There is still time to see this exciting new performance; REDCAT will be presenting Under Polaris in October 2009.

Last month we highlighted  the work Bebe Miller did in Montana through a Community Fund award to Myrna Loy Center.

This month we take a look at a Mentorship & Leadership project.  Members of El Centro Su Teatro’s junior programming staff and Artistic Director Tony Garcia engaged in a six-month project which was designed to build the programming skills of junior staff members, by teaching them the fundamentals of the Chicano aesthetic and training them in rigorous curatorial methods.  In a key component of the project, junior staff members visited El Teatro Campesino, a bilingual (Spanish/English) theater group based in the historic Mission San Juan Bautista, near San Jose.  During the summer of 2008, the junior staff put their new skills to use.  Read more about the project.

The Community Fund is made possible by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), the MetLife Foundation, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

VAN Partners, you will be meeting as a group in Los Angeles at the end of June.

Additional information will be posted on the Regional Meetings page when it becomes available.

Deadline for discounted rooms is April 10th.

Designed and managed by EmcArts, with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts is a nine- to twelve-month program designed to help performing arts organizations in the fields of presenting, theater, dance, and jazz incubate and test innovative strategies to address major challenges.

For more information and RFP: http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=247500022 (this will open in a new window).

Community Fund
Creation Fund
Mentorship and Leadership Projects

Navigate to those pages and see the exciting work our NPN Partners have planned.

Last July, NPN was invited to meet with other national service organizations to launch a process to build consensus on what we, as representatives of hundreds of arts organizations in the United States, saw as priorities for the future of the national arts community, especially with regard to the National Endowment for the Arts. At that meeting, most of the larger national service organizations were represented, including those for museums, orchestras, theaters, dance organizations, chamber music, choruses, presenters and opera. Also included were Americans for the Arts (representing local arts agencies), the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASA), the Literary Network, the National Council for Traditional Arts, the National Network for Folk Arts in Education and NPN. No organization of color was at this or the next several meetings. The outcome of these meetings was the position paper that was circulated widely in the field, Arts Policy in the New Administration.

This paper was subsequently submitted to the Presidential Transition Team for the Arts, headed by Bill Ivey, former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and head of the Curb Center at Vanderbilt University. I, along with about 20 colleagues from these organizations, was privileged to be invited to meet with Bill Ivey in Washington, DC to discuss the paper and our priorities. In the meantime, and along the way, more organizations signed on to the paper and were invited to attend the meeting with Bill Ivey. Still, only one organization of color, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), was at the table. At the National Performing Arts Convention last June, increasing diverse participation and representation was one of the three major priorities. Evidence of the work we still have to do.

At the meeting with Bill Ivey, discussion ranged over three general areas—the priorities of the arts sector for the new administration specifically including the NEA, the impact of the economic downturn on arts organizations, and roles that the arts can play in recovery efforts. While the immediate concerns for economic recovery are compelling, the future of the NEA is what has long term importance.  The conversation ranged over a great many topics. I spoke on behalf of a renewed commitment to diversity amidst the changing demographics of our country, the needs of artists (particularly the return of NEA support for artists) and our role in the global cultural community. I am not a lone voice on these issues, which many others echoed and expanded. Important points were made about the potential for a leadership role for the arts, the need for capacity building and organizational support (not just project support), and the resources that artists and arts organizations bring to addressing the problems we face as a nation. We stressed that we don’t work or operate in a non-profit silo, but are active in many sectors of our communities. I cited the examples of artists working in recovery efforts in New Orleans and another noted that there are more than 10,000 arts organizations in the US that are conducting education programs, for example. Specific suggestions for the NEA (many of which can be effected only by Congress) include restoring fellowship funds for artists, seasonal and multi-application eligibility for organizations, allowing re-granting by service organizations, greater support for reciprocal international exchange (including and beyond cultural diplomacy), and implementation of a capacity-building grant program supporting both creative and organizational efforts. 

Ivey and his team asked  what aspects of the NEA have been effective that should be preserved or restored? Answers included policy panels and site visits; dialogue at the National Council level; its data gathering function; its consultation and convening roles and its relationships vis a vis other federal agencies. Also mentioned was its role as a bully pulpit on behalf of the field.

The discussion turned to the direct impact of the economic downturn and recession on arts organizations. . Ongoing data collection is necessary to quantify and demonstrate the impact on our sector.  Most of the national organizations are surveying their constituents and we are comparing and collating data, to make the case for our inclusion in stimulus and recovery plans—not only to help ourselves but because of artists’ and arts organizations’ work in their communities.  NALAC has surveys for artists and organizations on their website (www.nalac.org).  Our strategy is to stay grounded in our missions and reiterate the value of our programs, to share knowledge and resources and to maintain the networks and relationships that we have built, to depend on and help one another.

This is an important time to continue to make our voices heard. In these three weeks since President Obama took office, the urgency for changing the way things have worked for a long, long time is here and now. There is tremendous work to do to create a path that leads to greater equity and justice and a more peaceful world. This work will take place using the existing infrastructure. Government should and can work, and we must work with and not against it; this is a call for increased civic engagement, at every level, on our part. This means a shift in posture and attitude for many—to be a part of making the system work for us. To me, that does not mean that we give up the struggles in which we are engaged, but that we find our allies and work with them. So many at the Inauguration of President Obama (I was there!) commented that this was the first time they had been on the Washington Mall not as a protestor. Can we go from being protestors to colleagues and allies?

We were encouraged to promote the message that the stimulus package must include arts and culture, and that eligibility should be explicit wherever possible, naming artists and arts organizations as eligible participants and beneficiaries of programs. Opportunities such as an Artists Corps, which was part of President Obama’s platform, are still being mentioned, though no specifics have been outlined. It was noted that the cultural agencies (National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services) are well-positioned to distribute funding—few agencies are as "hard wired" as they are for grantmaking. These are good signs, but so far just ideas and words. 

