Regroup redux

The West Seattle Blog called our attention to this blog post by Alan Harrison, executive director of West Seattle's ArtsWest, in reaction to the article about which Weisenheimer posted yesterday regarding the challenges faced by arts organizations in the city.

The post strikes me as awfully whiny and self-righteous. For example, Harrison writes that some companies are doing just fine:

Only the arts organizations whose mission is at the heart of what they do are doing well, that actually live and die by the mission because it is so compelling, because only they are the organizations with a "fan" base as opposed to a "customer" base.

Weisenheimer really hates mission statements. I don't want to see one when I go to the theater. How about an interesting show?

Once you get past the whining -- the Times didn't send a critic to ArtsWest's latest opening, alas -- Harrison raises some interesting questions. He mentions in a couple of different posts on his blog a hunch that Intiman and Seattle Rep will merge this year. An interesting notion.