The Official Blog of PURE Theatre

There is much conversation of late about resetting, and in particular, resetting the economy. The stock market, the banking industry, and the housing market all readjusting, realigning, seeking a natural center, after far swing visits to prosperity and, presently, its uncomfortable opposite on the other end of the pendulum.

Arts organizations find themselves affected as much as any by weight of the mass suspend from the theoretical line, swinging between affluence and scarcity, often running to either catch up in times of plenty, or to avoid being obliterated when it changes course. It’s a familiar condition and can be applied to just about any business, in any sector, at any time. A strong argument could be made that the most crucial skill set for an executive to possess would be an ability to anticipate the swing. An intuitive ‘je ne sais quoi’ that rides the wave, taking action in the breath just before the suspension of motion. En route the other way before it all changes course.

For purveyors of art, an even greater skill would be the ability to build an arts organization that is impervious to the swing. To construct a fortress of sorts, inside which art rides the very momentum itself, reflecting both the sudden gasp of the arrest, and the thrill or terror of the change of course.

And as we continue to define PURE’s identity, now under the conditions of this great reset, it seems to me, that if our company is not a sturdy incubator housing the reflective essence of the art we create, then perhaps our aim is askew, or off the mark. We have never been a company that has known great ease, only great effort, resulting in moments of breathtaking joy in our work, and the endless hope that we are indeed better for the struggle.