Advocating (AGAIN) for Art: Lindsey Giese - PT 1

Show Transcript

Announcer  0:04  

Welcome to frame of reference informed intelligent conversations about the issues and challenges facing everyone in today's world, in depth interviews with salt counties, leaders and professionals to help you expand in and form your frame of reference, brought to you by the max FM digital network. Now, here's your host, Rauel LaBreche.

Rauel LaBreche  0:27  

Welcome to another edition of frame of reference this, this is the show, folks, if you have come upon this podcast wondering what this is all about, why should you carry about care about sock County? Well, today's show is exactly why you should care about sock county because that part of our title, it says sock County and beyond. I'm telling you folks today is an AND BEYOND kind of day, because my guest today is someone that's been on the show before, she is now tied with our other leader of people that have been on the show the most times. And in the old days, when we did borings at McFarland, she just blew everyone away. So it makes sense that she is trying to regain her title, as most interviewed guests on one of my shows, but I am speaking of none other than, of course, the lovely, the talented, the wonderful. Lindsay Geesey, Executive Director of the the only Arts Board in Sauk. Prairie are really, really big name now, or there's lots of arts in our insock Berry, we have to be thankful for that. But it's river arts Incorporated. So Lindsay, thanks for being here.

Lindsey Giese  1:31  

Oh, my goodness, thank you for having me, that was really hard to not laugh through that whole intro, you

Rauel LaBreche  1:35  

can laugh as much as you at least it lets me have the illusion that I'm funny. So my family will tell you, he thinks he's funny. Now wait until he gets it. So but I'm

Lindsey Giese  1:45  

so happy to be here. I have to tell you, I'm a little nervous today compared to all of the other shows, because I know we're talking about the arts on a big scale. And you know, not all arts organizations are created equal. And so you know, what river arts Inc is, is very different than what overture is, is very different than what a self employed musician is. And I'm feeling the weight of I want to really represent this industry. Well, so I'm gonna do my best, I got some statistics for you. We'll see what happens today. You never I never know, on these shows. I knew what's going to happen. I knew

Rauel LaBreche  2:14  

I could count on you for doing an exemplary job of being having some integrity, shall we say? So it's important to me? Well, you know, and that's, that's one of the reasons we look for the guests that we look for, is we want people that have a passion for the things we're talking about, whether it's education or kids care. I mean, I think back at some of the discussions I've had in the past, you know, year with different people, and it's so nice to talk with people that are just passionate about the thing they do, whether it's horticulture, or land ethics and management. But in your case, it's one that you and I share very deep passionate about being the arts. So folks, if you listened to the show before you know that Lindsay and I have already gone through the whole My Favorite Things saying but I just can't get let you let that go by without having there be a My Favorite Things. In fact, could you sing just a little bit of Julie Andrews version of my favorite things? Do you know? Do you know enough of that? Lindsey? You are a singer? I just I did play. Roses are what I what are some of the things that I can't remember, you do know you're you're trying to get me? These are a few of my favorite things. Right? So you have to do the British accent though to a few of my favourite things. Whatever.

Lindsey Giese  3:30  

Oh my goodness, this I see. You never know where this is gonna go?

Rauel LaBreche  3:32  

Don't there's no clue. And I don't want people to have a clue. Frankly, we get better than interviews when they don't have a clue. So okay, let's start out with what's your favorite thing to do when you're nervous? Or do you find yourself doing something that's just like a nervous habit that comes out?

Lindsey Giese  3:49  

Oh, I don't maybe Hum hum. I mean, hum. Yeah.

Rauel LaBreche  3:53  

That's what's that old joke about? You know why your sound systems home? Because they don't know the words. So but

Lindsey Giese  4:00  

I probably just talk a lot when I'm nervous. I don't know if I have a good thing.

Rauel LaBreche  4:03  

I think I talk fast. When I get nervous. It says my families are slow down. Slow down rolls slow down. How long? How many a thing that really drives you nuts. Is there something that is like your favorite pet peeve?

Lindsey Giese  4:17  

Oh, I hate when people don't use their blinkers with a passion with a passion. Also associated with that is when you're at a four way stop when someone waves you through and they think they're being kind but they're ruining the whole order of the four way stop

Rauel LaBreche  4:30  

at your favorite thing to get upset about. Oh my gosh, favorite thing to get road rage.

