ArtSake

This Monday, March 22, at 7:30 PM, Sue Murad (Choreography Fellow ‘08) and a group of artists will perform Buried in the Park Street Church overlooking the Granary Burial Ground. It’s a work of performance art that culminates three years of research (or rather, begins to culminate, since Sue plans to continue creating new performances).

Sue is one of those artists - and she’ll tell you this herself - that’s really hard to categorize. The same applies to “Buried” and Sue’s ongoing project. The project has its immediate origins in a series of 30 “word themes” that Sue sent to 40 different people last year. Sue asked for their responses to words like harbor, hymn, government, and those responses could be in the form of anecdotes, poetry, or… you name it.

“There was a nice blend of written response,” says Sue. “Some writers were incredibly short and literal. A friend typed me a nice long letter on a single sheet of paper for each word.” Other respondents were less literary. There were sound files, drawings, and collages (such as the collage above, by artist Jessica Gath). Sue read the words to her art group, and observed the movements they made in response.

Those responses, in all their variety, make up the raw material from which Sue created Monday’s performance. But where did the words come from?

To answer that, we need to look back four years, when Sue began reading Biblical stories with a new curiosity: What was happening elsewhere in the world at the same time? She bought a chronological Bible, in which a theologian had noted historical parallels to the stories – for instance, Buddha was born in the time of Daniel. “It threw me!” Sue admits. Prior to that, “the stories had seemed in the clouds. They were truth to my heart, but they didn’t seem like history.” For Sue, the chronology placed the stories “on the Earth.”

So began three years of research undertaken for “the joy of reading and the beauty of culture and the fascination of the planet being full of civilizations at shockingly different stages of development at the same time.” Sue knew the research would eventually lead to some kind of artistic performance, but hinging that performance on a timeline didn’t feel quite right, because of the discrepancies about dates that often accompany ancient history.

“I decided to look back at my notes and see if there were themes that I as an artist found interesting. That’s where this group of 30 words came from. It was hard to get it down to 30, but once I had this list, then I felt I wanted a contemporary collection of voices to respond back.”

Monday’s performance will begin in the Park Street Church lobby, overlooking the Granary Burial Ground, and will rove throughout portions of the church in site-specific responses to the word themes - which are in themselves responses to a study of ancient cultures. (See what I mean about being hard to categorize?)

Sue received her MCC award in Choreography for her work designing movement for the art rock band UV Protection. The award may not have resolved the “category” question once and for all, but it did validate Sue’s artistic work. “Because I was always in the band world, it felt far from art dialogue. So much art is about conversation. To know that I put something out there to other choreographers, to other people who love dance, and that they would award it, was wonderful to me.”

When she received the grant, she earmarked some for expenses like loans and new equipment, shared a portion with her UV Protection bandmates, and, curiously, set aside an amount to give to another artist she wanted to support and encourage. This choice, too, has its roots in ancient literature. “Biblically, it’s called a tithe,” she says.

Performance details:
Buried
Funerals and other formal arrangements. Please wear black. Performance art orchestrated by Sue Murad.
Monday, March 22nd
7:15 pm Doors open, 7:30 pm Service

Site specific location: Ockenga Lobby overlooking the Granary Burying Ground
Park Street Church (side entrance) in Boston

Developed & Performed by: Kat Callard, Jess Gath, Heidi Katz, Sue Murad, Mehran Namazi, Michal Shapiro, Cari Senefski, Sara Sussman, Liz Weir, Rita Wong, and others.

Image and video: A collage in response to the word buried by Jessica Gath; a video excerpt of DROP POP by UV Protection.

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We compile a monthly list of presentations, honors, publications, and events featuring past and present MCC Artist Fellows & Finalists. As you’ll see, the news is good - not just about these award-winning artists, but also about the breadth and vitality of contemporary arts throughout the Commonwealth.

