Across the Bay

March 17, 2010
Oakland, CA

Tomorrow Rocco wraps up the California leg of the Art Works Tour with a visit to Oakland, home to such diverse arts organizations as KITKA Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Stagebridge, and New Village Press. Also based in Oakland, Oakland’s AXIS Dance Company defies easy explanation. As Artistic Director Judith Smith said in a 2009 interview with the NEA, “It’s been really hard to figure out what to call this form of dance. We are not a wheelchair dance company. We are not a disabled dance company. We are a contemporary dance company that does physically integrated work, and by that I mean we have dancers that are disabled.”

Dancer outstretched on wheelchair wheel, wheelchair on its side with dancer in it

Sonsherée Giles spins on Rodney Bell’s wheels in an award-winning dance piece by Joe Goode. Photo by Brian Rdzak-Martin

The award-winning troupe has been honored not just with numerous Isadora Duncan awards (for choreography, performance, and costume design) but also with a California Arts Council award for Dance Access, its model arts education program for youth and adults. Read our article on AXIS Dance Company in NEA Arts 2009,Volume 2.

Four dancers, one in wheechair with back to the audience, arms outstretched to the left, one kneeling leaning back, two others in standing movements

AXIS Dance Company performs Waypoint by Margaret Jenkins, featuring Margaret Cromwell, Bonnie Lewkowicz, Sonsherée Giles, and Sean McMahon. Photo by Trib LaPrade

Want to see AXIS Dance Company live? Upcoming tour stops include March 26 at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville), April 10 at Montgomery County Community College (Blue Bell, Pennsylvania), and April 14 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Geneva, New York). Visit the company’s website to learn more.

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Got a Minute?

March 16, 2010
Washington, DC

by Sunil Iyengar, Director, Office of Research & Analysis, NEA

Ten questions in ten minutes. That’s all there is to the U.S. Census survey that started hitting mailboxes this week. (Yes, “real” mailboxes–the 2010 Census will not occur online.) It’s one of the briefest since 1790, when the first federal Census began. The answers to this innocuous list of queries will help the U.S. government apportion seats in the House and determine how to allocate more than $400 billion in annual spending.

Less known is the variety of ways in which the Census results can shape public perceptions about American culture. For arts and cultural researchers, such as those of us who work in the NEA’s Office of Research and Analysis, the 2010 Census will establish an accurate framework for subsequent surveys by the NEA about how Americans participate in the arts. These surveys help communicate to policy-makers, arts administrators, journalists, and the general public the depth of arts engagement in the United States and its relationship to a host of social, economic, and geographic factors. Equally important, other researchers (public and private) use Census data to conduct their own surveys or create their own analyses. Without answers to such vital questions as the number, gender, location, and race/ethnicity of Americans from all backgrounds, our best attempts at research will flounder, and the arts might never be counted as an integral component of American lives and communities.

Thanks to data from the previous Census, we’ve been able to figure out everything from the number of self-identified artists in the U.S. as of 2008 (nearly 2,000,000) to the state with the fifth highest number of artists (Colorado) to the state with the highest percentage of architects (Massachusetts). Visit the Census 2010 website to learn more, and keep an eye on your mailbox for your chance to participate.

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Art Works in San Diego

March 15, 2010
San Diego, CA

Ian Campbell

Ian Campbell. Photo courtesy of the San Diego Opera

Ian Campbell, general and artistic director of the San Diego Opera, has a dream: that one day soon, the city of San Diego will have an art center downtown. Campbell spoke with NEA’s Josephine Reed about the importance of the arts to transforming city centers and acting as an economic engine for cities. Key fact: there are more than 4,400 arts-related businesses in San Diego, either directly working in the arts or providing services to arts organizations.


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Ray Bradbury: The Things You Love

March 15, 2010
Los Angeles, CA

Caricature of Ray Bradbudy

Portrait by John Sherffius

Rocco brings his California Art Works tour to Los Angeles today, which is also home to one of our favorite authors, Ray Bradbury. Bradbury’s visionary novel, Fahrenheit 451, was one of the first books chosen for the NEA initiative, The Big Read. In this video, Bradbury — a 2004 National Medal of Arts recipient — talks about the importance of reading and the power of art. The video was created for The Big Read initiative, which encourages communities across the country to share in the joy and enlightenment of literature.

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Golden State Gumbo

March 12, 2010
Washington, DC

Zydeco musician “Queen” Ida Guillory, a 2009 NEA National Heritage Fellow, has called San Francisco home since 1947 when she relocated with her parents from Louisiana. She spoke with the NEA about California’s culturally vibrant Cajun population and how she went from housewife to member of the band.


[transcript]

To learn about Queen Ida’s remarkable career, listen to an extended interview in the NEA National Heritage Fellows section of our website.

