It has been a while since I picked up a camera for a purpose other than Instagram. At SOMArts there is usually something else I should be doing, but Tuesday we were a little short-handed so I snapped some pics of our queer performance series The News, hosted by Kolmel WithLove. This pic is of Aurora Switchblade. The whole set can be viewed here.

Me at The Firebird, 2005

The other day I was speaking with a friend who is going to London and I told her about Punchdrunk and their performance of The Firebird Ball in 2005, which is on my list of Top Ten Arts Experiences of All Time, made all the better by the fact that the reason I bought a ticket in the first place was somewhat obligatory. My boss’s niece was in the play and it was mostly sold out … which is why on my last night in London I found myself taking the tube to Brixton and shivering in an alley with a group of around 20 people waiting to be let into a warehouse. Those of you who haveand family in the theater know that an audience of 20 outside a warehouse is not unusual, so I had no expectations whatsoever.

posters taped to easel in dark alley ... what to expect?

This was pre-smartphone, so we actually talked to one another. Then we were let in to the warehouse, handed white masks a la Clockwork Orange, invited to roam the old factory building, and warned not to speak except at the bar. The audience was quickly separated from one another as we followed dancers through three floors and at the center of it all was singer in a red-lit cabaret-style club. There were many more people inside than there were outside. The audience could wander around to see the performance and stop back at the club whenever they wanted. The storyline was a blending of Romeo and Juliet and Stravinsky’s The Firebird. It was magical, and deservingly thrust Punchdrunk into the spotlight.

Punchdrunk creates site-specific theatrical dioramas where the audience follows actors or dancers around a large space and goes into rooms on their own to touch, feel, read and investigate. It embodies a feeling of shared cultural exploration, my magical experience in London turned out to be the sleeper hit of the season. Here in San Francisco many companies are trying to crack the nut of the interactive, highly-participatory performance/installation and also how to balance art with commerce. This quote from a Guardian article about Punchdrunk circa 2006 says it all:

“Often those kinds of gigs are soul destroying. You are up there busting a bollock and no one is taking the blindest bit of notice – they’re all too busy with the champagne. In the end it’s not meaningful and you have no control. You’re just there as part of the decorations. There’s no art in it, only money in your pocket.” —John-Paul Zaccarini

As an arts administrator, not a day goes by anymore without my hearing or reading something about art, commerce, layered participation and/or “new models.” Punchdrunk had the vision to begin practicing a form of interactive theater that has only become more in-demand over the past five years. Also, kudos to them for paying artists AND using more than 200 volunteers to create their latest installation, Sleep No More in New York City. This is their NYC debut and if you are in New York go see it.

These days it is de riguer for arts organizations to have some sort of  socially relevant talk accompanying a performance or exhibition. Liz Lerman and the CFA take it up a notch (or five) because they are masters at combining multilevel arts participation and community collaboration with economies of scale, the more deeply you look at this partnership, the more there is to see. The premiere of Ferocious Beauty sparked another idea for collaboration, and last week the Wesleyan Hughes Program in Life Sciences and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange launched Science Choreography, an online toolkit for the embodied exploration of science through dance.

The evolution of Ferocious Beauty: Genome is inspiring on my levels, the question on my mind this morning is how as arts organizations we can “put our planning where our mouth is.” Alongside our protests of “show me the money!”, attention must be paid to the following:

• What are we doing as arts leaders to show funders and other key stakeholders the vision, scholarship and community benefit to justify cross-sector investment?
• Who in the field is most successful in this, and what can we learn from them?
• How do we convince grass-roots collaborators to invest time now for a project that will take years to develop?
• How do project leaders assess stability in partnerships early on, to ensure that the big-vision, long-term plan succeeds?

No answers today, just food for thought and inspiring examples to start the week off right. Go Wes!

At work we’ve been investing in many projects—some big, some little—that may be assisted by access to a tool such as Google Art Project, the new street-view style gallery tours that allow viewers to virtually walk through an exhibition and look closely, in detail, at works of art.

SOMArts has experienced with other virtual tour tools including Second Life and Google SketchUp, but on first glance this seems superior: instant gratification, easy to navigate, high-res images.

For us, potential uses could be:

-Increased access, particularly for thought-provoking exhibitions by cultural communities who would be censored or unfunded elsewhere

-Better documentation of exhibitions as opposed to individual artworks, enhanced ability to show how works relate to the space and to each other.

-Adding value to the experience of going to an art exhibit by allowing visitors to anticipate/reminisce

These are three of many … but for now, the folks at Google have documented some of the largest worldwide institutions. What would happen if they Google up with someone like the Wallace Foundation to increase access to and appreciation for important exhibitions of, by and for cultural communities?

Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck had a big two-page spread in the SF Chronicle, written by Meredith May, last weekend. The monthly series started in October and co-host Irina Zadov and I have been tweaking the “recipe” since then. We’ve landed on something I was excited about from the beginning, which is more of a spontaneous writing/potluck with a side dish (entree?) of culture to season the evening.

As a writer who does not have as much time to write these days, I love that FoW provides an easy opportunity for anyone to put pencil to paper. I love our featured literary and culinary guests, who show how culture can inspire great writing and cooking.

And most of all, I love the foodies and writers who have come to FoW so far: all ages, many cultures, lots of friendly introductions and willingness to try something new. Tasty and creative potluck dishes, surprisingly good spontaneous writing.

The next Feast of Words is January 4 and features Faith Adiele and Peter Jackson. Tickets are available at feastofwords.eventbrite.com.

On Saturday, October 30th I’ll be one of the esteemed judges for SQUART (Spontaneous Queer Art!) over at The Lab. According to the website, “SQUART was originally conceived by Laura Arrington, out of the desire to foster community and create work without preciousness.”

Process begins at 6pm and the show starts at 8pm. Confirmed Performers are: Peter Max Lawrence, Anna Martine Whitehead, Rachael Dichter, Jorge Rodolfo De Hoyos Jr., Evan Johnson, Minna Harri, Harold Burns, Kirk Read, Jesse Hewit, Jai Arun Ravine, Miriam Wolodarski, Kevin Seaman, Kyra Rice and Liz Tenuto.

I’ve been hearing the buzz about SQUART for a while now so I am thrilled to be playing a role in the next one. Plus, they have a cool-lookin’ poster that reminds me of a cross between Paula Scher and Dia de los Muertos.

You can RSVP here.

-people talk about it, hear about her and discover her work
-RADAR gets $5k to continute building community through literary arts
-fabulous health benefits

Every now and then I get emails from my arts friends who are running a 5 or 10k for a cause—usually health related—and I always think, why not run for art? Training for a run is social, it’s healthy, and it is something that can raise money on a shoestring. These health people have their fundraising DOWN. Why do the arts organizations throw big expensive parties and auctions when if we do our jobs right, every single event we have is a chance to meet artists, be social, learn about and enjoy art, and it’s usually free?

Having big galas for small, grassroots organizations usually feels status-y and weird. The people you are selling tickets to are usually about 90% different from the people who use your services on a day-to-day basis, and because of both the similarities and the differences it is hard to create an effective fundraising event that like a true celebration of the work. Few organizations get it right, and the ones that feel right in SF are usually called fundraisers but described behind the scenes by staff as “more friend-raiser than fund-raiser.” (Aside: what is with this trend of calling every concert and performance a fundraiser? I don’t understand the long-term benefit of giving people a false impression that what they are paying is above and beyond the cost of doing the work).

Of course, I hurt my foot and I’m getting married in a mont so my own Run for the Arts may have to wait a little bit. But my lame excuses only serve to make Seinberg’s success seem all the more awe-inspiring.

Photo credit: 5k, woohoo!

Above title is a quote from Jason Schupbach, author of thecheesefreak.com but ALSO creative economy industry director at the Massachusetts Department of Business Development, and a major mind behind affordable artist space. What is up with all of my smartest friends and associates having food & drink projects on the side? Design writer Will Bostwick also covers beer for GQ. Gritmedia designer Fran Duncan (responsible for the Echoing Green website, which I love) started Plate to Plate, a blog about eating locally in the Berkshires.

As if anyone needs arm-twisting to consume food, cheese and beer. But thanks, all, for lending your minds to these worthy causes. I see a goofy cheese-tasting video in my imminent future.

photo credit: Taken on a trip to London. In retrospect, I deeply regret not tasting the best cheese in the world.

A coworker of mine who was a Wesleyan alumnus persuaded me to take a second look at the job, and within a month I was working there, because of one person: Pamela Tatge. Pam Tatge is the director of Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts and the embodiment of the term “artistic administrator.” During my time at Wesleyan, she helped create the Green Street Arts Center, orchestrated a citywide dance festival which danced its way up the hill and onto campus, broke the mold of the first-year-students’ common reading program and instead co-created a residency based on the performance “text” of Bill T. Jones.

Consistently, Pam Tatge challenges convention and asks where and how art can be a more essential part of everyday life and learning. I rarely saw her press a vision onto a project that excluded the ideas of others—rather, she created structures wherein artists could work with students, cultural groups, city leaders, neighborhood families, professors and the administrative team at the CFA to launch creative endeavors that included many people, in many ways.

Pam transformed my idea of what an artistic administrator can achieve, and how universities and communities can work together—which is why I was so excited to learn that this year she was honored with the William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence from the National Association of Performing Arts Presenters. It is always thrilling to see someone get the recognition they deserve.

And speaking of recognition, the whole Center for the Arts team—Barbara, Adam, Camille, John, Kristen, Mark—are pretty incredible. Congratulations to all!