Oh My--Catfight in the Theater Community

Here's a wonderful article about a little dust-up I heard about on the interwebs a few weeks ago, which has now been picked up by the MSM.  It seems the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Rocco Landesman (was there ever someone named Rocco who wasn't a worthwhile figure?) had the temerity to suggest that the principles of supply and demand apply equally to the world of theater performance as it does in other markets.  Responding to a question about declining attendance figures, Landesman offered ""There are too many theaters," he said.  "Look," he explained. "You can either increase demand or decrease supply. Demand is not going to increase. So it is time to think about decreasing supply."Adding insult to injury as the theater community took to its collective sedan chairs, was this little gem, "There are 5.7 million arts workers in this country and 2 million artists. Do we need three administrators for every artist?"  The theater world is in an uproar.

Wonderful stuff.  Putting aside for a moment the inanity of the government sponsoring theater anyway, that the man responsible for doling out federal largess  thinks this way is definitely a step in the right direction.