Why is the Mission Important?

Dean Gladden
Managing Director, Alley Theatre
www.alleytheatre.org

Slender, intense, but quick to smile, Dean Gladden has always worked for non-profit arts companies. "Non-profits are different from for-profit companies in numerous ways, but alike in one important way: we all need customers. While for-profit companies typically depend completely on their customers for all their revenues, non-profits depend upon our customers (audiences) for just a portion of our revenues. But our audiences validate our mission of serving our communities and in doing so fuel and sustain our other revenue stream - contributed income from grants, donations, and underwriting. As such, we must be totally customer-centric and mission driven."

Dean grew up thinking that he would be a musician. But, while majoring in music in college, he found that he was better at managing the bands than playing in them. "I was a pretty good drummer, but somewhere along the way, I decided I liked the business side better," he admits.

As proof of the wisdom of that decision, Dean is now the Managing Director of Houston's Alley Theatre. A 62-year old Houston institution, the Tony-award winning Alley Theatre presents a wide-ranging repertoire of 11 productions each season on its two stages - the 824-seat Hubbard Stage and the 310-seat Neuhaus Stage.

According to Dean, "The Alley's mission is to serve our community by bringing artists and audiences together to experience through theatre the powerful stories that deepen our understanding of ourselves. Everything we do is based on staying true to this mission."

As he explains, "To fulfill our mission we have to give the audience both what they want to see and challenge them with productions that expand and continue the art form. Most of the time we succeed, but occasionally we fail. And it is important that we do sometimes fail, because in failing we can learn. Was our choice of production wrong? Or, did we not market it effectively, or to the right community segment? It is more important to learn from our failures than to never fail."

"Our relationship with our audiences is, and should be, educational, informational, and above all, interactive. Because our community is so diverse, we have a wide variety of outreach programs targeted to schools, singles, young professionals, aspiring playwrights and performers, as well as different cultural and ethnic groups in Houston. We reach out to them and they respond with their attendance, support, and comments."

Over the past 30 years, Dean has gained a base of experience through management positions at a variety of arts organizations. After graduating from Miami University, he went on to earn a master's degree in arts management from Drexel University. As he recalls, "It occurred to me that someone has to manage the orchestras of the world." Fresh from completing his masters program, Dean moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, to complete an internship with the Erie Philharmonic, then on to manage the Arts Council in Lima, Ohio, the Toledo Arts Commission, and running the Development Department at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland. "In those days, Cleveland was 'the big city,'" Dean remembers. "After two years, I was offered the position of associate managing director for the Cleveland Play House. After a year I took over the position of Managing Director, and stayed for 20 years."

Dean moved to the Alley in 2006. "My wife and I were very happy in Cleveland. But, we had become empty nesters, so when the Board of Directors of the Alley called, we came down to talk and immediately loved Houston and the challenge of managing one of the country's first professional theatre companies."

Dean concluded, "My job is to keep us focused on our mission and to make the artistic vision of our artistic director, Gregory Boyd, a reality. Failure happens. If you are really trying, by taking risks, moving forward, and creating new programs, successful organizations ensure that failure doesn't happen too often."