lost with the introduction of new technology and new media. She specifically had in mind newspapers.

The loss of arts coverage in local papers -- dailies and weeklies -- is one good reason to take Tara's advice to heart.

There are no comments for this entry.

Post a Comment

*Name:

E-mail Address:

URL:

*Comment:

Please type this word:

*required fields. your email address will not be published

Please leave the following field blank: