When times get tough, the tough get going in new directions. In the arts world, that should include more daring programming, more planning to educate audiences, more use of new technologies and more outreach to individual donors.

That's the message that Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is taking to locales across the country as part of his Arts in Crisis project.

The project is his response to the recession's effect on the arts in America. In the past 14 months, Mr. Kaiser has visited 51 cities, offering advice on how the arts can thrive in a down economy.

Dubbed "the turnaround king" for his work with the Royal Opera House of London, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and others, he was in town last week to address 250 people at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council's annual meeting, which took place in the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, Downtown.

In an interview, Mr. Kaiser said that foundations in Pittsburgh play a larger part in arts funding than is true in most other cities. The flip side is that individual donors give less.

The problem with those proportions, he said, is that foundations are finite and cyclical. There are only so many of them, and "when the market goes south, they suffer. Overall, foundations cut their giving by 9 percent last year.

"There may also be an effect on individual giving, but collectively individuals have more money to give because there are more of them," Mr. Kaiser said. "This community has an opportunity to do a better job with individuals."

The best way to reach them, he said, is with more innovative programming.

"Too many groups have reacted to the economy by cutting programming and marketing, which is suicide. It cuts the size of your family. Or they do more 'accessible' things that are boring and less interesting to donors and audiences. What they should be doing is riskier, exciting programs, if not now then three, four or five years down the road.

"I do all my arts planning five years ahead," he said. "It gives me time to find the money and educate audiences to want to see the work."

Interesting programming is an organization's best marketing tool, he said, And by using websites, video and audio clips, arts groups can provide more information to the public at lower cost than a brochure, for example, would offer.

Beyond publicizing individual programs, though, groups should be doing institutional marketing, he said.

"We should be getting people excited about who we are and what we're trying to accomplish. Special events, major art projects, joint ventures, publishing books -- all these things build the size of our family and make people want to be a part of it. Nobody, including my own organization, is doing a good enough job of that."

A shrinking population like Pittsburgh's does not have to hurt fundraising and marketing, Mr. Kaiser said.

"I think we look at overarching demographic trends too much. There's still plenty of people we haven't reached. If donors are available in Bismark, N.D., and Meridian, Miss., they're available here."

Another issue, he said, is the makeup and training of boards.

"Boards have to turn over," said Mr. Kaiser, "and a lot don't. They have to have a life cycle. We don't do enough evaluation of ourselves. Staff has to do a better job of engaging board members so they want to fundraise."

Finally, he said, organizations should be turning major grants into challenge grants, enlisting the community's help in matching a donor's generosity with their own contributions.

The August Wilson Center, as it happened, was engaged in just such an effort last week, collecting donations online to be matched by an anonymous giver up to $250,000. It was too soon to know if the goal had been reached.

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