Business Arts Partnership
2008 Artistic Excellence Winner
Anatomical Scenario Movement Theater: Anna and the Annadroids, Clone Zone
In January, Anatomical Scenario Movement Theater threw audiences into a multimedia whirlwind with Anna and the Annadroids: Clone Zone, a sharp, fierce combination of dancing, innovative costume design, original electronic music and provocative CGI video environments. Fifteen Columbus-based artists devoted their talents to help create this cohesive piece of multi-media dance theatre. In Clone Zone, performers advance through the five video game-like stages of lead dancer Anna’s consciousness, forcing her to face her fears and grow as an individual. Anna and her Annadroids travel through Happy Birthday Land, Suburban Daze, Divine Decline, (man)ufactured and rewind-a-spine. In these worlds, birthday presents rule, houses all look the same, technology is supreme, disease spreads and at the end, audiences are left to wonder whether anyone can ever escape the Clone Zone.
The Columbus Dispatch called Clone Zone an engaging and entertaining 70-minute work that extends the company’s tradition of inventiveness. Dispatch critic Barbara Zuck writes, "These young dancers are satirists who, at their best, take dead aim at various targets and hit bull-eye after bull-eye." The show, which debuted at the New York Fringe Festival, also got rave reviews there, with critics calling it "a must-see" and "quite amazing for the amount of creativity involved."
2008 Artistic Excellence Nominees
BalletMet Columbus: 30x30
BalletMet Columbus kicked off its 30th anniversary season in August with the groundbreaking 30x30, bringing 30 choreographers from across North America to Columbus to choreograph 30 new works for the company in one week. With pieces ranging from classical ballet to contemporary to hip-hop fusion, the project affirmed BalletMet’s commitment to new work and the dancers’ versatility. Many of the 30x30 choreographers had decades of experience, including James Kudelka and Stanton Welch; others were emerging artists, including Alex Ketley, Amy Seiwert and BalletMet dancers Jimmy Orrante, Justin Gibbs, Dmitri Suslov and Adam Hundt.
30x30 took audiences through the creative process with rehearsals, showcases and performances. Six choreographers each day created one new work each. Audiences attended free open rehearsals. At informal showcases, audiences viewed works created that day and had the opportunity to ask artists questions. At five performances, audiences watched the completed works. All programs took place in BalletMet’s 225-seat performance space. Free open rehearsals were attended by 1,125 people. Every performance sold out. Demand for tickets was so high that some patrons purchased standing room. The Columbus Dispatch called 30x30 “a treasure chest of intriguing, often innovative ballets,” and Alive said, “30x30 reminds audiences that ballet is dancing and dancing is, at its most basic level, fun…”
Columbus Association for the Performing Arts, Opera Columbus and Phoenix Theatre for Children: The collaboration on The Secret Garden
In a unique partnership, CAPA, Phoenix Theatre for Children and Opera Columbus joined together to produce Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon’s Tony Award-winning musical version of The Secret Garden. Under the direction of Phoenix’s Steven C. Anderson, this visionary production paired deaf and hearing actors on stage together for a bilingual presentation that employed both the Southern Theatre in Columbus and the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. The production was also supported by the talented musicians of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and the costume shop of BalletMet Columbus. Further assistance was provided by Artistic SLS and the Ohio School for the Deaf.
The Secret Garden is a classic story of love, loss and redemption. American Sign Language became the choreography that rendered a visual feast, reinforcing the spoken words while engaging the deaf community. More than 6,200 theatre-goers were riveted by the extraordinary beauty of the lush musical score, the dramatic voices and the stunningly expressive sign language.
The Columbus Dispatch called this partnership “an unprecedented collaboration,” and the performance “admirable and unusual… very special indeed.”
Ohioana Library Association: Ohioana Book Festival – A Good Roots Celebration
The Ohioana Library collects, promotes, and celebrates the works of Ohio authors. In September, the Library presented the inaugural Ohioana Book Festival. The event was based on the 2007 book, Good Roots: Writers Reflect on Growing Up in Ohio. Ten of the book’s contributing authors, poets, and journalists - including two Pulitzer Prize winners - came to Columbus. Friday, September 14 was devoted to author visits in schools and other community venues and a live broadcast on WOSU. The main event on Saturday, September 15, held at Ohioana and the State Library of Ohio, featured panel discussions, readings, and book signings with the Good Roots authors. Over two days, the Festival reached an audience of more than 6,500 people.
The Ohioana Book Festival was a great success in part because of the tremendous support of its Honorary Chair, Ohio’s First Lady, Frances Strickland, and the festival sponsors and partners. Ohioana achieved its immediate goal to bring authors and the reading public together in a stimulating, educational and fun setting. The organization's long-range goal is to build the Ohioana Book Festival into a major educational, artistic and cultural event that draws thousands of people each year to Columbus. Ohio is one of the few large states that has not had its own state book festival. Ohioana’s goal is to make its festival that event for Ohio. The second Ohioana Book Festival – Celebrating Ohio’s Authors – is set for this May 9-10.
The Wexner Center for the Arts: State Fare
State Fare — the first juried show of its kind at the Wexner Center for the Arts — showcased the work of three Ohio artists selected by jurors from outside of the state. The call for entries, requesting work from artists 18 or over who were residents of Ohio at the time of application and at the time of the exhibition, resulted in submissions from more than 500 artists from 99 different municipalities. Jurors from the Orange County Museum of Art, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago selected sculptor Rain Harris, an Ohio State grad student; video artist Mark Harris, on the University of Cincinnati faculty; and multimedia installation artist Tracy Featherstone, on the Miami University faculty.
Then, last summer, the Wexner Center devoted its two largest galleries to the show. During the run of the show, the center successfully piloted a cell phone tour, which featured comments from the artists themselves, as well as introductory remarks from Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland. The local and state media devoted significant coverage to this show, with the Cincinnati Enquirer art critic noting that the Ohio focus was “a big deal given the center's international rep and its active schedule.”
