Curtains? : the future of the arts in America

Publicationhe assesses current state of arts institutions (orchestras, opera, ballet, modern dance, and theater companies and museums). According to the author, new developments in the twenty-first century, including the Internet explosion, the death of the recording industry, the near-death of subscriptions, economic instability, the introduction of movie-theater opera, the threat to serious arts criticism have together created tremendous challenges for all arts organizations. Using Michael Porter's model of industry structure to describe how industries evolve, Kaiser argues persuasively that unless steps are taken now, midsized performing arts institutions will have all but evaporated by 2035. Only the largest arts organizations will survive, with tickets priced for the very wealthy and programming limited to the most popular and lucrative productions.