Business Arts Partnership
2007 Artistic Excellence Nominees
BalletMet Columbus
New performance space
Columbus became home to a new dance venue in September when BalletMet Columbus opened a 250-seat "black box" performance area. The 5,500-square-foot BalletMet Performance Space, on the northeast edge of Downtown, houses a scenery shop along with the performance area. BalletMet will use its new arena for student performances, rehearsals, limited-run shows and as a rental income generator, and the space will give BalletMet the opportunity to expand its stage offerings and improve its public outreach through an informal, intimate setting. To pay for the space, BalletMet undertook a $6.15 million capital campaign.
To celebrate the new venue, BalletMet kicked off its 2006-2007 season with a spectacular housewarming party for the public. Welcome Week, September 12-15, commemorated BalletMet's permanent home downtown and inaugurated the new venue with free dance classes and open rehearsals of the BalletMet Company. The week concluded with the free opening performance of New Works, New Space, New Steps in the new casual performance space. New Works, New Space, New Steps featured a diverse lineup of works from four exceptional choreographers. The program offered two revivals and two world premieres, including one international choreographic partnership. Premiering in New Works, New Space, New Steps were exciting new works by Columbus-based choreographer Maria Glimcher and Jacek Luminski, Director of Poland's Silesian Dance Theatre. Returning to the stage was Harrison McEldowney's Call It Off and KT Nelson's They've Lost Their Footing.
"The spacious 250-seat ‘black box' theater puts BalletMet in a very exclusive club among professional dance troupes worldwide...It's another smart move for this well-managed troupe," said Barbara Zuck, critic for The Columbus Dispatch.
cm2
Gallery Hop, Skip, and Jump!
Columbus Movement Movement (cm2) leapt out of the theater and into the streets for Gallery Hop, Skip, and Jump!, a site-specific series of dance events in Short North venues during the June, July and August 2006 Gallery Hops. cm2 joined forces with the Short North Business Association to redefine the boundaries between the audience and performers by incorporating dynamic contemporary dance into the monthly arts celebrations. Each month, three different choreographers featured repeatable performances throughout the night. Performances included: Fashiondroid Voguebots by Anatomical Scenario, performed in and around G&CO; Ballet Blanc by J. Lillian Gray, performed on the half hour in Short North crosswalks; and A Flock of Flamingoes by Grimaldi Circus, performed while dancers paraded up and down High Street. Jay Weitz of Columbus Alive credited cm2 with bringing dance back to the Columbus summer arts scene through this invigorating series.
cm2 continues to prove that contemporary dance and independent dance artists are a strong force in the Columbus performing arts scene. Founded in 2004, cm2 supports the development and visibility of Columbus contemporary dance artists by organizing performances, educational outreach, promotion, and networking. True to its nickname, a play on Einstein's well-known equation where e = cm2, cm2 creates and attracts energy for Columbus contemporary dance. Barbara Zuck of The Columbus Dispatch has described cm2's work as "athletic outbursts of ebullience and optimism," "thoughtful and fascinating," and "flawless presentation... with a look of its own." Jay Weitz of the Columbus Alive named cm2 as one of the Columbus dance highlights of 2005 and 2006. On the national dance scene, Dance Magazine named cm2 as one of the 25 to Watch in 2007.
Columbus Museum of Art
Kehinde Wiley: Columbus
The Columbus Museum of Art organized Kehinde Wiley: Columbus, an exhibition by the New York-based artist, whose heroic tall portraits address the image and status of young African American men while combining elements of modern culture with an Old Master's influence. On view September 8, 2006–January 7, 2007, the exhibition featured a new cycle of six paintings based on specific masterworks from the Museum's permanent collection, including Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck's Portrait of Andries Stilte, now a permanent part of the Museum's collection.
Wiley came to Columbus in the fall of 2005 to select his models by interviewing young African American men on the streets. He photographed the models dressed in contemporary urban fashion as they mimicked poses from the Museum's historic works. In the paintings, the models are photorealistic and the backgrounds are primarily images of what Wiley calls "floration," stylistic representations from designs that are Islamic, Baroque and Rococo in origin. The sacred and secular themes of the Renaissance and Baroque references give new meaning to embedded codes of gesture and dress, past and present, while provoking a reconsideration of lingering stereotypes about masculinity, race, and class in today's society. About his work, the 29-year old artist with roots in Los Angeles and an MFA from Yale has said, "What's most important in my work, in my own mind, is that the history of Western European painting is the history of Western European white men in positions of dominance."
While Wiley has gained acclaim for his work, this was the first time he selected works from one collection to create an exhibition of this kind. "What (his paintings) make you do is rethink the old masters, as well as rethink our image of young black males in our culture," said Columbus Museum of Art associate curator Joe Houston in a Daily Variety article.
Columbus State Community College
Vault
On July 20, Columbus State renewed its commitment to the central Ohio community with the grand opening of the Center for Workforce Development. Built with $27 million in state money, the 141,000-square-foot Center for Workforce Development is the largest academic center built to date at Columbus State. The building includes the latest technology, with audio-visual equipment and wireless Internet in every classroom. It includes classrooms, laboratories, workshops and office space for the college's Community Education and Workforce Development Division.
As it's Percent for Art portion of the Center for Workforce Development, Columbus State commissioned Michigan artist David Barr to create a sculpture that would celebrate the educational mission of Columbus State while honoring the cohesive design of the Discovery District, where Columbus State is located, and the signature red color featured in artwork throughout pieces at Columbus State and the neighboring Columbus College of Art and Design. The result was Vault, a sculpture of six elements, which refers to the evolution of human skills to locate, process, design and invent with natural resources and to suggest the mathematics, science, and philosophy created to do so. These educational disciplines are the foundation of navigation, surveying, engineering, architecture and technological accomplishments. Vault connects the east and west sides of Cleveland Avenue at Mount Vernon Avenue as it grows from smaller, granite pieces for the first three elements into a 30-foot granite and red steel sculpture at its completion.
About his work, Barr has said he feels that art transcends and connects people, instead of dividing them. "I hope that when people initially look at my work, they may sense an order, even though they don't know what it is, and that the more they live with a piece, the more it reveals to them," Barr says on his Web site.
Columbus Jazz Orchestra and BalletMet Columbus
Jazz Moves
BalletMet and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra shared the stage in April 2006 in a groundbreaking fusion of dance and music glorifying the past, present and future of Columbus jazz, the most American of art forms. Along with a playful, improvisational streak, the electrifying program featured specially commissioned dance works and music by renowned artists from around the country. Together, the dance and music touched on such local luminosity as the Near East Side "Cradle of Jazz," the legendary figures of the 1950s and the unstoppable energy that propels today's artists forward into what's next.
In this unique collaboration, which the Columbus Dispatch called "groundbreaking," five BalletMet choreographers assembled 15 substantial dance numbers. The Columbus Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Byron Stripling, played behind the dancers onstage throughout the performance. "The creativity of Columbus arts organizations never ceases to amaze," said Dispatch critic Barbara Zuck in a review of the performance. "Both the Columbus Jazz Orchestra and BalletMet show not only their versatility but their maturity in this program... Jazz Moves is a brilliant match that adds depth to the artistry of both groups."
Audiences loved the performance, too. "I have never been prouder of the arts community..." remarked one patron and subscriber after seeing the performance. "The concert/ballet was a triumph for both companies and an unbelievable evening for the audience."
"My dad and I had been up since about 3 a.m. on Friday. When we got to the (performance), we were dog tired. The energy of the dancers and musicians revived us to the point of exhilaration... Thank you for a magnificent evening," said another audience member.
