The arts have abandoned all risk-taking, says Kennedy Center's Michael Kaiser...

"I have been depressed lately at the lack of spark and creativity I observe from many of our arts organizations. It seems that the leadership--in many cases people like me who have been in the field for twenty years or more--has gotten tired, conservative and frightened. We have become so scared that we won't balance our budgets that we forget that taking risk is a central requisite for arts making. We do not have to succeed every time. But if we never risk, we will never create the important, surprising projects that make people sit up and take notice of our work."

--Michael Kaiser, President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC

But he found some hopeful signs when he visited a New York dance company's youth program. Read about it here.