Michael Kaiser, artistic head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is one of the most respected artistic administrators in America, as well as an inspiring speaker who is bullish on the arts. He will speak to SFCV on Aug. 24, and we want your questions for him.
The author of four books, most recently The Art of the Turnaround (2008), Kaiser has also served as executive director of Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and the American Ballet Theater.
During his tenure at the Kennedy Center, he has created the Kennedy Center Arts Management Institute to provide advanced training for arts administrators at varying stages of development, and has devised a series of programs to help train others in the field. Kaiser has created a Capacity Building Program for culturally specific arts organizations, which offers mentoring services to the leaders of African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and Native American arts groups from across the U.S. A similar program was instituted for arts organizations in the Midwest and for the City of New York.
He also advises performing arts organizations around the world on building institutional strength through marketing, strategic planning, and fund-raising, and, in this capacity, is currently working with arts leaders in some 60 countries. He has launched a Web site that provides resources to arts managers around the world.
In February 2009, he created “Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative,” a program to provide free arts management consulting to nonprofit performing arts organizations around the nation. Kaiser has embarked on a national tour for the Arts in Crisis initiative, hosting arts management symposia in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia through August 2010.
SFCV will be asking Michael Kaiser about Arts in Crisis and about the future of classical music — funding it, defending it, and navigating the road ahead. If you would like to contribute a question, write it in the comment section below. The editors will select a few to ask Kaiser in our interview, and we will publish the entire interview on Wednesday, Aug. 25.