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On The Road Again: Art Works Tour Update

March 12, 2010
Washington, DC

Rocco’s heading to the Golden State. From March 13-19 he’ll touch down in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland, California. On this leg of the Art Works tour, the chairman will focus on arts in education and the creation of sustainable, livable, vibrant urban centers. On the agenda? Stops at San Diego’s Balboa Park, Los Angeles’s Inner City Arts, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Cultural District, and Oakland’s Envision Academy of Arts and Technology, among others. Several public Art Works forums will feature panelists from organizations such as California Commission for Arts and Culture, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Los Angeles Theatre Center/Latino Theater Company, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Visit our News Room to take a look at the complete schedule, and don’t forget to check back to hear reports from the road.

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Taking It Outside: Philadelphia’s Murals

March 11, 2010
Philadelphia, PA

What started in 1984 as part of an anti-graffiti campaign has now become one of Philadelphia’s signature public art programs: the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. The program uses the art of mural making to foster civic engagement, create arts education opportunities for youth, transform derelict urban spaces, and provide employment for hundreds of local professional artists. Since 1984, more than 3,000 murals have been added to the Philadelphia cityscape.

Mural Arts Program Executive Director Jane Golden, herself an artist, explained the tremendous impact the murals have had on the city: “Murals are a uniquely democratic, accessible, and participatory art form that encourages Philadelphians to help beautify their neighborhoods and experience art in their everyday lives. Rather than existing in isolation from their surroundings, the murals function as a living component of our civic landscape and a testament to the strengths, dreams, and challenges facing the communities that contribute to their creation. Collectively, the murals form an outdoor gallery that represents the artistic autobiography of our city.

(Thanks to Mural Arts’ Amy Johnston for her enthusiastic help in putting this feature together!)

Philadelphia on a Half-Tank by Paul Santoleri

Cityscape mural on water tank
Located at Penrose Avenue and Platt Bridge. © 1999 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Photo © JackRamsdale.com

Painted on the side of an oil tank at the refinery, this mural is one of the first images of the city one sees when traveling into Center City from Philadelphia International Airport. Artist Paul Santoleri, a trained fresco painter, chose this image to represent “the busyness and liveliness of the city, with a bit of exaggeration in the architecture.” The title of the mural spoofs the popular nickname for Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, which is “Venus on a Half-Shell.”  Magnify Enlarge

Knocked On Your Door by Stephen Powers.

Drawing and lettering on the walls of a corner store
Photo by Adam Wallacavage

Philadelphia native Stephen Powers (now based in New York) partnered with the Mural Arts Program on the Love Letter project, a series of 50 murals that “tell the bittersweet story of a local young man and his unrequited love, expressed poetically on walls and rooftops, poised against a backdrop of an ever-changing urban landscape.” True to Mural Arts’ aim to use public art to foster community engagement, Powers and Mural Arts have opened a sign shop, which houses a free school for young artists. Through an intensive one-month course, the school will teach the basics of hand-painted sign-making to young artists. The students will ultimately create free signage for businesses sited along the Market Street corridor. (Visit the Love Letters site to learn more about the project.)  Magnify Enlarge

A Celebration of Community by Jane Degenhartd-Kutzer

Mural of older couple in their vegetable garden being assisted by a young boy and girl
Located at 44th and Market Streets. © 1997 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Photo © JackRamsdale.com

Collaborating with the Mural Arts Program between 1997 and 2000, Jane Degenhardt-Kutzer created four lovely and well-loved murals including A Celebration of Community, which pays tribute to neighborhood gardeners. Originally from San Francisco, Degenhardt-Kutzer was selected for this commission because, as a former children’s book illustrator, she has a very graphic, colorful style. This particular mural celebrates a family as well as a community. Degenhart-Kutzer honors a loving couple who “tended their garden with the same reverence that they cared for each other.”  Magnify Enlarge

Peace Wall by Peter Pagast & Jane Golden

Circle of hands clasped in the middle
Located at 29th & Wharton Streets. © 1998 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Photo © JackRamsdale.com

After racial violence in the Gray’s Ferry neighborhood made national headlines, Jane Golden and community organizers went door-to-door pitching a mural. Cynics sneered, but other residents chose this design then lined up to have their hands photographed. The diverse, yet converging hands symbolize the community’s commitment to ending racial division. One of Philadelphia’s premier portraitists, artist Peter Pagast is, in the words of master muralist Michael Webb, “a master at making things look right from a distance.”  Magnify Enlarge

Visit the MuralFarm website, a searchable database of Philadelphia’s murals, to learn about and see more murals. To see more about the Love Letter mural series (my favorite!), visit www.aloveletterforyou.com.