SIX past and current MCC Artist Fellows were selected to be among nine finalists for the 2010 James and Audrey Foster Prize, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston’s biennial award and exhibition program for Boston-area artists. Eirik Johnson (Photography Fellow ‘09), Fred H. C. Liang (Painting Fellow ‘04, ‘08), Rebecca Meyers (Film & Video Fellow ‘09), Matt Rich (Painting Fellow ‘10), Evelyn Rydz (Drawing Fellow ‘10), and Steve Tourlentes (Photography Fellow ‘05), along with Robert de Saint Phalle, Daniela Rivera, and Amie Siegel, will participate in an exhibition at the ICA that opens Sept. 22, 2010, and continues through Jan. 30, 2011. The winner of the prize will be announced in January 2011.

Three MCC Fellows are featured in the show 1X1 at Gallery Kayafas in Boston. The show, curated by Gregory Mencoff (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘05, ‘09), includes work by Evelyn Rydz (Drawing Fellow ‘10) and Pat Shannon (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘09) along with Nancy Cusack and John Schulz. It runs March 4-April 10, 2010, with receptions on First Fridays: March 5 and April 2, 5:30-8 PM.

Three MCC Fellows/Finalists are featured in an exhibition of Artadia Boston’s recent awardees, at the Mills Gallery in the Boston Center for the Arts. Work by Claire Beckett (Photography Fellow ‘07), Ambreen Butt (Drawing Finalist ‘10), and Eric Gottesman (Photography Fellow ‘09), along with that of Caleb Cole, Raúl González, Amie Siegel and Joe Zane, will on exhibit March 26 - April 25, 2010, opening reception, Friday, March 26, 6-8 PM.

Speaking of Claire Beckett… kudos to Claire and Irina Rozovsky (Photography Finalist ‘09): both are included in the Humble Arts Foundation’s 31 Women in Art Photography, which is on exhibit at Affirmation Arts in NYC, March 6-April 10, 2010, opening reception: Saturday, March 6, 6–9 PM.

This month, Steve Almond (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ‘08) has a number of Boston-area readings and appearances in advance of the April release his new book Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life. On Friday, March 12, he’ll be the host of Grub Street’s Grub Gone… Blue, a night of reading from writers’ “blue” periods. On Thursday, March 18, he’ll join Steven Beeber at the Art Institute of Boston (check back at Steve’s website for details). On Tuesday, March 23, he’ll join Keith Morris at Porter Square Books in Cambridge. Then on April 16, his voice by now limbered up and the mic cleared of sibilance, he’ll visit the Brattle Theatre (hosted by Harvard Bookstore) for a musical celebration of his new book, an ode/confessional for the musical superfan in all of us. Tickets on sale now. In other auspicious Almond news: his story “Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched” has been selected by Richard Russo to appear in The Best American Short Stories 2010. Can I humbly request a “Woo hoo?”

Alissa Cardone (Choreography Finalist ‘02, ‘06, ‘08) and Kinodance will perform their new work “Fuse” on March 5 as part of the 12th biennial Arts and Technology Symposium at Connecticut College.

Ralf Yusuf Gawlick (Music Composition Fellow ‘09) let us know that on March 17 at 8 pm in Gasson Hall, Boston College, the Hawthorne String Quartet will perform his Berlin Suite. The piece, performed here as a concert suite, was commissioned by the German Embassy and Boston College for the film documentary “Writing on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Admission is free. At 7 PM, there is a reception to celebrate the release of Solo and Chamber Works, Ralf Yusuf Gawlick, from Musica Omnia. Also, don’t miss the premiere of Kinderkreuzzug, Ralf’s dramatic cantata for children’s voices and small chamber ensemble, on Saturday, April 10, 7:30 PM, at St. Ignatius, Chestnut Hill and again on Sunday, April 11, 3:00 PM Trinity Episcopal, Concord. The cantata, which adapts Bertolt Brecht’s extraordinary and grim anti-war poetry, will be performed by two New England choirs and a German boys choir sponsored to fly to the region specifically for this piece. The choirs will record the cantata for the label Musica Omnia.

