You know, Giving Tuesday is coming up. This year it’s on December 2nd. Nearly every non-profit organization appeals for donations including New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Let’s take a brief look at how these two companies aren’t giving back.
NYCB recently concluded one of its worst fall seasons ever during which it foisted mediocre contemporary choreography onto its audience while soaking attendees with higher ticket prices and fees and denying audiences its brand product: Balanchine classics. ABT did slightly better during its fall season but has planned a spring season that is a rip-off. Seventy minutes of Othello which amounts to ⅔ of a program at full-program prices; an excerpt from Raymonda Act III which is about 15 minutes even with generous pausing for applause on a bill with Firebird which is 47 minutes — a total of an hour of dancing at full-program prices; Mozartiana which is 32 minutes with Firebird which is 47 minutes, a total of 79 minutes plus some unidentified PdD, possibly the 3 minute PdD from Ashton’s Rhapsody. If ABT can’t scrape together enough programing to fill close to two hours with an intermission, they should adjust their ticket prices to account for what is missing.
If NYCB and ABT want the public to pony up on Giving Tuesday, they should think about what they are giving in return. NYCB’s blatant effort to minimize its founder’s unparalleled contributions to the art form are an artistic and marketing failure. It smacks of the numb-brained CEO demanding his company take a certain direction without understanding the product line or the consumer.
Yes, Tide. Since its introduction in 1946 Tide has continued to be P&G’s best selling brand. It is still packaged in the same color and still shelved at premium eye level in the stores. It has been cast as powdery, cast as liquid, cast with different scents, cast in different sized containers. It is still the “washday miracle” that it was 80 years ago. It is still holding up the sales for P&G, and it is still the top brand. NYCB should be more respectful of its own miraculous products from 80-some years ago.
We are in a time when NYCB and ABT plan how to give the least while charging the most. Think about that on Giving Tuesday.
Soup kitchens stretch every dollar to feed the most they possibly can for the good of humankind. Animal shelters like Bideawee extend their reach to wherever dogs and cats need them. WQXR plays the ballet music that we’re not hearing much of in the ballet venues. Giving Tuesday isn’t just about giving money. Salvation Army needs your stuff. Housing Works needs your stuff. New York Coat Drive needs your coats. Dozens of food pantries need your help.
So when that glitzy, teary appeal from NYCB or ABT lands in your inbox, think about how they give and who gives better.
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