Going for the Gold
I raise money. That is, funds that are essential to the non-profit organization where I work. I’m half of a two-person fundraising team at New Dramatists, a 68-year-old arts service organization that supports an extraordinary company of 50 playwrights each year, by providing each with a seven-year residency, completely free of charge.
I adore my job, but it most certainly wasn’t where I started out in theater. My path was a little winding, sometimes unclear, and definitely long, but worth all I learned. I started out as an actor — and strictly an actor — with little interest in any of the other opportunities that theater presents. It was the only thing I wanted to do. Right out of high school, I attended NYU, where I was placed with the Atlantic Acting School. I found myself immersed in constant, fulfilling, and very challenging work. I was training as part of a class of equally dedicated artists. By my last year in the program, I was thriving on my crazy, non-stop schedule.
And then, I graduated.
Life was, very suddenly, totally different. I went from having a million interesting projects and assignments, to a different world. I found day jobs (waiting tables, working reception, being an assistant, writing video game news for a newly launched website, even finding myself on staff at a doggy day care!). I mailed out my headshots every week, and occasionally scored an audition. But, I hated auditioning. I also didn’t get to perform as much as I hoped. When I did, I usually teamed up with friends who were producing their own work. This eventually turned into joining them on the producing side. Which I was really starting to prefer over auditioning — and yikes — even performing.
The day finally came when I admitted to myself that I didn’t want to be an actor. I wanted to try other things… more than I wanted to go on another audition. I felt a wave of relief at the thought that I’d never have to audition again. Awesome!
But, then what? Not sure that theatre was for me, I left it entirely, and spent the next five years working in the jewelry industry.
It was fun, but I wasn’t really fulfilled professionally. I didn’t miss acting, but I did miss theatre. It dawned on me, that perhaps, theatre was the right industry for me; I just had the wrong profession when I started out.
So, I assessed what I learned to date: Besides my love of theater, I liked organizing and administering. I also liked connecting with people, and being of service to them, and being a part of a creative process. I liked being busy. And I loved the artists that continued on the path that I left, and I wanted my work to support them. With all that in mind, I started to eye the back offices of a theater as a place that might be a better fit for me.
I learned that development, or fundraising positions, could often be the most difficult to fill. Raising money is commonly thought of as awkward and difficult. But it’s critical to making theater. And at its core, it’s about building relationships and finding ways, beyond being an audience member, for people from all walks of life to help make theatre happen. It would require me to be organized, it would be challenging, and it was critically important to sustaining the thing that I loved.
My next step was to build upon the experience that I’d gained so far in life, so I could pursue a viable career in development. Rather than jumping into a new career unprepared, I decided to attend graduate school to fast track what I needed to know. I’d also been out of the industry for a few years, so I thought I could stand to rekindle my connections and forge a new network, too. I decided on Brooklyn College’s Performing Arts Management MFA program because it was practical and action-packed.
In fact, internships are an essential element of the BC program, so it provided ample opportunities to work, while I was learning in class. I held three internships during graduate school: my first internship at Atlantic focused on individual giving and cultivating donors. In my next position at Brooklyn Arts Council, I helped to facilitate a grant-making process, taking a very interesting peek at “the other side.” My final internship at New Dramatists focused on institutional giving, special events, and grant writing. What amounted to a “grand tour” of the field of development served me well in my next role: full-time employment. Before I graduated, as a small company’s first, sole development officer.
Fast forward just a few years later and I’m blissfully working again at New Dramatists (yes, I loved it so much I came back!). I stared five years ago as the Associate Director of Development and now I’m leading the organizations’ fundraising efforts at the Development Director. While my work is in all aspects of development, my affinities are for institutional fundraising, grant writing, donor research, helping to organize special events, and connecting the theatre-lovers that I meet with our resident playwrights and their work. Much of what I loved about my early days as an actor — the fast pace, the activity, the creativity, and the people — are present in my job every day. I appreciate the twists and turns that led me to this point in my life, as it taught me how to be flexible and adaptable — a very important lesson for working in the arts! In fact, as one of my grad school professors pointed out, a long and winding career path is a common feature among arts managers! It didn’t feel like it at many points along the way, but my experiences, both random and planned, laid a foundation that made it possible for me to be a development professional and work in theatre today.