Masako Kamiya (Painting Fellow ‘06, ‘10) has a solo exhibition, Outspoken: Masako Kamiya, 2002-2010 at the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, March 17 - May 16 2010. Artist’s Reception: Saturday, March 20, 6-8PM. Artist’s Talk: Wednesday, March 17, noon & Sunday, April 11, 3PM. (The talks are free for museum members or with paid admission to the museum.) Read more about the show (and about Masako) on ArtSake.

Adam Lampton (Photography Finalist ‘07) has a solo show at Carroll and Sons Gallery in Boston, Nothing Serious Can Happen Here: Photographs from Macao by Adam Lampton. The show runs through March 27, 2010.

Todd McKie (Painting Finalist ‘08) has been awarded a Residency Fellowship to Instituto Sacatar in Bahia, Brazil. Twenty-five artists were selected from among more than 500 candidates from 19 different countries. Todd will be there for two months in 2011. You can see recent work by Todd at Gallery NAGA in Boston this May 2010. A book about a collaborative project done with David Caras is to be published to coincide with the exhibition.

This month, work by Nathalie Miebach (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘09) can be experienced both locally and in NYC, and through numerous senses. Her sculptural art, recently featured at the Sarah Doyle Gallery at Brown University, is now on exhibit in 185th Annual Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, NY, through June 8, 2010. Furthermore, she’s in a group show called Transformations in the Jewett Gallery at Wellesley College, March 3-April 4, with an opening reception March 4, 5-6 PM. Then on March 14, at 3 PM, the Axis Ensemble will perform her sculptures (not a typo) at the Lily Pad in Inman Square, Cambridge. Nathalie creates her fascinating sculptures using weather data; for this project, she’s translating the weather data into musical scores, then using the score as a starting point for her sculpture. MEANWHILE, the score itself goes to musicians (enter the Axis Ensemble), and voila, you have “Hurricane Noel,” a performance and sculpture interpreting the same weather. We have it on good authority that the sculpture will be in attendance at the concert.

Stephen Mishol (Painting Fellow ‘08) has three paintings and four drawings in Tek’tanik at the Aferro Gallery in Newark, NJ. The show runs from March 13 - April 24.

Eric Henry Sanders (Playwriting Fellow ‘09) will have a workshop reading of his play Woyzeck: Homecoming at The Drilling Company in NYC in March. Then in April, his short play Dead Duck will be part of the Back to Back Director’s Project, starting April 21, 2010 at Available Potential Enterprises.

Past Fellows Notes
Feb. 2010
Jan. 2010

Are you a past fellow or finalist with an event, honor, or other bit of news you’d like to share? Tell us about it.

Image: Eirik Johnson, THE ROAD TO FORKS, WASHINGTON (2006), archival pigment print, 24×30 in; Cover art for SOLO AND CHAMBER WORKS, RALF YUSUF GAWLICK (Musica Omnia 2010); Stephen Mishol, PUSH (2007) Vinyl paint on paper, 20×25 3/4 in.

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Grand Canyon National Park: Guidelines and applications now available for the North and South Rim artist-in-residence programs. Go here for more information. Questions, contact Rene Westbrook at 928-638-6483 or Rene_Westbrook@nps.gov.
Deadline: Applications for either program, postdated between February 1 and April 1, 2010

The Dance Residency at the Boston Center for the Arts provides choreographers an opportunity to create dance without the financial constraints of rehearsal studio or theater rental. The BCA will serve as the host for the selected company and develop the audience for residency events. Contact Andrea Blesso Albuquerque, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston MA 02116 or ablesso@bcaonline.org
Deadline: Monday, February 8, 2010 by 5 pm.