Lindsey Giese  4:36  

Gets me but the blinker is the worst blinker safety people come on

Rauel LaBreche  4:40  

refusing to use the blinkers. So I love it when you're like behind someone and they don't use their blinker and they're stopped and you're like trying to figure out why are you just stopped there and then they turn. It's like okay, so I could have gone around you if I had known you know, whatever. Yes, that's the point of the blinker. I share your pain. Yes, the blinkers there for a reason people important

Lindsey Giese  5:01  

for safety. What if I tried to go around a car that was just going really slow for no reason and I thought they were pulling over? Yeah, it's a yes there's all kinds of

Rauel LaBreche  5:12  

that's my favorite

Lindsey Giese  5:13  

road rage. I say a lot of things under my breath in the car you know, I can't I'm not a beeper I don't know that

Rauel LaBreche  5:20  

good thing that there aren't like recordings of that though. Like there be a trial someday and they'd say, Ms. Giza, we'd like to play for you the audio recording from artificial intelligent number unit eight seats again, so which proves that you wanted to hit that person's car. Okay, is there a favorite animal that you you really like? If he was acting exercises? Were like be your favorite animal? What animal would that be? Oh, well, this

Lindsey Giese  5:45  

isn't a favorite animal. But I actually did take an acting class where I had to be an animal and I was a goose a goose. And then it was their meme. Oh my gosh, they're beautiful. But yeah, so I learned all about the personality traits of geese.

Rauel LaBreche  5:59  

So are they silly geese. I mean, it's.

Lindsey Giese  6:02  

I played a really angry goose. I really leaned into the angry honking side.

Rauel LaBreche  6:08  

I need more angry ghost. Anger.

Lindsey Giese  6:11  

But that was a fun class. Of course. I have to say my favorite animal is a dog because I have a little dog a pound Rambo

Rauel LaBreche  6:18  

guy was gonna say yeah, if you didn't mention dog somewhere along the way, I was gonna call you out on that one because I know you have one of the people that I know that has like Facebook pictures is plastered around.

Lindsey Giese  6:30  

It's I'm that annoying person? Oh, my dog

Rauel LaBreche  6:33  

all about Rambo. Well, that's how I am with Daisy. So So is there a favorite quote that you like to use? Say it kind of inspires you or that kind of a go to that you remember when? When times are great.

Lindsey Giese  6:47  

I'm not good at quoting. I'm not I can't quote movies. I'm not good at memorized quotes. Okay.

Rauel LaBreche  6:52  

You know, Yoda from Star Wars, there is no

Lindsey Giese  6:55  

try. When I go back. And I don't know, I don't have the whole quote memorized. But and you'll be familiar with this as well. But in the sock, Perry music choir room, we had this risk quote on the wall. And so I can't remember all of the it's a very long poem. But the essence of taking risks has stuck with me.

Rauel LaBreche  7:14  

Okay, taking risks. So the journey is all about taking risk sometimes is that is there a favorite author of yours? Do you as somebody you go back to regularly

Lindsey Giese  7:27  

reading, you know, not necessarily, but I do like a good mystery. So I grew up reading a lot of Dean Koontz. Yeah. So not Not, not heavy reads. But that's kind of, you know, some people like to get really dig into really heavy stuff. But when I read sometimes I just need a little escape, which is why the arts are also important, because they're an escape, they, you know, see where we're going

Rauel LaBreche  7:50  

here. You know, I will talk about that a bit, too. It's interesting to me that arts are an escape, and they're also a compelling reason for engaging, which is, I've found is always an interesting kind of, you know, push me pull you kind of deal. Here we are Dr. Doolittle. Right. And so I want to do, I want to get away from this thing. So I have this kind of escapism of Star Trek, or whatever, you know, the fantasy world. And yet one of the devices that goes on there is you escaped so that then you can bring in a real world problem that you see in a different way, because you're in that escape. That's

Lindsey Giese  8:30  

true. I mean, why do people like anything that's like a drama or something that we're like, why do you want to like go to something that is inherently like sad? Right,

Rauel LaBreche  8:41  

right. Why it's cathartic? Because yeah, you can connect

Lindsey Giese  8:43  

with it right? For sure.

