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September 30, 2009

Memorial Service for Merce Cunningham

by Dave Itzkoff
September 17, 2009
The New York Times

A memorial service for Merce Cunningham, the dancer and choreographer who died in July, will be held on Oct. 28 at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan, the Cunningham Dance Foundation said Thursday. The memorial, which will be open to the public, will run from 4 to 9 p.m., and will feature the Merce Cunningham Dance Company performing “Events” — what Mr. Cunningham called performances made from combinations of works from the company’s repertory.

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Judith Smith, Artistic Director of AXIS Dance Company, named 2009 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award Recipient

The 2009 Alameda County Arts Leadership Awards Program recipients have been selected. Twenty-two outstanding individuals were nominated for this year’s program. The Members of the Alameda County Arts Commission acknowledge all of the nominees for their commitment to enhancing the quality of life in Alameda County, providing leadership in the arts, and serving as a role model to others. Additionally, the Arts Commission would like to thank the citizens who submitted the nominations, thereby creating an opportunity for all of the nominees to be recognized for their important work.

Judith Smith receives the 2009 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award Recipients for being a Founding Member and Current Artistic Director of AXIS Dance Company, premiere dance company for dancers with and without physical disabilities. Through her leadership, AXIS Dance Company provided services to over 11,000 youth and adults in Alameda County through its education programs, Dance Access and Dance Access/Kids!

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Francis Mason, Voice for Dance Over 5 Decades, Dies at 88

by Alastair Macaulay
September 26, 2009
The New York Times

Francis Mason, editor, writer, cultural diplomat, radio dance critic and dance devotee, died on Thursday at his home in Rye, N.Y. He was 88.

His daughter, Leslie, announced the death. He emerged as a dance writer in the 1950s; more than 50 years later he was still at work in the dance field, most notably in the last three decades as editor until his death of the New York dance magazine Ballet Review and until a few months ago as dance critic of the radio station WQXR-FM.

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Research Into Action: Pathways to New Opportunities

Research into Action: Pathways to New Opportunities, the Cultural Alliance's most recent research report, offers specific insights into how the Philadelphia region's diverse population engages with the arts and the report provides specific strategies for cultural organizations looking to build stronger audience connections.

"Despite the economic challenges facing cultural organizations, our research still reveals excellent prospects for expanded audience participation," said Peggy Amsterdam, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance President. "Steps to success will be different for every organization, but the focus needs to be on engaging people in a meaningful and personal experience."

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New Leaders Appointed by President Obama to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

President Barack Obama appointed George Stevens, Jr. and Margo Lion to serve as co-chairs of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. To serve as Vice-Chair the President appointed Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell. Each of these distinguished appointments is exemplary of this Administration’s belief that the arts and humanities are at the core of a vital society. No entity is better positioned than the President’s Committee to help bring together the public and private sectors to advance the non-partisan cultural objectives of the Administration since it is comprised of private citizens from around the United States, as well as the heads of government cultural agencies, including the National Endowment on the Arts, the National Endowment on the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

President Obama said, “My administration is committed to . . . investing in the future of arts and the humanities, and these individuals will serve my team well as we work to accomplish these goals. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”

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Mellon Grant for Mark Morris Dance Group

by Julie Bloom
September 18, 2009
The New York Times

Mark Morris can breathe a sigh of relief for his dance company despite this difficult economic time for arts organizations. The company has been awarded a $720,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the largest single award from the foundation to the group. “This grant will allow us to address current as well as future economic challenges the Dance Group faces,” Nancy Umanoff, the executive director of the company, said in a statement.

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A National Summit on Arts Journalism

www.najp.org/summit
10/2 @ 9AM - 1PM PDT

At a time when both the art and business of arts journalism are undergoing transformative change, A National Summit on Arts Journalism is being convened to explore some of that change – on Friday, October 2, 2009 at 9AM PDT.

The Summit will present a range of ideas and projects representing current thinking in covering the arts. Five projects were selected in an open call this summer that attracted 109 submissions. Five additional projects will be presented representing broad trends in the field of journalism. Presentations will be made in front of a live audience, streamed over the internet and archived on this website.

