at least that is what it seems from the events of yesterday and the plans for today. Went to the Prelude festival at the Segal Center at City College campus on 34th and 5th (an odd place for a college campus, but so be it) and spent most the late afternoon and evening there. Arrived in time to check out a panel in the large space. Entered just as it was about to begin. Panel was on the stage, but audience was empty. So those two or three audience members were invited to be part of the panel. Tom, the moderator seemed very happy to add a few people and he was a very welcoming and inclusive presence. Panel was somewhat about "failure" in the arts and consisted of one artistic director of a small but important not for profit---a woman who is a leader in one of the leading grant giving organizations and a few others. As I suspected, a lot of ideas were very vague and no one seemed to want to come to terms with the "arts in the present day" aspect of the topic which was also part of it. Lots of ideas; I have thought about it a lot since then, but think that the whole topic of failure and also entitlement for artists (which also came through in the panel) is full of contradictions.
More on this some other time (why not now?) I would be interested in a panel that tackled the intersection of art and advocacy in this day and age. Can they work together. Is some art simply too personal to make a political or social statement? Continued at some point? We will see....
Rest of the evening spent watching works in progress was pretty disappointing. Two very self indulgent pieces and then a fake "panel" on Death of a Salesman, which I waited for (very tired) because I love the play. But I found the moderator ( a young middle ageish white guy) very self satisfied; his panel was given the most superficial aspects of the play to deal with, and actually the idea was more about "selling" and "salesmen" then the play. Left as the second "guest" was being interviewed; he was a voice over guy, and his smugness (or what appeared to be that) really turned me off. Would have liked to stay for the third guest, a talented actress who was in the last revival of the play, but simply could not bear ten minutes plus with the second guest and the smarmy leader.
Today it looks like a full day at Prelude, ending with my friend's Sibyl's project and then a party at a nearby. bar. A little over the top, but will try to make it work. No work today, so should not be tired by the end---more friends there then yesterday---all the stars have aligned.....
No comments:
Post a Comment