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Inside the NEA: Getting to Know Ralph Remington

March 11, 2010
Washington, DC

Ralph Remington

Welcome to Ralph Remington who joins the NEA on Monday as the new director of theater and musical theater. A Howard University grad, Remington also previously spent time in DC as an artistic associate at Arena Stage. Most recently, he has served on the city council in Minneapolis, where he also founded the Pillsbury House Theatre. By e-mail, Remington chatted with us about moving back to DC, his life in arts and politics, and the Partridge Family.

NEA: In five words or less, who is Ralph Remington?

RALPH REMINGTON: Bold, innovative, thoughtful, inquisitive, pragmatic.

NEA: What are you looking forward to most about moving back to Washington, DC?

REMINGTON: Working at the NEA during the Obama administration, being in close proximity to Philly (my hometown), New York, Boston, etc., and having the ability to check in on my alma mater, Howard University, from time to time.

NEA: What do you hope to learn while you’re at the NEA?

REMINGTON: The culture of the agency and the different personalities who work there. The entire process of administering federal grant proposals. Learning about the current innovative and fresh work being done by theaters across the nation.

NEA: Working as a city council member seems like quite a shift from the artistic life. What made you decide to pursue public service in Minneapolis?

REMINGTON: My life has always been a mixture of arts and politics. After George W. Bush was elected the second time, I wanted to serve in some capacity. I’ve always been a strongly opinionated political person, so after being encouraged by friends, I decided to put my money where my mouth was. In 2005, I attended Camp Wellstone, launched my candidacy for Minneapolis city council, and won by the end of the year. I’m also a United States Army military vet.

NEA: How do you think your background as an artist prepared you for political life?

REMINGTON: I have frequently produced and directed theater work of socio-political import. I also think that my training as an actor helped me to learn how to effectively communicate an authentic message. Artists have to be thoughtful and engaged with their environment. It all adds up in the end.

NEA: Our mission statement at the NEA is “Art works.” What does that phrase mean to you?

REMINGTON: To me it means that art works in all aspects of everyday life. It isn’t an elitist pursuit or pastime to be enjoyed by the privileged but instead a right to be enjoyed by all. It helps all of us to become better, more engaged participants in our respective communities.

NEA: What are you most proud of to date in your career?

REMINGTON: Founding Pillsbury House Theatre (in Minneapolis) and all of their educational programming

NEA: What would most people be surprised to learn about you?

REMINGTON: The first three albums that I ever owned, at eight years old were: The Beatles (Let it Be), The Jackson Five, and The Partridge Family (Update). That says a lot about my eclectic tastes and curiosity even today. Other facts of note: I was a huge Ben Vereen and Mikhail Baryshnikov fanatic. I am an avid cinephile.

NEA: Any last words?

REMINGTON: I am excited and thrilled to be joining the amazing team at the NEA. I can’t wait to get started!

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New Art Works in Miami

March 10, 2010
Washington, DC

Art Basel Miami is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Miami’s vibrant contemporary art scene. The Miami Design District, a collection of more than 130 art galleries, design firms, and showrooms, is giving tourists a reason to drive over the causeway from Miami Beach.

During our February 1st tour of Miami, we stopped at Locust Projects, a not-for-profit space founded in 1998 by three Miami-based artists who wanted to create a space for artists to create experimental, site-specific work without the pressures of gallery sales and the limitations of a conventional museum space. The art space has hosted more than 65 exhibitions representing more than 210 local, national, and international artists.

entrance to the gallery

The current installation was created by Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, a Miami-based artist whose work references suburban culture. In this case, the artist took a 1970s icon — shag carpeting — as a starting point, and blanketed the entire space with undulating hills covered in hot pink fuzziness. At Locust Projects, artists are encouraged to work in whatever medium they choose, and each show transforms the space completely. With the outrageous and unsettling pink landscape on display at the time, the next artist will have a hard act to follow.

entrance to the gallery

Photos by Yamila Lomba

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Congratulations Kathryn Bigelow!

March 10, 2010
Washington, DC

In 1976 Kathryn Bigelow was a 26-year-old abstract painter with an interest in film. She applied for and won a grant for $2,000 from the Arts Endowment to make a short film, The Set-Up. The 17-minute film featured two men (one was a young Gary Busey) beating up on each other in an alley while semiotics professors discussed the violence in voice-over. An early version impressed Milos Forman who offered her a spot in Columbia’s MFA program in film criticism and Bigelow was on her way. Cut to Sunday’s Academy Awards celebration: Bigelow scored the Oscar for Best Director—a first for a female director– with another film about addiction to violence. The Hurt Locker won five Academy Awards in addition to Bigelow’s, including the Oscar for Best Film.

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