Arts Management at College of Charleston

After stumbling upon this article by Michael Kaiser from the Huffington Post, I began to think about how much of our youth is actually involved in the arts.  With this predicament that Kaiser brings up, what can arts organizations do to improve the participation of our youth and how can he do it?

The Millennials Project

By: Michael Kaiser President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

One of the major new initiatives I announced at the Kennedy Center’s recent announcement for our 2011-2012 season was a project aimed at bringing “20 somethings” into the theater.

We in the arts face a major problem: we now have an entire generation of young people who have had virtually no exposure to the arts. They do not go to theater, concerts, dance performances or operas.

I am constantly amazed at the low culture IQ of very bright and talented young people who have achieved a great deal in other realms. When I was once called a “media Caruso” in the press, a 23-year-old with whom I worked asked what a Caruso was!

Another business associate asked me if Giuseppe Verdi was dead. He was a Harvard-educated professional who was an adept piano player.

It is easy to point to culprits: the lack of arts education in our public schools, the astonishing array of personal popular entertainment options that occupy the time of younger people, and the ticket prices for concerts, plays and operas that are so high they keep many young (and old) people from attending.

But whatever the cause (and we need to analyze these causes so we can find cures for the future), we have remedial work to do with the current group of high school graduates who simply do not consider attending our performances or visiting our art galleries as an option that is relevant to their lives.

This is serious business: if we don’t address this problem we will not have the subscribers, single ticket buyers, donors, volunteers and board members we need to sustain our organizations in twenty years as the members of this group hit their 40s and 50s. The arts have survived and grown in this nation because there is always a new group of middle aged people who replace their parents as our supporters. But this phenomenon has only been maintained because each new generation cares about the arts when they are in a financial position to help us.

But the current group of twenty-year-olds (deemed the Millennials) does not have any experiences with us. Will they be there for us when we need them? The goal of our Millennials project is to do remedial work; to bring a group of Millennials into our theaters often enough that they build a habit of arts participation.

We are attempting to attract this group with targeted marketing, ticket pricing incentives, and especially repertory that is attractive to them but also stretches their comfort zones. We also hope to develop enough projects that allow them to interact with artists and art forms and to participate in art making.

We are addressing the longer term issue with Any Given Child, our affordable yet comprehensive program for arts education in the public schools for grades K-8. We hope not to repeat the problems we have with the current generation of recent high school graduates.

We cannot do this alone. Our hope is that every major arts organization will join in this fight.

The future of the arts in America is at stake.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kaiser/the-millennials-project_b_844309.html

Young Contemporaries & Salon des Refuses: The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts will host the 26th annual juried student art exhibition Young Contemporaries 2011 from April 1 through April 26. This year’s exhibition juror is Amy Mackie, Director of Visual Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, LA. “Young Contemporaries 2011” is co-produced by the Halsey Institute, the Studio Art Department, and Visual Arts Club at the College of Charleston. This event is free and open to the public so please come out and support your fellow classmates!

Monday Night Concert Series: Tonight, April 4, the Music Department at the College of Charleston is hosting a Monday night concert series.  The event is “Dances” by Natalia Khoma (cello) and Volodymyr Vynnytsky Duo.  Admission is $10 at the door and FREE for CofC students with a valid ID.  The event will be held in the Recital Hall in the Simons Center on the College of Charleston campus.

International Piano Series: The College of Charleston Music Department is hosting a performance by Eric Clark tomorrow, April 5.  Eric Clark, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University as a full scholarship student of Sergey Schepkin and Enrique Graf. He has performed throughout the US including places like New York’s Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh’ Carnegie Music Hall, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, and in Europe in Perugia and  Montecastello di Vibio in Italy and at the Ahaus Castle in Germany. He has received awards from the Music Teachers National Association, the Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Mellon Concerto Competition and the Silverman Chamber Music Competition.  The event will take place from 8-9:30 PM at the Memminger Auditorium, 56 Beaufain St.  Admission for the event is $20 in advance or at the door and FREE for CofC students and individuals under 18.

The Arts Management Program Hopes You Will Take Advantage of These Fantastic Viewing Opportunities!

The article below caught my attention after skimming the pages of BBC’s online newspaper.  After reading the article, I began to think about the innovations arts organizations are taking not just in their marketing technique, but also in the way they are viewed by the audience.  How amazing is it that this organization embraced 3D filming?

Giselle 3D is described as the world's first 3D ballet

3D cinema last year was dominated by animation and fantasy blockbusters such as Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland – but now arthouse films are getting in on the act.  Last week the world of ballet took its first delicate and perfectly-poised steps into the world of 3D cinema.  Giselle 3D – which was shot almost a year ago at Russia’s historic Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg – received its big screen premiere in London and will be shown in selected cinemas around the UK in April.  It’s not just ballet which is seeking to entice arthouse audiences to don 3D glasses. Opera entered the fray earlier this year with 3D cinema screenings of Bizet’s Carmen and Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia.

Giselle was filmed at the historic Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.  The premiere screening of Giselle 3D last week was introduced by the Mariinsky Theatre’s energetic artistic director Valeriy Gergiev.  The 3D ballet stars Natalia Osipova as Giselle and Leonid Sarafanov as Count Albert. It tells the story of a simple village girl who falls in love with a prince disguised as a peasant.  The production was shot in St Petersburg last year by British company Can Communicate.  According the Gergiev, Giselle 3D is just the beginning. “We have a list of productions that we want to film in 3D and there will be unusual choices, not only classical or traditional.”  But he said there was more work to be done with the format.  ”I have to be honest with you – some of it looks even better than it does in the theatre, but some of it doesn’t… but it is altogether a positive experience and an important major step.”

So will 3D help bring in new audiences to opera and ballet? One of its selling points is that it opens the door to expensive artforms for the price of a cinema ticket.  Valeriy Gergiev: “Some will come because they are fans of 3D, some will come because they love ballet and they will be curious about what difference 3D makes.”  Joe Dives of Can Communicate said the goal of Giselle 3D was to give audiences a sense of being in the auditorium.”This will give people the opportunity to see this beautiful and timeless content in areas of the world where they would never have the opportunity to see it.”

3D Ballet