artists are "employees" and "only exist because we chose to pay" them

upon entering 411 building wednesday afternoon, several skylight opera theatre board members gave encouraging nods, smiles and thumbs up to the rag-tag group of protesters standing outside the building carrying protest signs and singing scary protest songs.

but not everyone is so keen on that rag-tag group.

what follows is an email written by a former board member, sent to skylight managing director eric dillner and forwarded to the full board of directors. several sources forwarded this email to tuesdays. suffice it to say, it was not written by one of the friendly, nodding thumbs-uppers, or anyone who was in that meeting on wednesday.

why publish this? there is value in artists understanding they are looked at by some as a product, an employee, and not valued in the way they think. the email also makes some points about how the skylight's executive committee works: they're elected, we trust them to make decisions, etc. perhaps this will provide a forum to discuss this attitude, as opposed to it existing in the shadows, as rumor and innuendo.

although the attitude throughout this email certainly exists, and may not be uncommon, it would be patently unfair to paint the entire board with this same brush. publishing this email is in no way meant to reflect on the many board members, past and present, who have been and continue to be strong advocates for the artists in this equation (the nodding thumbs-uppers.)

i had initially intended to edit the email, but felt it was more fair to publish it in it's entirety, mistakes and all (i'm gonna just give it one giant "sic.") names have been eliminated and pertinent information has been altered to conceal identities.

Eric.

Please relaty this to the Board and the Executive Committee,

I know that perhaps [I am] not the most influencial [person] associated with the SKylight, but [I] have been rather invloved since [year]. It distressess me when the emplyoyees start thinking that they are the ones that should be calling the shots. The employees and of course this includes the "artists" are obviosly important, but in the long run it is the subscriber and the corporate donor who is the one the eventually determines whether or not what we are paying for is worth what we intend to spend our time watching or supporing. They seem to feel that they for some reason or other we should just support then because they exist. They provide a serivce and nothing more.

Though [I] have supported the Skylight by getting season subscritions, [I] have not given any further monetary support for the Skylight [I] basically do not approved of the "avante garde" seasons that Skylight has offered in the immediate past. Perhaps [I] do hot reflect what the Skylight is all about, [I am] personally not interested in spending [my] time in watching things like the "Water Bird Suties" or "Little Women". The Repertoirtery Review Committe has in the past (at least when I was a member) has had "VERY" little influence on the eventual season.

[I] therefore elect and entrust [my] opions to a Board and an Executive Committee to make many of the decions for [me]. [I] can't all have the time to studiy and make the decions [myself]. Therefore [I] select people who have the basic good judgement and ideals that most follow our own philophies. It so happens that we happen to agree with the majority of the currinet and past Boatds. There are individuals whom we violently disagree with, but we do agree with the majotity of the Board.

Thus [I] do agree with the current Board decisions as to the way in which the VERY necessary conclusions were reached. As a Sunday morning quarter back I would personally probably inform the various Boards and perhaps MAJOR doners of any decisons that the Executine Committee may have made, but nornally this is what we authorize an Executive Committee to do.

I also have to alert you to the fact that many if not most of the e-mails you have received are from people (basically artists)( that have a vested interest. They are after all employees and only exist with the Skylight because we chose to pay ( as subscribers) to there services ( some of whom we enjoy, others such as [Artist #1] and [Artist #2] whom we avoid if at all possible). These artists are EMPLOYEES and exist because some seem to want them. They do not deserve anything more than that. It has become very apparant to us that they seem to some how feel that they deserve to exist just because they exest, rather than that we chose to want to see them perforom We tolerate ( and barely) the [Artist #1s] and [Artist #2s] of the world ONLY because they are thrust upon us.

So the upsoht of all of this is that YES [I] APPROVE OF THE DESCIONS THAT YOU AND THE BOARD MADE and [I] give you [my] full heated 100% support.