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I've been posting about performance arts organizations tanking in the economic downturn since last year, but today i received an email about the first big related commercial industry closure i've gotten wind of.
Odds Costume Rentals in NYC, in business for 22 years, is closing up shop as of July 1st, 2009. They're selling off all their stock--but not as a single purchase lot, like when the BBC decided to eliminate their costume storage division and sold it in toto to Angels Costumiers. Odds is opening their doors to the public starting June 12th to sell it piece-by-piece.
This announcement of Odds closing is interesting to consider juxtaposed with the recent Portland Arts Watch article on the uncertain future of the Oregon Ballet Theatre, who are on the verge of collapse despite doing some seriously good business in ticket sales. The comments on the post are worth a read, too, covering a range of points from the usual arguments ("Why should we care about the ballet when people are starving?") to some specific criticisms from locals regarding the OBT's cultural value vs the skill of its leadership. Forewarning: you do have to sort through some trolls suggesting the ballerinas become strippers if they want to eat in this economy, though. Still, a good discussion. Portland Arts Watch also did an interesting blog post on "How to think about arts groups in trouble," which poses a list of points on which to consider such announcements of impending closures or calls for aid.
You know, every time i read one of these knock-down drag-out mudslinging discussions full of folks making vitriolic statements like, "I don't want my hard-earned money going to support the arts, nobody cares about ballet/opera/theatre, why don't those people get a real job," I always wonder if, on some level, "the arts" is just a stand-in in their minds for "gays." "I don't want my hard-earned money going to support gays, nobody cares about gays, why don't those people get a real job." I mean, rarely do you hear outraged people griping about things like, "I don't want my hard-earned money going to support the public library, nobody cares about the park-&-rec, why don't those lifeguards and librarians get real jobs." And yet, no lifeguard or librarian's salary comes from the direct revenue of a public swimming pool admission fee or the late charges from borrowed books. The level of negativity and the distancing language of "those people," it's weirdly disproportionate to the situation, that any employer would dare to announce that they're in budgetary straits, be it a ballet company or a furniture store or a vacation Bible camp.
The closing of Odds Costume Rentals is a good concrete example of the domino effect of arts cutbacks--unlike the not-for-profit arts organizations which comprised a good chunk of their customer base, they're a profit-driven corporation who catered to the arts and entertainment areas. If you have a regional theatre in your city, chances are its audiences have seen some of Odds' inventory on their stage at some point in the past 22 years.
The arts are just as tightly woven into the web of the economy as any other industry. We scale back the number and type of shows we produce to accomodate budget cuts, and the places who depend on the business we bring them fail--not just companies like Odds whose connection is clear, but other less-directly-connected businesses as well. The printer who handles all the posters and programs for the failing opera company loses a big, guaranteed recurring contract. The catering company who runs the lobby kiosks in a theatre is down all the daily assured revenue from pre-show and intermission sales. It's like an ecological system--if a blight kills a species, everything that depended on that species for food is at best a little hungrier, and at worst starves to death.
And so, to eulogize:
For those interested in shopping the going-out-of-business sale:
Odds hours: 10AM-4PM Monday to Friday
Odds is located at 231 W 29th St, 3rd floor, NYC, (212) 268-6227, and will be open weekends after June 12th.
Odds Costume Rentals in NYC, in business for 22 years, is closing up shop as of July 1st, 2009. They're selling off all their stock--but not as a single purchase lot, like when the BBC decided to eliminate their costume storage division and sold it in toto to Angels Costumiers. Odds is opening their doors to the public starting June 12th to sell it piece-by-piece.
This announcement of Odds closing is interesting to consider juxtaposed with the recent Portland Arts Watch article on the uncertain future of the Oregon Ballet Theatre, who are on the verge of collapse despite doing some seriously good business in ticket sales. The comments on the post are worth a read, too, covering a range of points from the usual arguments ("Why should we care about the ballet when people are starving?") to some specific criticisms from locals regarding the OBT's cultural value vs the skill of its leadership. Forewarning: you do have to sort through some trolls suggesting the ballerinas become strippers if they want to eat in this economy, though. Still, a good discussion. Portland Arts Watch also did an interesting blog post on "How to think about arts groups in trouble," which poses a list of points on which to consider such announcements of impending closures or calls for aid.
You know, every time i read one of these knock-down drag-out mudslinging discussions full of folks making vitriolic statements like, "I don't want my hard-earned money going to support the arts, nobody cares about ballet/opera/theatre, why don't those people get a real job," I always wonder if, on some level, "the arts" is just a stand-in in their minds for "gays." "I don't want my hard-earned money going to support gays, nobody cares about gays, why don't those people get a real job." I mean, rarely do you hear outraged people griping about things like, "I don't want my hard-earned money going to support the public library, nobody cares about the park-&-rec, why don't those lifeguards and librarians get real jobs." And yet, no lifeguard or librarian's salary comes from the direct revenue of a public swimming pool admission fee or the late charges from borrowed books. The level of negativity and the distancing language of "those people," it's weirdly disproportionate to the situation, that any employer would dare to announce that they're in budgetary straits, be it a ballet company or a furniture store or a vacation Bible camp.
The closing of Odds Costume Rentals is a good concrete example of the domino effect of arts cutbacks--unlike the not-for-profit arts organizations which comprised a good chunk of their customer base, they're a profit-driven corporation who catered to the arts and entertainment areas. If you have a regional theatre in your city, chances are its audiences have seen some of Odds' inventory on their stage at some point in the past 22 years.
The arts are just as tightly woven into the web of the economy as any other industry. We scale back the number and type of shows we produce to accomodate budget cuts, and the places who depend on the business we bring them fail--not just companies like Odds whose connection is clear, but other less-directly-connected businesses as well. The printer who handles all the posters and programs for the failing opera company loses a big, guaranteed recurring contract. The catering company who runs the lobby kiosks in a theatre is down all the daily assured revenue from pre-show and intermission sales. It's like an ecological system--if a blight kills a species, everything that depended on that species for food is at best a little hungrier, and at worst starves to death.
And so, to eulogize:
RIP, Odds. I'd say i'll miss you, but to be honest, your footwear selection sucked--i don't know how many pairs of your shoes i had to resole or patch their giant tears and holes to make it through runs of shows. So in that respect, as a crafts artisan, I'm not running out of hankies here.
Nonetheless, your hanging stock graced the stages of countless productions on hundreds of stages and screens, including our own at PlayMakers and many other theatres for which i've worked, and the costume designers of the east coast and beyond will sorely miss you. American theatre has one less closet from which to pull together the wardrobes of its characters. Let's hope your passing is a sole casualty, that the market will bear the business of your remaining competitors, and not that yours foretells more closures to come.
And, if i'm completely truthful, the next time i'm belt-sanding some unacceptably-new pair of oxfords for some supposed-to-be-homeless dude in a street scene of a Dickensian saga (ahem, like Nicholas Nickleby this fall), i'll even shed a tear for your already-artfully-broken-down shoddy-soled patchable footwear stock.
For those interested in shopping the going-out-of-business sale:
Odds hours: 10AM-4PM Monday to Friday
Odds is located at 231 W 29th St, 3rd floor, NYC, (212) 268-6227, and will be open weekends after June 12th.
