State of Affairs Benoit in his blog Recycled Space ponders the state of affairs concerning dwindling audiences. Click on the title of this blog for the permalink to his article. I think this is a fair question: to a point. I'd ask when was the heyday? Do these statistics reflect the growing population? I might think that overall attendance is higher than say 1950 or 1930 simply because there are more venues. I keep going back to the question, "when was it great?" If we can pinpoint when theater and dance was considered successful then we can have the conversation. Benoit mentions that the art forms may go extinct. I think it would be clearer to say that they will become Museum Pieces. Trotting out old classics in Ballet has happened for 100 years; the same is true for Opera. Many art forms are stuck in time - relying on the audience's nostalgia and simple awareness. It would be safe to blame Arts Education and it's lack in our school systems, no doubt. My guess is that the overall numbers of people attending Theater in it's broadest terms has stayed even for a century. So -- I will ask some questions. Despite the amazing numbers of artists graduating from college, is it fair to think that we'll have more than ten artists in each genre with a unique and powerful voice? Why can not anyone put the dwindling numbers of audiences in the context of television's impact for the past 60 years? Why are the arts not as "camera friendly" as sporting events who made the media transition easily? I think a lot of the question is really about intent. Artists -- are they really trying for an entertainment? I think that many artists have much more to say than "sit back and enjoy this ditty", they want to engage the audience. Asking the audience to engage is asking them to work, risk themselves, be vulnerable and grow. As ever, a duanting task, the challenge is to not make it so scary. Our audiences are used to the safety of the screen - be it computer, television or cellphone.