Call to artists for juried show Wide Open
Jurors include Anne Strauss, Associate Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Nicholas Baume, Mark Hughes, Bill Murphy.  For more information, contact Jane Gutterman at 718-596-2506 or info@wideopenartshow.org
Deadline: Monday, January 25, 2010

Every summer in the land of Alcott, Emerson, and Thoreau lives a great opportunity for emerging choreographers. Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy’s Choreographers’ Project Fellowship provides the opportunity to develop new work in a supportive environment. Fellows select a cast of dancers from the Workshop and have access to rehearsal space in the evenings and on weekends. Fellowship awards include: mentorship by workshop faculty and resident artists; access to all Summer Stages Dance classes and select performances; studio space and rehearsal time with dancers drawn from the Workshop; weekly seminar classes that include informal showings of the new work and culminate in a dialogue about the developing work with faculty and guest artists; open rehearsal and a fully produced public performance of work created during the residency; and subsidy for housing and meals. That’s a whole lotta good stuff. For more information, call 978-402-2339.

Image credit:  Photograph of Grand Canyon National Park by Michael Quinn, National Park Service

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Applications are now available for Artist Fellowships in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Deadline: January 25, 2010.

The fellowships are unrestricted, anonymously judged, competitive grants in recognition of artistic excellence, for Massachusetts artists.

Read full program guidelines, eligibility requirements, and application instructions.

Images: Cover art from books by recent fellows Tracy Winn (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ‘08), Patrick Donnelly (Poetry Fellow ‘08), and Xujun Eberlein (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ‘08); Alisia Waller (Choreography Fellow ‘08); and Ariel Cohen and Kellie Ann Lynch (Choreography Fellows ‘08).

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ArtSake wants to share with you the thoughts of Alisia L. L. Waller (MCC 2008 Choreography Fellow) about the development of her creative process as a choreographer with physical disabilities.

Choreography As Benediction or: Creating Dances When You Cannot Dance

When I was a child, staring out of the car window on one of our long family trips, I amused myself by watching an imaginary dancer leap and roll and duck, dodge and fly past, over and around the landscape. This was the first of my dancers. The first member of my troupe. Now, as a choreographer with twelve years and over fifty performance pieces under my belt, that same dancer and her friends still show me the way to fly past, over, around and through the landscape of a story.

As a young choreographer in the late ’90’s I had a very clear vision of how a dance was made and it had nothing to do with imaginary dancers. Improvisation, movement, dancing in the studio, trying things out, flow. Dances are made, I thought, on the body. Dances are made by dancing. This did not correspond, unfortunately, with the reality of myself and my abilities. I choreographed everything in my mind, usually without moving, transcribing the movements of my imaginary dancers to paper and then onto a performer. I felt that this was clearly not the way a real choreographer worked: sitting still and writing!

I had been diagnosed with arthritis throughout my body at age 15 and had broken a tooth learning that my body had ceased to be reliable on the dance floor. I was and am lucky enough to still be able to dance, but the level of pain & variability of capability is entirely unpredictable. This was a hard lesson for a young dancer so (taking the elderly Martha Graham as my inspiration) I began to choreograph seriously as a response to this illness. I thought that if I could not be a dancer I could still choreograph from a chair, shaking my cane at my company to a ripe old age. Part of the lesson of this illness was the necessity of reimagining what a choreographer does and how a dance is made.

So I went forward as a choreographer, creating dances instinctively, the way that felt right, but embarassed to be caught making my art “the wrong way.” Then, several years ago, after having begun a rather spotty meditation practice, I found myself kneeling, alone in the middle of the dance studio, face resting on my legs, eyes shut, waiting for the dancers in my mind to begin. And I recognized the open, calm awareness of meditation. Communion. Prostration. Benediction. My spiritual beliefs are very basic and animistic but I still carry some of the language and theatrical ritual of my Christian upbringing within me. I understand the world to be filled with endless benediction from all things and linking that feeling with my creation and my “dancers” — that they were dancing a benediction– was revelatory.

Now, with some care and thought, I view my way of dance-making as a helpful, practical tool and as a gift. I can make dances other ways but the alchemy of calming my mind, turning my vision in and simply watching is an experience like no other. Transcribing my imagination so directly is a joy that does not require much of my often painful body. I have inside myself this endless benediction: to the world, to the dancers, the space, and, importantly, from myself to myself.