Rauel LaBreche  8:44  

Well, it's a comedy too. I remember having a graduate professor that used to say all the time comedy is not funny, and I'd be like, what? Drugs are you on? A course comedy is funny. That's why we laugh. But you know that her point was always that well the reason comedy is funny is because it's not us. Right? It's a situation we can relate to. Yeah, so and there are no consequences for us in it even though we know the consequences are there so when you're laughing at someone going oh my god, yeah, cuz you relate to it. I understand what it is. But the reality is if it was really happening, which it does happen whenever you're laughing Oh, you know, although I find myself more these days as I get older, I'm like finding ways to laugh even when it is my life. I'm like, Oh my God. Yeah, there I am learning that lesson again. You know, thank you so much. Okay, is there a I'm gonna give you this one because I owe it to you after the first one. Favorite music

Lindsey Giese  9:38  

favorite like genre? Oh, music theater 100% Okay, gotcha. Yes. i Yes.

Rauel LaBreche  9:44  

I knew that one would put you in a happy

Lindsey Giese  9:45  

Oh my goodness. Yeah, like instantly smile thinking about musical theater.

Rauel LaBreche  9:50  

Yes. One has to no one guests in order to do this sort of thing. But in and let's say a new you gave you gave it a wonderful just a very poignant example I thought was So nice during your first interview, have a favorite memory from childhood. But do you have another one? I mean, I'm hoping that wasn't the only one you talked about talking about going to a drive thru and being in the backseat and having food brought to you at the drive in restaurants and how you felt like kind of, you know, I thought it was wonderful.

Lindsey Giese  10:18  

Favorite, not necessarily like arts related, but in general, yeah, just

Rauel LaBreche  10:21  

a favorite, like a memory from childhood that just kind of are something that you and your family do that whenever you think about doing that thing. And I think that people have to be reminded, or we have to remind ourselves of those like special things that are not a huge deal, but they just put you in a good place.

Lindsey Giese  10:39  

You know, it's hard to like, oh, gosh, like I'm so used to like thinking about the here and now. And a lot of this last year I spent out at the my parents house out in the country. And I've just enjoyed that thoroughly. And so it's given me time to think about my childhood and growing up. And I'd hoped times are a little bit different, but just a tad different. But I am like I would go climb trees. And I would like tease my mom about this today, like my brother and I would get on our bikes. And just, I don't know if my mom knew where we were, but like, she just trusted that we're out in the country and it's safe. And it'd be like your bike down to the bridge or bike to a friend's house. I don't want to Mom, if you're listening, I don't like you or you're a great mom. And I know you. I know you care. But it was a different time where like you could do that in the country. And so I feel like just very grateful to have grown up in that way that I could I loved playing outside. And we had farm Kitties and like I was just I remember being with us last year, I was outside all the time. And when I think about another time in my life where that was the case it was as a child growing up, it was just outside all the time. And I'm very grateful for that. And this is not to shame parents today, because I think electronics are the only way people survived COVID Especially like they needed to give electronics to their kids to they're working from home with their kid like, I totally get it. And there's a place for that. But I am just very grateful that I was able to be outside as much as I could. Well,

Rauel LaBreche  12:02  

there's actually even I think some research which is kind of, I think kind of cool that, you know, we sort of videoed ourselves out. Now lately to that there, there's a spectrum of people that are saying, I gotta get out, I gotta go do something,

Lindsey Giese  12:16  

you know, setting me found our limit. Right? Right. We

Rauel LaBreche  12:18  

found that as a point where saturation takes over, you know, and I think about how, how lucky how blessed we are to be in a community like this where, you know, the great sock State Trail had been completed just before this. Yes. You know, and it wasn't, it hasn't just stopped there. And you've been instrumental in the pieces of bark that have been installed on that. And the different exponent, are their names for the panels of information do you have are the trail lessons?

Lindsey Giese  12:45  

I call them interpretive signs, some people call them history boards.

