Crain's Chicago Business
by Shia Kapos
February 19, 2010
There are times when staff members at Silk Road Theatre Project might look askance at Malik Gillani, the company's executive director. Sure, he's a founder of the Chicago theater company, but he's really a businessman who loves the arts.
Mr. Gillani recently finished a certificate program at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. His focus was non-profit management.
There are times when members of the company "think I may not be as sensitive to the purely artistic perspective," he says. "But they're excited about the business background I bring."
That background helps Mr. Gillani look at innovative methods of reaching audiences.
In an effort to promote a program on diversity in Chicago called "Looks Like Chicago," there was a lot of "hand-wringing" about attracting audiences. Mr. Gillani said less effort should be put on attracting particular viewers and more on how shows are packaged for sale.
So the company repackaged shows so viewers got a chance to see works they might not have otherwise. "It was about packaging instead of hitting the diversity nail on the head," he said.
My idea is to come up with creative ways to address problems.
"My idea is to come up with creative ways to address problems," says Mr. Gillani, who founded the company with Jamil Khoury in response to the events of Sept. 11. The troupe features the works of Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean backgrounds.
Board members include Karen Atwood, president of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois, and Frank Buttitta of Deloitte Services.
So far, Mr. Gillani's business acumen seems to be working.
Silk Road is drawing new attention and next month teams with the Goodman Theatre to present "DNA Trail: Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity and Utter Confusion."
Silk Road has felt the economic pressures like every other arts program — even cutting staff and programming. But the company, which has a $500,000 annual budget, finished its year with a surplus.