Alisia’s work Dancing the Beast: A Gathering of Dancers, Heroes & Other Beautiful Monsters will be performed on December 4th & 5th at 8pm, 5pm matinee December 6th at Mobius. The And So No Sin Performance Troupe, featuring the choreography Alisia L. L. Waller, includes Cat Murcek, Alma Baumwoll & Sunny Hitt, as well as original sound created & performed by Jon Francis Glancy with additional accompaniment created by Bennett Kuhn.

Mobius is located at 725 Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End (SOWA). Seating is limited, reservations strongly recommended. Call (617) 571-3066 or email dancingthebeast@gmail.com for reservations. Sliding scale may be available, please contact dancingthebeast@gmail.com for further information.

Image Credits: All images taken by Alisia L. L. Waller. Picture 1 = Cat Murcek jumping over Sunny Hitt Picture 2 = L-R Cat Murcek & Alma Baumwoll Picture 3 = L-R Alma Baumwoll & Cat Murcek

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A few months ago, our sibling blog Keepers of Tradition highlighted a video with singer-songwriter Kristin Andreassen. The video (which you can watch, below) features Boston schoolkids, Kristin’s irrepressible music, and a great premise. Intrigued by the video - and also by Kristin’s singular blend of songwriting, percussive dance, and ebullient wit - we asked the singer-songwriter about her music, her eclectic background, and the unique demands on the life of an inventive musical artist.

ArtSake: The video for your song “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes” features 2nd graders from the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton. Can you talk a little bit about how that video came about?

Kristin: I have an awesome connection in Boston with a woman named Lindsay O’Donovan. She’s my friend & bandmate Aoife’s mom, and she’s an amazing supporter of local musicians and music programs for kids. One day I told Lindsay I wanted to make a music video for “Crayola” and I wanted to include kids but I wasn’t sure how. I especially wanted to work with kids (usually city kids) who know a lot of rhymes and hand rhythms, and who haven’t yet forgotten how to play pattycake (I always insist I didn’t make up any complicated body percussion for “Crayola.” I just remember what I used to do on the playground!).

So Lindsay introduced me to her friend Megan Howe, a teacher at the Conservatory Lab School in Brighton. The school focuses on music as a teaching tool, so it seemed like a great fit. I would pay for the video and hopefully create a fun real-life musical experience for the kids, and the school would allow me to take over the schedule of this second grade class for a day and a half and put them to work on my project.

I was really impressed with the school’s flexibility in general. First I went to meet the kids and we sang the song together. Then Megan incorporated it into her music curriculum and they sang the song every day getting ready. They also practiced their breakdancing moves from dance class the year before (seriously, they studied breakdancing in school!). So when Ballard (my music video director) and I came back to film them, they were totally on board with the song and the project in general.

ArtSake: Earlier in your career, you spent five years as a performer/company member with the Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble in Maryland. Do you still perform as a dancer and how does it interplay with your work as a songwriter?

Kristin: After Footworks, I joined a stringband called Uncle Earl. I mostly play guitar and sing in that band but at least one time during every show I’ll still pull out a clogging number. I’ve also managed to make it back for some kind of Footworks reunion show once or twice a year, but I have to admit I’ve been feeling out of practice.

My dancing has been incredibly influential in my songwriting – in the first songs especially. Even though I knew some piano and some chords on the guitar, I didn’t really play any instruments well enough to accompany myself when I started writing. So my very first songs were a capella, accompanied by rhythm only. (”Hello Where Are You?”, “Like the Snow,” “Faith,” “Crayola” are a few like that.) I eventually found chords for those songs but it was after the fact. These days I write more often on guitar or piano, but I think the rhythmic influence is still there.

I’m also really interested in putting together a show of original songs illustrated with dance. One time I commissioned my friend Emily Crews (from Footworks) to choreograph dance to six or seven songs (modern and percussive). We tried it once but I want to do it again with a “real” stage (wings and some lights… deluxe stuff like that).

Check out the Kung Fu/clogging extravaganza Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat, which Kristin helped create.