NPN will continue to be as active as we can be to keep our voices in the national arena and to keep information flowing to support our work. One more idea that was discussed in the meeting with Bill Ivey was a senior executive in the White House for arts and culture—an ombudsman at this level would truly put arts and culture "at the table." There is much debate about the pros and cons of this—good in a friendly administration, bad in an unfriendly one—but it would be a strong signal that the interests of our sector coincide with the interests of our world as a whole.

WALKER ART CENTER’S PHILIP BITHER AWARDED FAN TAYLOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD BY ASSOCIATION OF PERFORMING ARTS PRESENTERS

Minneapolis, January 30, 2009—Philip Bither, the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Senior Curator, Performing Arts, was awarded the Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters at the organization’s national conference in New York City earlier this month. The Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to an individual whose outstanding service, creative thinking and leadership have had a significant impact on the profession of presenting and/or on the Association of Arts Presenters. This award honors Fan Taylor for her many contributions to the field of presenting. Taylor was instrumental in the development of what was then called the Association of College and University Concert Managers. She served as Arts Presenters’ first secretary-treasurer and eventually as the first executive director.

With over 40 years as an active arts service organization, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (Arts Presenters) is the nexus for the performing arts community and the innovators in the field. Representing both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors of the industry, Arts Presenters members hail from all 50states and more than 15 countries across the globe and range from large performing arts centers in major urban cities, outdoor festivals and rural community-focused organizations to academic institutions, artists, and artist managers. The Association’s membership includes organizations with multimillion dollar budgets and individuals who are performing arts professionals.

While introducing Bither at the awards ceremony, award presenter Colleen Roggensack commented: “Described as ‘unquestionably one of the best when you talk about the great presenters in this country,’ this year’s recipient of the Fan Taylor Award is known for an eclectic and innovative performance series. To secure the artists on this series of 40 to 50 shows a year, this presenter scours the globe on scouting excursions, winning the trust and participation of a wide array of international artists.  A colleague has described this presenter as having ‘an inner Geiger counter that sends out an energy to the artist that signals they are really being listened to . . . artists are comfortable being vulnerable with this presenter.’

Roggensack continued, “With a range of tastes that runs from Japanese Butoh Theater to Cuban son music, free jazz to experimental puppetry, postmodern American choreography to electronica, European cirque nouveau to Indonesian dance and practically everything in between, this presenter’s breadth of vision has delivered the world to the community’s doorstep. This visionary programming leader has engaged new audiences and re-engaged regulars, and set the bar for art centers across America that include performance in their institutions. As another observer has noted, ‘He gives audiences what they didn’t know they wanted.’ Under his aegis, he has seen significant expansion of the performing arts program at his institution, including the building of an acclaimed new theatrical space, the raising of the venue’s first commissioning/ programming endowment, the commissioning of more than 100 new works in dance, music and performance art, and the annual presentation and residency support of dozens of contemporary performing arts creators . . . He is an exemplar of the Susan Lori Parks’ ideal of Practicing Radical Inclusion.”

Upon receipt of the award, Bither remarked, “I hold out my deepest, most profound thanks to the people who give us all our reason for being here—the artists and the audiences that we serve.  I particularly want to thank artists – who’s passion, inspiration, courage, imaginations, and works of brilliance have changed our lives and have made all of the hard work, the difficult financial challenges, the long hours, and the frustrations we sometimes face, more than worth it.“

Bither has been Walker Art Center’s Senior Curator of Performing Arts since 1997. In September 2008, he oversaw the Walker’s nationally acclaimed production of Merce Cunningham and John Cage’s monumental Ocean in the Rainbow Quarry in Waite Park, MN. Prior to his Walker tenure, he served as Director of Programming for the Flynn Center and Artistic Director of the Discover Jazz Festival (Burlington, VT) from April 1988 to April 1997. From 1984–1988, he was Associate Director/Music Curator of the Next Wave Festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

He serves on the Artistic Advisory Committee for Japan Society’s Performing Arts Program, the McKnight Distinguished Artist Panel, and is a founding member of both the Contemporary Art Center Performing Arts Network through the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium, through MultiArts Projects and Production (MAPP). He served as an Advisor for the National Dance Project (2004–2008) as well as a Hub Site (1997–2001); a member of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation 2006 Program Review Panel, the 2004–2006 Artistic Committee of Etonne Donne, the French-American Fund for the Performing Arts; and as a 2006/07 Australia Council for the Arts “Dance Down Under” US Ambassador.  He has sat on the Board of Directors of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), En Garde Arts (NYC), Atlantic Theater Company (NYC/VT), and New Music Alliance (NYC) and was a member of the Pew Charitable Trust’s International Presenters’ Forum.  He co-chaired the International Presenting Conference at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.  In the past 10 years, he has also served on U.S. Delegations to Tunisia, Russia, Japan, Cuba, Australia, Holland, France, Scotland, England, Hong Kong, and other countries. In 2000–2002 conducted individual research in South Africa, Turkey, and Brazil for the Walker’s 2003 "How Latitudes Become Forms.” He received a Vermont Arts Council Citation of Merit in 2001 and a Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award in 2009 for exemplary service to the field of professional presenting. A recent Mellon Foundation Award to the Performing Arts Program will enable this global artist research to continue in Brazil and South Africa, and begin in Indonesia (2008–2011). He sits on numerous federal, state, local, and national foundation arts panels and he speaks and writes about the contemporary performing arts nationally.

Photo credit: Ken Fisher