Meet Tierra Izzo | Co-Artistic Producing Director | Artists Anonymous Theatre Company

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tierra Izzo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tierra, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
Can you imagine logging hundreds of hours of work and not being compensated? It’s no secret that funding for the arts is often minimal at best, but something many people don’t know is that many small theatre companies don’t pay artists for their work. It’s a problem many theatre artists and companies face. The reality is that funding can be extremely hard to procure; that paired with the compelling artistic drive that inspires most people to make art at any cost is a recipe for disaster. I think artists are driven to their creative expression in a profound way and can look at their projects and justify the idea that getting the work made is more important than making work that is fiscally responsible. I’m no different! I’ve done it before and I can say that it took me a long time to come around to a very simple and challenging statement given to me on my Master’s degree in London: make money, then make art. Oh, what a stab that was at the time. But, my art is important, I responded, and kept plugging away, even when I knew hardly anyone would see my work. Looking back on that I can humbly say that my approach was misguided and a little ridiculous. Would anyone develop and launch a business that had no financial plan or intent to pay employees? No! So why would a theatre company do that? Why would a theatre company have a plan to barely cover costs while not paying anyone involved? What I didn’t understand then was that I wasn’t approaching my work like it was also a business. I suppose, in my naivete, I thought I was above that; I must’ve believed that to consider money was to dampen the integrity of the art. What I know now is that to not compensate fellow artists for their work is directly damaging to our artform as a whole and has a major impact on the viability of theatre for the future.

What are we doing about it? Well, compensation for artists and financial viability is one of the cornerstones of Artists Anonymous’ work. As a two-person run company (Nick and I are husband and wife) we have a very limited budget and fully understand the challenges of making work on a shoestring. What has worked very well for us is the profit-share model. This approach allows minimal financial risk for a given theatre production and creates the opportunity for everyone involved to make more money. The way it works is that everyone on the show agrees to and is assigned a share of the profit. Once the show recuperates its budget from ticket sales and starts profiting, everyone starts getting paid. So, for example, let’s say there are ten interested parties on the project (think venue, director, producer, designers, and actors) and each party has agreed to receive one share. After the production begins profiting, each person earns 10% of the profit from the show. It is that simple!

We love profit sharing because of its huge potential for everyone to make really good money for their work. Rather than working for free or for a small stipend, artists have the chance to make money proportionate to how well the show does in the box office. This motivates the whole team to develop and promote really great shows. For us, it is the perfect combination of artistic integrity and financial viability.

Nick and I are exceptionally proud of our work in this regard and think it is extremely important that artists like us start taking an active role in sending the message that the work of artists has financial value and should be first and foremost recognized and honored by artists themselves. If we don’t think we should be paid, why should anyone else?

I want to acknowledge that Artists Anonymous didn’t invent this approach! It was shared with me by another artist who called it Red Book Theatre, but I cannot find his info no matter how much I search. Wherever you are, I thank you deeply.

Ultimately, Artists Anonymous is all about making theatre experiences for adventurous people, but we are grounded in our conviction that our work can be at the height of creative artistry and financial responsibility. No doubt, there’s an incredibly tricky balance to find in this approach because I’m not saying to make sell-out work or to be driven only by money; if Artists Anonymous was purely driven by money we would probably not be making small-scale theatre! What I am saying is that theatre artists need to make a priority of being fiscally viable in ways that give value to the collective work and output of creators, that sends the message that our work has financial as well as artistic value, and that supports artists so that they can thrive and keep making more art.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Artists Anonymous is all about making theatre for adventurous people. We are most interested in altering the way an audience relates to a piece of performance. This might mean that you’re walking around a park while seeing a show, or touring a museum, or going on a hike. You could be drinking in a brewery and you might even be asked to make decisions along the way that will impact the ending. We like the idea of inviting audiences along for an adventure in a way that doesn’t require them to sit in a darkened auditorium for 2 hours. We are different from most in that we create our own work from scratch. We rarely, if ever, pick up scripts. Instead, we either develop work with a group of artists or write it ourselves.
We are most proud of our dedication to paying artists. It has become a bit of a crusade for us. We hope to set an example that will inspire other theatres to follow suit.

We are excited for 2022 because we are having our first child and have plans for a new production. The adventure of a new baby and becoming parents is our greatest landmark of 2022, certainly! We look forward to having our little boy at rehearsals and continuing to make our new show. What’s the show? Indiana and the Sacred Codex is an Indiana Jones-inspired romp designed for breweries and bars. We play with tropes from the classic films and explore filmic styles in live performance. We are excited to create something that’s just a raucous, grand ol’ evening of fun and laughs. The underlying idea is that we make a really outrageous piece of theatre that is counterpointed by high quality design. We’ll use puppetry and clever prop/scenic design to explore film styles in a way that will surprise and delight you.

Making and producing theatre is never easy! We made it to where we are today with passion, a ridiculous amount of hours spent, a fount of love between us, and the grace of God. As a husband-and-wife team we balance each other out well in terms of our personalities, but, in the end, it takes a ton of loving support and teamwork to make our shows. When it comes to challenges, Nick is the troubleshooter. He has a wonderful ability to work his way around problems. We’ve also been blessed in so many ways and know that God has had a hand in guiding us to where we are today. Ultimately, tenacity is our main virtue as a team. When we want to make a show it often requires us to convince venues, actors, and audiences to do something they’ve never done before. Our key to success is in not giving up. We once kept after a venue prospect for 5 months to get a show on its feet!

Lessons learned? Don’t say 5 words where 3 will do. Make money, then make art. People, people, people; people and relationships are the main drive and focus of our work and we’re best not to forget it. Marketing and social media make no sense! The power of people connecting live, in the same place at the same time, can never be replaced. Always acknowledge the hard work of others. Never assume you’re the busiest person in the room.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Monday – Garden of the Gods, dinner at PigLatin Cocina Tuesday – Explore Manitou and Old Colorado City (see Michael Garman’s Magic Town) trivia at Peaks N’ Pines Brewery
Wednesday – Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, dinner and drinks at FH Beerworks
Thursday – Cliff Dwellings / Seven Falls / Cave of the Winds, dinner at Four by Brother Luck
Friday – Pioneers Museum, dinner at La Bella Vita
Saturday – Hike near Woodland park. We know a secret trail that is STUNNING and perfect for out-of-towners. Sorry, we can’t tell you where it is.
Sunday – U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, dinner and blues jam at COATI

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Nick and I owe our ambition, drive, and confidence to our parents. Both of us grew up in entrepreneurial households with parents who run small businesses. They instilled in us our strong work ethics. We, of course, also thank the Red Book Theatre approach for giving us a way to do what we love while making the money make sense. We’d like to thank Jim Jackson and Birgitta DuPree of the Millibo Art Theatre. We got started with running workshops and creation nights at their theatre. The Rosemount Museum took a chance on our first local production and that has been a really fruitful relationship! Finally we’d like to thank the artists that work with us and the audiences that come to see our shows. Without them, none of this is possible.

Website: https://www.artistsanonymousco.com/

Instagram: @artistsanonymousco

Facebook: @artistsanonymousco