ArtSake: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe you’ve worked as a train porter, lived on a bus while touring as a dancer and musician, and spent two winters in the Canadian arctic working on a school-based Internet project (I detect a theme of travel and exposure to the elements). Would it be fair to say you’ve had an eclectic past? And would it furthermore be fair to say that eclectic past has insinuated its way into your music?

Kristin: Eclectic? Oh, yes, you can use that word. I’ve never really followed “the rules” in my career. That’s not out of rebelliousness… it’s more about my ignorance (or innocence?) of the rules in the first place. I didn’t start dancing professionally till I was out of college (with a degree in history) and I think I didn’t know enough about the industry to think I was too old! Plus, in folk music there are a lot less rules to begin with. It’s the kind of music you really can play all your life and you’re less likely to feel like you to have to retire when you get old and wrinkled ;-).

ArtSake: Are there any other unique experiences that no list of your work history should be without?

Kristin: Well, recently, my friends found out that in high school I was a co-host of a call-in public access tv show in Hillsboro, Oregon called Homework Hotline. Does that count? I mostly did people’s math homework for them live on TV. I don’t even know why I’m admitting that here but I think it’s hilarious.

ArtSake: Your compositions seem to have equally strong relationships with American folk traditions and contemporary music. Can you talk a little bit about the way tradition and invention come together in your art?

Kristin: After dancing, the first music I really focused on playing was American old time music. I’m grateful for that now, because no matter what the songwriting fad of the day might be, I feel like I’ll always have a folk musician’s ingrained sense of what a truly timeless song sounds like.

When I started writing, I remember being self-conscious about not wanting to put too much of myself in my songs. What I love about traditional music is that it’s direct and honest without really being “personal.” I think good pop music has that same quality. There’s poetry there if you want to look for it, but on the surface it’s friendly, and maybe even danceable. I go for that in my writing.

But I also think I used to self-censor a little too much. I would only play the songs that I felt could stand on their own (i.e., songs that could be sung by somebody other than me the songwriter). I would keep my more introspective or abstract songs to myself. In the last few years, I’ve loosened up on that.

I noticed that some of my favorite songwriters in the world tell very specific and personal stories in their songs. There’s just a certain quality in either the writing or the delivery that makes it transcend self-obsession (I’m thinking of Leonard Cohen, Dan Bern, Jeff Lewis, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon…). So I realized it’s not impossible to write in a very personal way and make it universally appealing. It’s just a skill… and now I’m working on it!

ArtSake: I was interested to see your New Song Club promotion, where subscribers receive a new original song every month. You seem to be a natural at making use of technology to reach audiences. Did you have to force yourself into the world of YouTube clips, digital distribution, and multiple web presences, or was it a natural fit?

Kristin: Oh my goodness, my friends have had to drag me kicking and screaming onto Facebook. I just set up an account last month. Back in the day, I was pretty quick to get a web site, e-mail lists and even MySpace but I think some time about a year ago I had a total technology meltdown. I was counted up the time I spent on the computer (bookings, promotion, e-mails, social networking) and compared that to the time I spent playing music and I got really depressed.

I can’t tell you how many musicians I’ve known who, as soon as they get a little bit successful, can’t find any time to play music anymore because of all the administrative work it takes to be a “middle level” touring musician. The curse of the self-employed lifestyle is that while you seemingly have control of your schedule, you’re also never really “off duty.” It’s so easy to just keep e-mailing and posting and blogging all night.

On the other hand, the computer can be really great for creativity if you’re using it to find material, or watch other peoples’ performances. YouTube is just amazing for that. And as an old time musician, it’s so easy to find the old “obscure” tunes that in another era we would have had to make a trip to some archive in Washington, DC to hear.

The Song of the Month Club is a combination of two technologies – recording (which I love) and sending the recordings out to online club members. The second part is a chore, I have to admit. But I like getting the immediate response to my recordings – as opposed to waiting and putting out an album and hearing people’s reactions sometimes years after the song was written.

Ambivalence. There. That’s my verdict on technology in music.

ArtSake: Have you changed anything about the way you make or market your work in response to the recent economic downturn?

