Remembering Edward Kennedy (1932-2009)
August 27, 2009
The following is a statement from Robert Lynch, the President and CEO of Americans for the Arts, on Senator Kennedy’s dedication to the arts (originally posted on ARTSblog):
Senator Edward M. Kennedy was a titan for the arts, and I know the national arts community joins me in mourning his passing.
Ever since The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was opened as a living memorial to the late president, Senator Kennedy has carried forth the arts and humanities legacy that his brother began. He powerfully advocated the need to nurture creativity and to broaden access to artistic excellence in the U.S. Senate, and his leadership extended to co-founding and co-chairing the Senate Arts Caucus.
Throughout his work, he carried strong messages of freedom of expression, tolerance, and creative rights. He spoke staunchly of the central role of the federal government in supporting American cultural life, inspiring bipartisan cooperation among his colleagues. Senator Kennedy was the recipient of our own 1999 Congressional Arts Leadership Award, and in 2004, introduced his friend Doris Kearns Goodwin as our Nancy Hanks Lecturer on Arts and Public Policy at The Kennedy Center.
Each year for Arts Advocacy Day, he welcomed a small group of our advocates to his hideaway office on Capitol Hill and hosted a lunch that brought us together with Congressional leaders. One year he even met up with us on the steps of Capitol Hill, enthusiastically joining in as Peter Yarrow led a rousing sing-a-long on behalf of the arts.
I’ve had the personal pleasure of working with Senator Kennedy on federal arts issues on a number of occasions, and as a native of Massachusetts and longtime admirer, let me say how deeply his warmth, humor, empathy, and fierce passion will be missed by me, as well as the board and staff of Americans for the Arts. We are all diminished by his loss.
-Robert Lynch
ArtsUSA: United We Serve
August 26, 2009
Americans for the Arts (AFTA) is calling on all artists, activists, arts organizations, and volunteers to share their stories of service so others will be inspired to get involved. ArtsUSA, a new web portal launched by AFTA and inspired by President Obama’s United We Serve initiative, is a place for volunteers in the arts to share stories and upload photos and videos related to their volunteer experiences. By demonstrating the impact of arts volunteerism, AFTA aims to encourage arts volunteerism support and inspire individuals to become active arts participants. In addition, the interactive site serves as a resource for finding volunteer opportunities by linking to All for Good and invites organizations to partner with AFTA. Plus, everyone can (and should!) sign the petition to support President Obama’s proposed Artist Corps, which will place trained artists in low-income communities and schools.
Finally, this Thursday at 3 PM, AFTA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) will host a conference call with representatives from CNCS, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Americans for the Arts. You can RSVP and find more information about the conference call here.
DanceNOW: Find Your Artistic Crush
August 21, 2009
Dance offerings might seem scarce during the last few weeks of August, but with September comes the fabulous DanceNOW [NYC] Festival. Celebrating its 15th anniversary season, the 2009 festival will honor its past, present, and future with an expanded season of performances at three different venues. 75 choreographers will perform in 12 different showcases at 3 destinations. The full lineup of artists is listed on DanceNOW’s website.
Destination I: Dance Theater Workshop
September 8–12, 2009 (Tuesday through Saturday), All Performances at 7:30pm
Tickets are $20 in advance/$25 at the door, and are available at DTW’s Box Office (212.924.0077) or online.
Dance Theater Workshop is located at 219 West 19th Street (between 7th & 8th Avenues) in NYC. Subway: 1 train to 18th Street; A, C, E, L trains to 14th Street / 8th Avenue.
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Destination II: DUO Theater
September 26, 2009 (Saturday)
Fab Festival & Block Party: 1:00-5:00pm – Free
DanceNOW@DUO Theater: 4:00pm, 5:00pm and 6:00pm – Free
Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis beginning 30 minutes prior to each performance.
DUO Theater is located at 62 East Fourth Street (between 2nd Avenue and The Bowery) in NYC. Subway: D, F, V trains to Broadway-Lafayette; F, V trains to 2nd Avenue.
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Destination III: Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater
Thursday, October 22 at 7:30pm, Friday, October 23 at 8:00pm, and Saturday, October 24 at 9:30pm
Tickets are $20 in advance/$25 at the door, and can be purchased by calling 212.967.7555, online, and in person at The Public Theater Box Office from 1pm to 6pm and at Joe’s Pub from 6pm to 10pm.
Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place) in NYC. Subway: 6 train to Astor Place; R, W train to 8th Street.
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DanceNOW [NYC] is produced by Directors Robin Staff, Sydney Skybetter, and Tamara Greenfield.
Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins (SNIC) will perform at DanceNOW at DTW on September 8, 2009, photo by Matthew Karas
Life and Art Aboard the Waterpod
August 18, 2009
The Waterpod, photo by Michael Nagle
Over the weekend, I joined a quartet of chickens, a garden full of greens, and several artists and crewmembers aboard the Waterpod, a floating, nomadic, self-sufficient barge for living, working, and creating art. For the past few weeks, the Waterpod has been docked at Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, allowing the public to explore the sustainable structure at certain hours before moving to the next location (it will be towed to Staten Island today). Two artists, Mary Mattingly and Alison Ward, have been living on the Waterpod since June, along with a rotating crew of volunteers. Although the goal is both to work and make art aboard the Waterpod, it seems like the majority of time is spent working: tending to the chickens, working in the garden, cooking meals (which consist of eggs, greens, and rice grown from an on-board rice paddy), harvesting water, and composting waste. Still, the Pod’s largest space, which is framed by a dome that resembles a smaller, non-commercial version of Epcot and includes seating made out of black styrofoam, is a venue for arts events. Saturday afternoon’s event was “Blackout”, a lineup of performances and lectures commemorating the 2003 blackout throughout northeastern US. I expected a larger crowd after the Waterpod was featured in last week’s NY Times, but the group of about thirty still filled up the space. The gentle rocking of the barge combined with the quiet surroundings almost made me forget I was in New York, until I looked outside and saw Manhattan’s skyline across the water.
Visiting the Waterpod and living on it are two very different experiences. As a visitor, I only got a taste of what it’s like to live and work full-time on the floating structure, which has taken on many identities: it’s a home, a farm, a venue for artistic expression, and an exhibit. Most of all, the Waterpod is an admirable model for sustainable, communal living and creative exploration. And Maddingly, the Pod’s founder, should be commended for her vision, resourcefulness, and ability to successfully implement the project.
The Waterpod, photo by Mary Mattingly
Sesame Street Exposed Me to Glass
August 16, 2009
The music of American composer Philip Glass, who is known for “music with repetitive structures”, is frequently used for dance. In fact, some of my favorite works include a Glass score, such as Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room. However, my first exposure to Glass was not at a dance performance, nor was it while watching one of the many feature films accompanied by an original Glass score. My first encounter with Glass was on “Sesame Street”. Before I even knew who Glass was, I heard his music in an animation series called “Geometry of Circles”, which first appeared on “Sesame Street” in 1979 and continued throughout the 80s – when I was watching. Glass created the short vocal and instrumental pieces specifically for the children’s television show. To this day, I find the combination of bright colors, geometric shapes, and repetitive sound to be pretty mesmerizing. By now, “Sesame Street” has probably (and unfortunately) replaced “Geometry of Circles” with more high-tech features to teach children about colors, circles, and music. I consider myself lucky to have first heard Glass while still wearing diapers.