Rauel LaBreche  12:49  

If you haven't been on the trail go on it, folks, because they're these wonderful history boards throughout that you just learn things about the community. And it's always it's just an interesting, I think viewport into yesterday. No date. In the reason things are the way they are what

Lindsey Giese  13:05  

oh, yeah, I learned a lot. And I worked with a large group of people. So it was certainly not just me doing it. But I learned a lot about soccer prairie, especially putting those signs together as they're very interesting. Yeah. I mean, there's something there forever. Yeah. And I think soon I don't think it's like up and ready to go yet. But if you go to the SOC pre chambers website, which Soc period.com, I believe they will have more information on this app, the strive on app, and they have interned working this year to put all of this content on this app, so you can ride or walk the trail and listen to what what is around you like so you can while you're walking, learn about these things without even having to stop. Sure. So it's really cool. So stay tuned and watch for that, because it'll be really nice resource. I

Rauel LaBreche  13:51  

remember them talking about Charlie luthan. And those folks were talking about that as part of the Badger our recreation area. Yeah, yep. So

Lindsey Giese  13:58  

we're finally you know, it takes a lot of time to get the content and put it all together and with the trail being as new as it is. We're finally getting ready to do that.

Rauel LaBreche  14:06  

Well, like the park just got put in in Prairie View area

Lindsey Giese  14:10  

now. Yep, they're still wrapping up a few things. But yep, a lot of a lot of amazing things happening

Rauel LaBreche  14:16  

here. Yeah. Which, that's gonna be anyone listening to this podcast, whether you're in Bonn, Germany, or wherever, you're probably thinking, I just need to go visit. That's all.

Lindsey Giese  14:25  

I hope so. Come over.

Rauel LaBreche  14:26  

Right, please. We're ready for you with open arms. Stop

Lindsey Giese  14:29  

at Macfarlanes. See Robert Roberts and come see me. I'd love to have you

Rauel LaBreche  14:33  

here. It's a full day right there. Right there. So we've got it your

Lindsey Giese  14:37  

you can ride the trail between both of our locations that you want to

Rauel LaBreche  14:40  

Yeah, no, it goes right by here to go block away. Yeah. Right to your back door. Yeah, much. So. Yep.

Lindsey Giese  14:47  

All right. We'll see you next week.

Rauel LaBreche  14:48  

All right, indeed. So okay, so here we go. We can segue now and do the big thing. So what what have you learned in looking back over this past year when we last talked, we were in the first three months or so COVID Maybe a little bit longer. It's I think it was like May of 2020. So we are still in the very, very depressed party a very,

Lindsey Giese  15:15  

I mean, is there an end in sight? We don't

Rauel LaBreche  15:17  

know, right? Now, Broadway was completely shut down. All kinds of artists were just trying to figure out how they were gonna make ends meet, because there just was no revenue anywhere. Yeah, I saw that from the technical theater aspects. Because all the concerts that we work at, with groups that I helped staff, there was nothing, there was just no work. So. And it's not like you prepare for that. I mean, no one saw this coming. I don't know in couldn't own a company. And arts, I think we're right up there with like restaurants and other kinds of businesses that were just dead in the water. So what have been the challenges the challenges, then versus the challenges now in your position as someone that's really trying to be not only a cheerleader for the arts and you know, engaging people in the arts, but also facilitating the artists in those? Yes.

Lindsey Giese  16:11  

Well, like I started with our arts organization is very different than other arts organizations. But I am connected to a presenters group, we have an email group. And so I'm, you know, constantly hearing about the struggles of different Wisconsin based arts organizations as well. I would say the biggest challenges in the very beginning, we're just figuring out, first of all, how do we keep staff. So a lot of the I am so grateful for the, I know that there's some controversy over some of the grants and the funding that we've gotten that like, not just we in the arts, but in general. But I am so grateful for that, because that allowed. It's just Christina and I were the two staff at River arts, but we could both stay on through that funding. And I know a lot of other organizations, that was the case as well, without that funding, they would have theirs, they would have lost their staff, they would have been completely shut down, instead of being able to pivot their organization. So if they could retain their staff with this extra funding, then they could still figure out how do we serve our community because they need us. And maybe we can't all gather together, but maybe we can serve our community in a different way. And probably more important than ever before for mental health purposes. And so that's where I found us really trying to figure out and the early in the well, I wouldn't even say just the beginning, I think even now today, trying to figure out how do we pivot what we had been doing, and keep serving our audience the safest way possible. So for us, what was maybe easier, it was maybe easier for us than some other organizations, because we're a very diverse arts organization. So we have live music, but we also have art classes that are that can be scaled way back. And we also have an art gallery that, you know, we're maybe having a couple people in the gallery at a time. So we're not ever dealing with large quantities of people in that space. So we were really able to lean into the parts of our organization that we could safely do. As I'm very grateful