Kristin: I moved out of my apartment! I know this sounds dramatic but seriously, I found myself facing a year of less show bookings than at any time in my music career. My band Uncle Earl had signed on for an eight-week bus tour with three other bands, organized by an established music management group. I was counting on that income to cover some months of more creative work that won’t pay off for a while (I’ve been producing an album of children’s music).

But with the economy, a lot of venues cancelled or wouldn’t commit to hiring the tour and it was shortened from eight to three weeks. I just decided that the best way to lower my expenses was to go visit my family (in Oregon) for a few months and then sublet from friends who were on tour when I was back on the east coast. It’s actually been fine for me, because I don’t own a whole lot of “stuff” and I enjoy traveling, but it definitely was a decision directly influenced by loss of work due to the economy.

ArtSake: What’s next for you?

Kristin: I’m really excited about the children’s record I’m producing. It’s called Jumping Through Hoops: Songs of Bravery and Courage, and the songs have mostly been written by my friend Kari Groff-Denis, a child psychiatrist in New York City. The songs cover issues kids face like sadness, bullying, divorce, moving to a new town, making mistakes, etc. It feels good to be making music with a very specific purpose. It’ll be useful for mental health professionals, but I also think it’s good music that adults will like too.

Kristin Andreassen is a singer-songwriter, musician, and dancer. Along with her solo work (her album Kiss Me Hello came out in 2006) , she is a member of the old-time string band Uncle Earl and the “folk noir” vocal trio Sometymes Why. As a dancer, she toured, performed, and taught dance with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble. Recently based in Boston, she is currently touring and producing a CD of music for children.

Listen to Kristin’s November 2008 appearance on public radio’s Prairie Home Companion.

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Money Talks
MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center, in collaboration
with Berkshire Creative, IS183 Art School, and Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development is offering Tricks of the Trade, a free professional development seminar series for artists. The next session focuses on pricing one’s artwork. Registration is required. Contact Jess Conzo, program coordinator for MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center, at 413.663.5253.

Everybody’s rockin’; Everybody’s fruggin’
Opportunity available for choreographers at the Boston Center for the Arts. Movement at the Mills is a program designed for independent dance companies to showcase complete or in-progress work. For more information, contact Andrea Blesso Albuquerque, Boston Center for the Arts, or ablesso@bcaonline.org.
Deadline: Proposals due Friday, November 20

Behind the Curtain
Opportunity available for Playwrights from The Ensemble Studio Theatre.
They are accepting all one act plays which have not been reviewed in New York City. They recommend submissions not exceed 40 minutes in running time. Playwrights are welcome to submit up to two submissions.
Deadline: December 1, 2009

Kraftwerk
The Brookline Arts Center will host its 35th Annual Crafts Showcase December 2 - December 20, 2009 and is currently inviting artists to participate in a sale and exhibition.
Deadline: December 2, 2009

Fame is a bee. Fame is a bee. It has a song –
It has a sting — Ah, too, it has a wing. Emily Dickinson
Poetry Society of America offers annual awards for both emerging and established poets in recognition at all stages of their careers.
Deadline: December 22, 2009

Image Credit: Photo above from Liz Roncka, Real Time Perfomance Project, Boston Center for the Arts, Mills Gallery. For more on Liz, check out her blog (Was) Daily Dances, chronicling the creation of her work from the Movement at the Mills project.

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In a ceremony at The Boston Foundation this past Tuesday night, eight artists (including six past fellows/finalists from the MCC Artist Fellowships Program) were announced as the inaugural Brother Thomas Fellows, receiving unrestricted awards of $15,000.

The awards are part of the legacy of Brother Thomas Bezanson, a Benedictine monk whose porcelain ceramics are world-renowned for their mastery and grace. The Boston Foundation worked with Bernie and Sue Pucker from the Pucker Gallery (longtime friends of Brother Thomas) to establish the Brother Thomas Fund, creating a means to support working contemporary artists through the sale of Brother Thomas’s work.

