Women Speak on Life in Arts

Female artists work with more passion than their male counterparts, but have more difficulty raising money, panelists at a Radcliffe workshop said last night.

Five women who are prominent in the local arts scene spoke about their experiences in a workshop entitled "Women of Leadership in the Arts" at Agassiz Theater last night.

"The workshop is a panel of different women in leadership positions in the arts," said Timaree A. Bierle, who watched the workshop. "They'll present their perspectives about what it's like to be a woman in a leadership position of an arts organization."

The workshop, sponsored jointly by Radcliffe Career Services (RCS), the Office of the Arts at Harvard and Radcliffe and The TAB Newspapers, drew an audience of more than 200, according to Phyllis R. Stein '63, director of RCS.

The discussion focused mainly on differences between men and women in the arts field. One of the major differences between the sexes is in the way they work, panelists concluded.

"I've worked with women, I've worked with men," said Susan Hartnett, director of the Boston Center for the Arts. "What's the difference? Women work from passion," while men are more motivated by money.

Janice Del Sesto, the managing director of the Boston Lyric Opera, added that women are often less cautious than men.

"It seems to me that women who are arts administrators are greater risk-takers than men," Del Sesto said.

A member of the audience asked whether some women are more willing to take risks because they have the security of their husbands' incomes.

The panelists didn't refute the notion, but they didn't hold it to be universally true, either.

"I think women who did flourish sometimes did have the support [of a second income]," Hartnett said.

Others defended male artists and art administrators.

"I think there are a lot of men out there who have a lot of passion," said Liz Thompson, the president of First Night, a Boston-based annual arts festival.

Panelists said female artists face serious challenges.

"Typically, men are still the heads of corporations," Hartnett said. "They are still at the higher tiers of decision-making. It's changing, but it's real."

DeAnna Brattle, the founder of a Boston-based theater company called The Art of Black Dance and Music, said she feels the weight of gender inequality in securing money.

"I feel that women have less of a chance to secure the same deals," Brattle said. She cited in particular male-dominated forums of business such as golf courses and the all-male Boston Squash Club.

On the whole, the workshop was a success, according to Stein.

"Over 30 people came that weren't preregistered," she said.

Audience members said they were impressed by the panelists' presentations. Others noted that the audience was overwhelmingly female.

Audience member Kim T. Knight expressed some disappointment with the gender breakdown of the audience.

"It was about 90 percent female, but it was good that there were some males there," she said. "I don't think we need to separate so much."