The Summit will also include two roundtable discussions about the art and business of arts journalism. The online audience will be invited to comment and ask questions during the Summit using Twitter and chat features.

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Worldwide Event on Climate Change Seeking Artists

Calling all artists – emerging to internationally acclaimed, amateurs to professionals - working in theatre, dance, music, visual art, film/video, puppetry, multi-media, new forms, and uncharted territories for event on Saturday, October 24, 2009

www.350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis. Our focus is on the number 350--as in parts per million, the level many scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

350 is more than a number – it is a symbol of where we need to head as a planet and is widely translatable and can be communicated through the arts. Already, we have seen graffiti artists, dancers, graphic designers, children with crayons, and actors getting involved to put their own spin on this idea, and communicate it to their communities in the ways they know best. This movement needs your creativity to spread the word, and to inspire people to get involved and take action.

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Trey McIntyre Project gets creative offstage

by Laura Bleiberg
September 29, 2009
Los Angeles Times

In the old days, the ballet company would come to town, the theater would sell tickets, the dancers would dance, the audience would applaud, and everyone (hopefully) went home happy.

But in these recessionary, interactive times, those rules don't apply anymore. As the numbers of subscribers and ticket buyers decline, dance groups are looking for enticements, beyond actual performances, to get audiences to queue up at the box office. Which is the driving force behind the Trey McIntyre Project Residency at the Orange County Performing Arts Center today through Saturday.

"We want people to engage with the art, to make our art as accessible as possible and reinvent ourselves and redefine our relationship with the community," said Terry Dwyer, arts center president.

The McIntyre Project, an Idaho-based contemporary ballet troupe just beginning its second full season, is more prepared than many dance companies for the shifting ground under its moving feet. Choreographer McIntyre and his 10 dancers are riding a buzz of popularity, thanks to a respected repertory of ballets both thought-provoking and entertaining, and also its embrace of social networking and the latest technology. The TMP website, which McIntyre designs, has updated "documentary" podcasts, dancer blogs and tweets, and lots of behind-the-scenes candid photos.

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A New News Site in San Francisco

by Richard Perez-Pena
September 24, 2009
The New York Times

A wealthy investor, a university journalism school and a public radio station have joined forces to create a nonprofit local news Web site for the San Francisco area, in what may be the largest and most ambitious of dozens of similar local news operations that have cropped up around the country.

Like their counterparts in markets like Chicago, San Diego, Seattle and the Twin Cities, the founders of the Bay Area news project say they want to fill some of the vacuum left by the drastic downsizing of the region’s newspapers.

What sets their venture apart is a $5 million initial grant from F. Warren Hellman, and the expertise and labor to be supplied by KQED-FM, which has a 28-person news staff, and the 120 students of the University of California, Berkeley’s graduate school of journalism.

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How Helpful Is Cultural Diplomacy?

by Michael Kaiser
September 21, 2009
The Huffington Post

For the last six years I have been obsessed with the concept of cultural diplomacy.

While other countries have been active exporters of their arts -- China and Great Britain come to mind -- the United States government has been reticent to invest in this form of diplomacy.

This was not always the case: both American Ballet Theatre and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater added the word 'American' to their names at the request of the State Department about half a century ago when they were sent on government-sponsored international tours.

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Arts community shocked by new tax burden

by Stephan Salisbury
September 20, 2009
The Philadelphia Inquirer

The budget deal reached late Friday in Harrisburg, which includes an extension of the state sales tax to cultural performances and venues - including museums - has stunned and angered the arts community.

"We heard nothing about this until late last night," Peggy Amsterdam, head of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, said yesterday. "It must have been a very last-minute deal. Not only will it hit the arts organizations, but it will make it harder for people to pay."

Details of the ticket tax began to become clearer yesterday.
Sources familiar with the final package said the deal calls for the creation of a special fund for cultural institutions and the arts.

The fund would get the bulk of the ticket-tax revenue - the exact percentage was unclear - and use it to support institutions previously subsidized by the general fund, such as museums, theaters, and zoos.

Senate Republicans, who had steadfastly opposed any new taxes, insisted on the fund.

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