Artists are nominated for consideration for the award, which is planned for every two years. Sixty-two artists were nominated for the 2009 Brother Thomas Fellowships, representing a wide range of exceptional artists in many disciplines. The eight fellows are:

• John Oluwole ADEkoje, a filmmaker and playwright who teaches at the Boston Arts Academy
• Kati Agcs, a composer and member of the composition faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston
• Richard Hoffman (MCC Fiction/Creative Nonfiction ‘02), a poet, prose writer, and writer in residence at Emerson College
• Barbara Helfgott Hyett (MCC Poetry Fellow ‘98), a poet and founder of the Workshop for Publishing Poets
• Brian Knep (MCC Sculpture/Installation Finalist ‘07), a new media artist who was the first artist-in-residence at Harvard Medical School
• Alla Kovgan (MCC Film & Video Fellow ‘09), a filmmaker and co-founder of Kinodance Company and the Balagan Experimental Film Series
• Tracy Heather Strain (MCC Film & Video Fellow ‘07), a filmmaker whose work-in-progress is a documentary on Lorraine Hansberry, author of Raisin in the Sun
• Heather White (MCC Crafts Finalist ‘09), a jeweler, maker of wearable art, and Associate professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Congratulations to all nominees and fellows!

The panelists were: Nicholas Baume, former Chief Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston; Emilya Cachapero, Director of Artistic Programs for the Theatre Communications Group; Michael Cain, a composer and pianist; Kwame Dawes, poet in residence at the University of South Carolina Arts Institute; Caridad Svich, playwright, translator and editor; Judith Tannenbaum, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum; and Joe Zina, former Executive Director of the Coolidge Corner Theatre.

Images: Brian Knep, FROG TIME (2007), non-repeating video installation, computer, video projector, custom software, 7×5 ft; Still from NORA, co-directed by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton; Heather White, MURMURING BROOCH (2006), cast sterling lips, gold, rubies, seed and cultured pearls, 4.75×4.75x.75 in.

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New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and the National Dance Project (NDP) are offering a unique New England professional development opportunity around the presentation by Cambodia’s foremost contemporary choreographer, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, as she shares information about her new project, The Lives of Giants, and provides an update on Cambodian performing arts today. The event will take place on October 6, 2009 from 2 PM to 5 PM at the Warner Bently Theater, Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. RSVP: jforde@nefa.org or 617.951.0010 x512

An informal discussion follows on New England’s links with Cambodia, Cambodian-American communities in the region, and NEFA’s support strategies that link global and local creation and presentation programs.

Participants include Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, Choroeographer; Artistic Director, Khmer Arts Ensemble; Sreyleak Rin, dancer/member, Khmer Arts Ensemble; John Shapiro, Executive Director, Khmer Arts; Deirdre Valente, Lisa Booth Management, Inc.; Rebecca Blunk, Executive Director, New England Foundation for the Arts.

NEFA will provide a number of travel subsidies to assist New England artists, presenters, and educators to attend this professional development opportunity. To apply for travel subsidy (of up to $100) and to RSVP please email jforde@nefa.org by Monday, September 21, 2009.

For more on Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, here’s a interview with her on FRONTLINE/World talking about how classical dance helped her understand and communicate her experience under the Khmer Rouge.

And if you’re interested in traditional Cambodian dance locally, be sure to check out Angkor Dance Troupe. They were formed in 1986, in Lowell, by Mr. Tim Chan Thou, Angkor’s Program Director, along with a small group of dancers who learned traditional Cambodian dance in refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Image credit: Pamina Devi: A Cambodian Magic Flute by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro. Photo by John Shapiro

Monkey Dance, Cambodian dance, 2007, Angkor Dance Troupe, Inc., Lowell, Massachusetts, Photography by James P. Higgins

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Here’s an interesting and informative article about creating a work-in-progress webcast. The piece is written by Jaki Levy, a New Media Consultant and Founder of Arrow Root Media. Be sure to check out the webcasts he has created with Misnomer Dance Theater.

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