Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Burgraff. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Michael, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
“The person who says it can’t be done should stop bothering the person doing it”, is a phrase I use and have posted in my office for decades. My siblings and I joke that if you want something accomplished just tell us it can’t be done. The definition of risk is to do something that may result in something bad or unpleasant happening. Well, how would you know that if you never took a risk?
Risk happens every day as we wake up and decide to live. Even getting out of bed can be a risk so why not enjoy life and fill it with calculated risks? Risks…I have jumped into a waterfall to grab the hand of someone not coming up, run into a burning building to see if I could get people out, stopped in shady situations to ask if someone needed help, been charged by a bear, and been last on down a climbing rope for fear the anchor wouldn’t hold and many more but never considered these risky just situations I found myself in and needed to find a solution.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My primary business is live entertainment, talk about risky! I ask people to spend money on something that is not essential to the success of their lives. Arguably, it does make life more rewarding to be involved in some way with the arts. I hire artists to perform music, dance, theater, and other events and lectures. The risk is to find quality entertainment at an affordable fee that the patrons of my community and the Board of Directors deem worthy to pay a fee to experience. What could go wrong…
I live in a small community in the northern part of the Midwest, what could stop a show? Snow, ice, flu, laryngitis, heat, nice weather, death and more. I have dealt with all of these. In my industry, most contracts read that if the talent can perform and a local situation makes it so they can’t you still need to contractually pay the group which can be 10’s of thousands of dollars, and refund patrons!
Every entertainment is a risk, so how do you mitigate risk? I once had a powerful board member drive me to consider resigning over a fundraiser. He was powerful enough that, whatever he said, the other board members would follow. I presented an Idea I thought would work well for us as a fundraiser. After the presentation, he said, “Interesting” but he didn’t like it and I should come up with something else. I asked what he had in mind, and his answer for the next three months was, “It’s not my job to come up with an idea, it’s yours.”
With nothing but frustration every week for three months I was ready to quit. It was then my wife who almost literally slapped me and said, “STOP IT, run it like it’s your own and if they don’t like it you know you have done your best and the rest is on them.” I found it to be lifetime advice which has served me well.
If I hadn’t ignored all the nay-sayers we would not be doing Youth Theatre with over 200 area students in June, an outdoor series in Minnesota in July and August, a Subscription Series open to everyone as well as a million dollars of renovations on theatre built in 1921 that our organization owners and the community is proud of and participates in.
We are a non-profit which is also a risk but one of the best opening remarks I ever heard was not for profit is a tax status not a way of life. We are a healthy performance venue in a rural, economically depressed farming community with a thriving performance venue that challenges our patrons.
I am confident enough in my risk-taking I am retiring in July at 65 and ramping up my pottery business. Life is a risk and you should accept the challenge. Nothing new is ever discovered by playing it safe!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Don’t be afraid to fail. I was a rock climber (I still think I am at times) and a saying in the community is to climb with people who are better than you. Take the risk and in those failures, you will grow and be a better climber/person.
Never think a job is above who you are. I am the Executive Director and can assign anyone to do jobs in my space but I still will help the volunteers clean after a performance or sit in a flooding basement with a sump pump and shop vac, shovel snow, or clean the restrooms. I am no better than anyone who works for us.
Everyone will have a better idea than you for a task you are assigned to do, it’s your task so take the risk and do it your way. Ignore the armchair quarterbacks.
Take the risk, believe in yourself, and if it doesn’t work be the first to admit it but also explain what you learned not to do if asked.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I went to the University of Wisconsin in Superior where I received a BFA and MA in theatre. I loved acting but also enjoyed tec work. The faculty shaped and molded my future. They didn’t just teach a subject, they constantly taught us about life. Anything can be anything was a saying that followed me for five and a half years. How do you problem-solve and not just look for one easy solution? Creative people make creative solutions: 1+1 is more than 2 when people solve situations. To my mentors I will be forever grateful: John, Stewart, Bill, Al, Jim, and Suzie you gave me a foundation. My mother, father, and siblings are all independent, creative, and hard workers, never shy away from a job. Rhoda-Gale who pushed me hard to the next level. Sian, she taught me so much including that business and pleasure do not have to be separate things.
Contact Info:
- Website: Burgraffcreative.com and Fergusarts.org
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