Rauel LaBreche  18:10  

to reinvent the wheel, you just had to scale or

Lindsey Giese  18:13  

Yeah, shift shape. I mean, I would say some things were a little bit reinventing, but but in a way not. So we couldn't do the couch Arts and Crafts Fair last year. But we did an art crawl that was very spread out. And so yeah, that was a shift. And so a similar concept. But we shifted programming. And when you do something like that, it feels like you're starting over, because

Rauel LaBreche  18:33  

a lot of our concerts when def Kili in the concert that you helped do with her back in what December, and that was actually done live at the rug center with like a three camera shoot or something. Um, so it was still alive concert, which was cool, you know, and in somebody like Beth, who just will go with the flow anywhere. I

Lindsey Giese  18:53  

mean, yeah, it was great. It was great for me, because I was like the only audience members there. So I got to enjoy the live. Yeah, that was in February.

Rauel LaBreche  19:00  

Yeah, you were opening that show. I remember and seeing you like on the fly rail like she's right. Got that. But you know, I recognize that location very well. So

Lindsey Giese  19:09  

yes, we were trying to give people different looks to the theater that they don't normally get to see. But so yes, we shifted some of our live music programming to live stream opportunities. Now this summer, we've shifted our downtown indoor concerts that are more intimate like 60 people with a local musician, we have shifted those just right outside, we have this little alleyway of greenspace. And so so we're constantly adapting these programs. And we have been able to do that. So I feel very lucky not only because of the grant funding, but a lot of our members and sponsors stuck with us through the whole pandemic. And that's not the case for every arts organization. And it's definitely not the case for musicians. I did I looked up some numbers, because I told you I wanted to be ready for you. We love data. And this is from Arts, Wisconsin, which is a great resource of yours. Looking for this data on the arts specifically in Wisconsin? Yes, yes, he's the director. Well, he's the executive director of the Wisconsin Arts Board, which is also a great organization. And Kat says that arts, Wisconsin, but we all share, they all share information. And in a lot of the information that arts Wisconsin gets comes from Americans for the Arts, which is a national organization, but just looking at some different professions in the arts industry, musicians in 2019, had an unemployment rate of 1.1%. And then the third quarter of 2020, it was 27.1%, actors had an unemployment rate in 2019, of 24.7%. And that doubled to 52.3%. A year later. And then dancers and choreographers were at 10.7%, pre COVID, and third quarter 2020, were at 54.6%. So I think about those into those careers, specifically, because they're self employed. Artists, who, they don't have the option to just pivot. I mean, a lot of them did live streams and things, but they don't have the backing of an organization to help them. They're not staffed. It's just them kind of out there on their own. And so I really felt for those are that arc that part of the art sector, because they got hit really hard, and we're seeing things open up. But they're still is there an end in sight? Like it's, it's, it's slow, there are a lot, especially with the warmer weather, there are a lot more opportunities now this summer, and going into the fall, and in the fall we're seeing that Broadway's coming back. So you know, barring any setbacks, so that's great information. But But yeah, so we're not all, we're not all created equal in the arts industry. And I really feel for some of our friends who

Rauel LaBreche  21:47  

one thing is really what other industry is there that has a 54%? Did you say what for the what was the high point for actors was 50 for the actors is 52%. And then, choreographers was before, okay, yeah, for Okay, so there's two fields where I can't think of another one where there's that high of an unemployment rate movie talked about the national unemployment rate got up in the teens, and that was like, Oh, my God, you know, what, here tab, a specific job area where it's in the 50s?

