Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Could Somebody Blog This?

One way that the theatrosphere might serve fellow artists is to send a representative to meetings to blog what happened -- by which I don't really mean interpret and evaluate, but rather provide as objective an account as possible. Coming up June 7th, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council is hosting a meeting called "Saving Our Cultural Capital."

Saving Our Cultural Capital:
The Challenges Facing Independent Venues and Artists in Manhattan
Saturday, June 7th, 2:00pm – 6:00pm
Wolman Hall, 64 West 11th Street

A symposium hosted by The Tank, Milano The New School For Management and Urban Policy, and Fractured Atlas, in cooperation with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer

Co-hosted by Collective Unconscious, chashama, The Field and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

New York City is a world-renowned cultural destination: from big-budget Broadway shows to dance performances in small Brooklyn lofts to Chelsea gallery openings. The performing arts drive the city's economy and tourism and give New York the cultural texture that makes it a uniquely dynamic environment.

As cost-of-living and real estate prices continue to rise, can young artists and small venues still call Manhattan home? New York – and Manhattan, in particular – cannot lose the energy brought by these individuals and organizations, and the higher-market entertainment industry in the city relies on their innovations…but can we still make New York work for the emerging arts? This event will bring together city officials, arts professionals, business representatives, advocates and freelancers for an afternoon of conversation about solutions to the challenges facing independent venues and emerging artists in Manhattan.

This event is FREE and open to
artists, advocates, policy-makers, foundation representatives
& everyone committed to keeping Manhattan the cultural capital of the world

Anyone able and willing to take this on?

6 comments:

Nick said...

Scott, There is one thing worse than sitting thru blah blah blah. That would be being charged with reporting on that blah blah blah.

Some of these groups are nobly attempting and succeeding in fits and starts at servicing artists in the city. Anyone can read about their work at their respective web sites. I might attend this, but I expect there will be little new said or proposed. There will be some explanations of missions and such. This is a forever conversation in this city. The current Showcase Code reform debate is part of this larger conversation.

As cost-of-living and real estate prices continue to rise, can young artists and small venues still call Manhattan home?

Simple to answer. No. And that's not being cynical. Who cares about Manhattan? I have been following some interesting work and art scene developing in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Reminds me of the Lower East Side and East Village back in the early '80's. Except for the few small pockets, Manhattan is off the radar of innovative work from young artists except as market exploiter of work developed elsewhere.

Scott Walters said...

silent_nic@knight -- As you probably know from reading this blog, my active concerns fall outside of Manhattan or Brooklyn. However, I do think that the dissemination of information provides an important service. While your boredom with such meetings may not make you an ideal candidate for blogging about it, it seems to me that blogs provide an opportunity for the conversation to spread beyond those who were able to attend the meeting. If, in fact, the answer to the question about making Manhattan home is "no," as you say, then it might also be worthwhile to have that answer (or the challenges that lead to that answer) available for young artists attempting to find their artistic home.

Nick said...

My "boredom with such meetings" is considerably less than those bloggers who never even attend such meetings.

Like I said, this conversation point is forever (30 years at least since artists began moving outside of Manhattan to Williamsburg and beyond). And this conversation is also already spread all over the place at the web sites and blogs of the NYC groups sponsoring this meeting. See also NYC theatre blogs speaking to the Showcase reform. So nothing new is likely to come out of this afternoon yak. Department of Redundancy Department.

Nick said...

Scott and anyone else intersted,

The talk was video recorded by The Tank and they will post it at their site.

http://www.thetanknyc.org/culturalcapital

Ian David Moss said...

Hi Scott,
I attended the event on Saturday and took notes. My own account is available on my blog, Createquity: http://createquity.blogspot.com/2008/06/saving-our-cultural-capital.html

Best,
Ian

Scott Walters said...

Thanks Ian and silent_nic! --Scott

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