State of the Arts

State of the Arts: June 9, 2009 Archive

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Broadway cast of "A Chorus Line" offers master class in Minneapolis

Posted at 10:19 AM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Dance, Film, Theater

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Is there a high-stepper in you? On June 18th members from the Broadway touring company for "A Chorus Line" will teach choreography from the show at the Lundstrum Center for the Performing Arts.

The Lundstrum Center has a stong connection to the show; its artistic director, Kerry Casserly, performed in "A Chorus Line" on Broadway for ten years. Her sisters, also at the center, performed in regional tours.

If you need some inspiration to get you up and moving, check out the new documentary on the revival of "A Chorus Line," called "Every Little Step."

Image courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

The Minnesota Fringe Festival expands to St. Paul! (just barely)

Posted at 11:52 AM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (2 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Theater

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Each year the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the state's largest unjuried theater event, descends on the city of Minneapolis for eleven days, taking over every venue it can get its grubby little hands on, and creating an immense theater extravaganza out of thin air, thousands of volunteers, and boundless quantities of creativity (What is a unit of creativity? Does it comes in tons? Watts? Bytes?).

For many years the city of St. Paul has been the neglected little sister of this festival. "We have theaters, too!" she cries. "Good ones! And within walking distance of each other!" But to no avail - the festival, out of a desire to remain relatively compact (allowing audiences to get from one show to another in less than 30 minutes), has drawn the line at, well, the city line.

But times, they are a changin'. This year you'll notice the sub-heading for the Minnesota Fringe Festival is "Minneapolis and St. Paul." That's because one little venue, Gremlin Theater, lies just over the borderline on University Avenue.

While this may appear to be a small chink in the Fringe's "Minneapolis Uber Alles" armour, it's actually an indication of a larger movement at work. Fringe Executive Director Robin Gillette and Communications Director Matthew Foster (seen above shortly after drinking large quantities of coffee) say they are working at making the Minnesota Fringe Festival just that - a Minnesota festival. They've made trips across the state to visit communities with their own theaters and talk about ways they can get involved. That's not to say people will be driving three hours between shows in upcoming festivals, but it's an invitation to Minnesotans all over to claim the Fringe Festival as their own.

Want to check out the more than 160 shows that made the final list for this year's Fringe (July 30th - August 9th)? You can find them here.

(2 Comments)

We Art Minnesota: The Bracket Park Rocket

Posted at 2:00 PM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (2 Comments)
Filed under: Public Art, We Art Minnesota

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Welcome to the first installment of an occasional series here on State of the Arts we're calling "We Art Minnesota." We've been asking Minnesotans to share their favorite works of art that belong to the state, and why. People can submit images of themselves with their favorite work of art, or put together a short video if they like (preferably under a minute in length). It can be a piece of public art, something in a Minnesota museum, or even a building you think is particularly lovely. Use your imagination! Once we get enough submissions, we'll look at putting together a map of the state, covered with links to your favorite art. Voila - State of the Arts!

Today's submission comes from Ed Linder. Ed writes:

This piece of art is really close to me for lots of reasons. 1) it's located about a block from my house and 2) I helped get this piece of art created.

About 7 years ago the Rocket was part of the playground equipment located in Bracket Park. It was one of the last Rockets in the Minneapolis area. They were going to get rid of the Rocket to make way for new and improved playground equipment. My son Theo, at the time was 5 years old and was really up set that the Rocket was going to be destroyed. I thought if there was a way to save the rocket it would make a lot of kids and people in the community happy because of the wonderful memories the Rocket brought to them.

I looked in to what was being done and there was a local group doing just that, "saving the rocket." The group was called Brackett Rocket Boosters. I helped raise money to save the rocket and I was on the committee to help choose the artist who would make the rocket into a piece of art. That is my favorite art piece in Minnesota.

Ed also sent along some links(thanks Ed! We love links!). You can find out more information about the Bracket Park Rocket here and about artist Randy Walker here.

Interested in submitting your own video or photo of your favorite art in Minnesota? We'd love to hear from you.

(2 Comments)

Art on the Web: Pulsing lights and pretty sounds

Posted at 3:30 PM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Music

MPR's Stephanie Curtis sent this link my way, and it quickly became addictive. Click on the squares, and make your own rhythmic melody. So what if it's a time-suck? You're being creative!

Music still doing well in the recession - or is it?

Posted at 9:14 PM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Music

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Earlier today MPR's Chris Roberts reported on how live music events are still selling out, despite the dour economic times. Apparently people are choosing to attend concerts instead of say, a more expensive weekend get-away.

But through MPR's Public Insight Network we're hearing stories about other areas in which music is suffering: namely, kids' music lessons.

Danielle Sells in Minneapolis writes that her spouse has fewer students to teach these days. Jaette Carpenter teaches at Camden Music School. She says students are lining up for "scholarships" - which sometimes amounts to teachers donating their time. And composer Randall Davidson says he's got his fingers crossed that parents will sign their kids up for the Junior Composers' Institute he runs each summer.

In addition to cutting back on music lessons, families are trying to trade in those instruments for cash, too. Musician Kevin Anthony says he's noticed a flood of instruments selling for cheap on craigslist.com.

MPR Photo/Chris Roberts

(1 Comments)
June 2009
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