Lindsey Giese  22:20  

Yeah, well, and then even in the nonprofit sector, so not all nonprofits are arts, right. There's a lot of different nonprofits. So but just breaking down that category. John Hopkins University did a study in April, this this last April, so not too long ago, it came out to that non the nonprofit arts sector, there was a four times greater job loss than any other nonprofit field. So it really was a big impact. And like I said, thankfully, things are starting to come back, I think at its peak, arts jobs were down 50 or 60%. And now we're getting closer to about 25% unemployment. And this is that's a national level. So it's coming back. It's just, we're just not, it's gonna, it's gonna take a while. And we knew that when we found out about COVID, in March 2020, that it was going to be a slow recovery, because we're like, where we talk about the arts being so diverse, and we're not, we're all different kinds of arts organization, the one thread that is the same for all of us is that we are dependent on sharing experiences together. So whether that's an arts organization like us, and we're sharing live music, or we're creating something in our art classes, or some, like people are coming to view the art that we have in our gallery, or it's the it's the actor or the musician, and they're sharing what they do, like, we're that's what it is, it's about sharing with other people. And when you can't share with other people, right? What do you what can you do, right?

Rauel LaBreche  23:49  

That's been such a foundational thing with my life in the arts, is that that dichotomy almost between the selfishness of the artist, you know, because there's, there's an inherent selfishness in the artistic process of, I do this for something inside of me that needs to be expressed in some way, right? So there's an inherent selfishness there, which we tend to think of selfishness as a bad thing. But the real beauty of it comes when that selfishness is translated into something that communicates to another person in a way that is more meaningful than most modes, if not all modes of communication, right? So it's transformational moments where you look at a Monet, and you go, Oh, my God had never saw water lilies that way before, that's incredibly beautiful. Or you look at a photograph or you look at a piece of dance, work in whatever, and you have those kind of out of body experiences almost. Right. Right. So when you take that away, yeah, we could still watch movies. We could still do live music events, or you know that we're done through a video, but the people would tell me over and over again that you know, it's so hard to play to an empty house.

Lindsey Giese  25:00  

because the connection is there's, it's not there, right? You don't have to be great art and I, I'm so grateful for the, and there's a lot there's more coming out. But like the musical movies that are like, I'm so grateful that we have that and we can share that and it'll live on indefinitely. But you need that connection, right? Whether it's with the person you're attending the arts event with or like your connection to the actors on the stage, or whatever that is. I think that is something that people really found with with, whenever you have the absence of something, you're reminded of how important it is to so this year, I'm you know, I've been trying to find the blessings over the air. I think many of us have been trying to find meaning and the positives and accentuate the positive. Yes. And that's one of them is, you know, we can be grateful and appreciate something that we maybe took for granted for before COVID

Rauel LaBreche  25:53  

easy enough to do and hopefully we've learned from it, folks. My guest today is Lindsay Geesey, the executive director of river arts Incorporated, we're going to take a brief break to hear word from our sponsors. We'll be back to talk more about the big picture of arts in Saccone and beyond beyond. Beyond don't go anywhere, you're on 29 Seven Max FM's digital network and frame of reference. He didn't need it now have no fear. The problem solvers are here rented at Macfarlanes in Sauk. City, we've got everything to help make your party a success. Tables, tents, tablecloths, treat machines, you name it, something on that funny duelist getting put off, we can help with everything from edgers to excavators, floors, trimmers, generators, lifts, it's all here under one 200,000 square foot roof at Macfarlanes. In Sauk. City, your complete rental center one block south of highway 12 at 780. Carolina's street where service is a family tradition. And we're back here on frame of reference. Talking with Elizabeth Geechee Elizabeth,

Lindsey Giese  26:57  

what is your daughter?

Rauel LaBreche  27:00  

About you're dying? I'm thinking about my daughter and why I'm Lindsay Lizzie, I mean that there is a comparison there. Lindsey Casey is here. Our executive director of rewards and CO has known me long enough to hopefully forgive me for that calf. So but she knows I'm getting old and feeble, and you know, all that good stuff. But anyways, when we're talking arts, and before we went to break, we were talking a bit about the impact that that COVI