The ART Newsletter
Dear ART Readers,
It is with a heavy heart and much reluctance that we announce that the ART Newsletter will no longer be published - including what would have been the tenth anniversary edition - and the Blog will be discontinued in the near future.
While ART's readership has increased every year since its inception and now numbers over 300, our voters have not seen a significant increase in the last couple of years. Indeed, this year, despite an extension, the ballots submitted were greatly reduced and represented an unacceptably low percentage of our readers.
ART was begun to present honors based on a consensus of the theatre community, rather than the opinion of just one or two people. Unfortunately, were we to publish the Newsletter this year it would not represent a cross-section of our readers or the public. Not only was the number of ballots submitted down, but many of the voters saw shows at only a small number of venues. While it has always been the case that some voters see only a few shows, in the past these voters were outnumbered by voters who had viewed a great number of shows in the last year. For whatever reason, however, these voters were few and far between this year, and tabulation of the current votes would not be meaningful in the opinion of the ART staff. This is something we felt very strongly about from the inception of the ART Newsletter, and the integrity of the voting process is crucial.
The ART Newsletter has been a labor of love, and we are sad to see it go, but without the support of voters, it is not possible to continue. We hope someone else will pick up the mantle and spearhead a city-wide awards process. It's a great marketing tool in addition to being a wonderful way to bring all the theatre in Richmond together. We are thankful to our loyal voters and readers, and we apologize to this years voters for any inconvenience. Your input was always appreciated and insightful. We wish everyone the very best as Richmond theatre continues to thrive.
See you at theatre!
Art
ART Newsletter
Arthur Buberhill, Editor
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or send an email to ART_Newsletter@Yahoo.com.
Categories: editorials
It is with a heavy heart and much reluctance that we announce that the ART Newsletter will no longer be published - including what would have been the tenth anniversary edition - and the Blog will be discontinued in the near future.
While ART's readership has increased every year since its inception and now numbers over 300, our voters have not seen a significant increase in the last couple of years. Indeed, this year, despite an extension, the ballots submitted were greatly reduced and represented an unacceptably low percentage of our readers.
ART was begun to present honors based on a consensus of the theatre community, rather than the opinion of just one or two people. Unfortunately, were we to publish the Newsletter this year it would not represent a cross-section of our readers or the public. Not only was the number of ballots submitted down, but many of the voters saw shows at only a small number of venues. While it has always been the case that some voters see only a few shows, in the past these voters were outnumbered by voters who had viewed a great number of shows in the last year. For whatever reason, however, these voters were few and far between this year, and tabulation of the current votes would not be meaningful in the opinion of the ART staff. This is something we felt very strongly about from the inception of the ART Newsletter, and the integrity of the voting process is crucial.
The ART Newsletter has been a labor of love, and we are sad to see it go, but without the support of voters, it is not possible to continue. We hope someone else will pick up the mantle and spearhead a city-wide awards process. It's a great marketing tool in addition to being a wonderful way to bring all the theatre in Richmond together. We are thankful to our loyal voters and readers, and we apologize to this years voters for any inconvenience. Your input was always appreciated and insightful. We wish everyone the very best as Richmond theatre continues to thrive.
See you at theatre!
Art
ART Newsletter
Arthur Buberhill, Editor
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or send an email to ART_Newsletter@Yahoo.com.
Categories: editorials
posted by ART Newsletter at
1:40 PM
2 Comments:
Well Arthur, I'm also sad to hear we'll have no more ART awards, since no other such awards are present in Richmond theatre and your newsletter represented the paying and working theatre community. Still, I respect your integrity about the process and thank you heartily for your efforts to promote quality theatre in Richmond.
By
Frank Creasy, at 3/06/2008 5:44 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
Donna, at 1/08/2009 4:06 PM
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