nov08b.indd ACRL National Conference Carol Kelly Your cultural fantasy Seattle’s artistic community Twyla Tharp choreographs two new pieces In an effort to process the results of a of work, one of which is set to the music tumultuous election year, you seek solace of Johannes Brahms, and the other and direction from the arts. A col­ to the music of Vladimer Martynov. lection of paintings entitled “Life You see the premier of these new Liberty and the Pursuit of Happi­ works performed by the dancers for ness” includes works by Thomas whom the pieces were created. Eakins and Winslow Homer. You Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelun­ stand a long while looking at John gen (his Ring Cycle) is performed Trumbull’s work. It is called “The in its entirety over the period of a month. You see each of the operas, performed by the world’s finest operatic art­ ists in a magical new opera house. Before the performance, you run barefoot through a continually fl owing refl ecting pool. An initiative is launched by one of the country’s preeminent modern dance choreog­ raphers, Donald Byrd. It is called “Promoting Awareness and Mutual Understanding,” and it brings together the creative talents of Israeli and American artists to examine the seemingly endless Middle East Crisis. You have a seat in the front row. Charlayne Woodard, award­winning contemporary playwright and actress, debuts a new work, which is directed by the Tony Award­winning director, Daniel Sullivan. You are among those at the premiere per­ formance. Afterward, the playwright and director sit on stage to answer your questions about the play. Toshiko Akiyoshi, who was the fi rst woman jazz artist to win DownBeat Magazine’s award for “Best Arranger and Composer,” performs with the swinging sounds of a top big band jazz orchestra. That is you, sitting in the middle of the house, tapping your toe, unable to resist the rhythm coming out of Clarence Acox’s drums. Declaration of Independence.” The precise brush strokes outline the faces of the remarkable men whose ideas continue to inspire. You are walking on a windswept hill, before you is the sparkling surface of a vast waterway. Behind you is the outline of a modern city; the shining facades of the buildings refract the sunlight. The air is laden with the salty scent of the Pacific Ocean. You are walking through a sculpture garden where the work of some of the most infl uential contemporary artists is featured. The piece you are standing under resembles a powerful bird—an eagle. It looks as though it is prepared to take fl ight, launching off into the expanse of sky above the azure water. “Enough,” you tell yourself, commanding your over active imagination to stop envision­ ing such diversity of cultural events. And then, reverie burst, you realize that there is no need to fantasize this roster of events. They will all take place—next year—in Seattle. There are only a handful of cities in the United States that can offer visitors exposure Carol Kelly is assistant professor at Matteo Ricci College at Seattle University, e-mail: carolk@seattleu.edu © 2008 Carol Kelly C&RL News November 2008 602 mailto:carolk@seattleu.edu to all the major artistic disciplines. Seattle is one of those cities. Seattle’s artistic commu­ nity includes cultural institutions at all stages of their development: from the cutting­edge, newly formed dance company to the Pacifi c Northwest Ballet; and from the new cool jazz quartet who are laying down their fi rst tracks to an impressive list of major artists (Quincy Jones to name one) who claim Seattle as their home town. Each of these institutions contributes to making Seattle one of the major cultural destinations in the country. So let your cultural fantasies run wild; it is less about finding out what opportunities are here and more about deciding which of these op­ portunities to explore. Theater Seattle’s theater scene feeds an active audi­ ence member’s lifelong passion for theatre in a literal sense. The Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) produces plays for younger audiences in two state­of­the­art performance spaces. With high production values and the country’s most innovative directors, actors, and play­ wrights, SCT engages an audience of 250,000 children, parents, and teachers annually. The SCT Drama School offers a full spectrum of theater classes to kids at every age level. The school’s courses register 3,300 children each year in programs that foster creativity, leader­ ship, and the collaborative skills that can only be learned through work within an ensemble. Where else can one find such childhood clas­ sics as Goodnight Moon set to music, the toys coming to life, the little bunny navigating his way through the wonderland of his room? Goodnight Moon is one of the featured, main stage shows at SCT this season. The Tony Award­winning Seattle Reper­ tory Theatre One is one of the largest and most highly regarded regional theatres in the United States. “The Rep,” as the locals call it, produces everything from classical drama to contemporary comedy in either the large theater—The Bagley Wright—or their smaller, “jewel box” theater—The Leo K. They feature the work of the finest playwrights working today, having premiered all the plays in Au­ gust Wilson’s cannon and works by Wendy Wasserstein, Sarah Ruhl, and others. The roster of actors who have appeared at The Rep include such acclaimed talents as Meryl Streep and Lawrence Fishburne. The Rep is November 2008 603 C&RL News Seattle culture on the Web • Seattle Children’s Theatre, www.sct. org • Seattle Repertory Theatre, www.seat­ tlerep.org • Intiman Theater, www.intiman.org • A Contemporary theatre, www.act­ theatre.org • Paramount Theater, www.theparamount. com • Fifth Avenue Theater, www.5thavenue. org • Taproot theater, www.taproottheatre. org • Seattle Public Theater, www.seattle­ publictheater.org • Theater Schmeater, www.schmeater.org • Seattle Shakespeare Theater, www. seattleshakespeare.org • Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, www. srjo.org • Tula’s, www.tulas.com/ • T h e N e w O r l e a n s , w w w . neworleanscreolerestaurant.com • Seattle Youth Symphony, www.syso. org • Seattle Opera, www.seattleopera.org • Seattle Art Museum, www.seattleart­ museum.org • Seattle Asian Art Museum, www.seat­ tleartmuseum.org/visit/visitSAAM.asp • Olympic Sculpture Park, www.seat­ tleartmuseum.org/visit/OSP/default.asp • Wing Luke Asian Museum, www.win­ gluke.org • First Thursdays Art Walk, fi rstthursday­ seattle.com • On the Boards, ontheboards.org • Spectrum Dance Theater, www.spec­ trumdance.org • Pacific Northwest Ballet, www.pnb.org also known for the high quality of more lo­ cal talent, as the region is home to a vibrant west coast theater community. The present season at The Rep includes a long­awaited production of Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, featuring Bill Irwin and, in March, The Seattle Repertory Theatre will produce “The Seafarer” by Conor McPherson. This startling, hilarious, and ominous Irish play is a recent Broadway hit and was called the “best new play of the year” by The Wall Street Journal. Winning Tony Awards seems to run in town. The Intiman Theatre, a neighbor of The Rep on the Seattle Center campus, has been so honored. The theater community isn’t confined to just Seattle Center. Major downtown theaters include A Contemporary Theatre, the Fifth Avenue, and the Para­ mount. Both Fifth Avenue and the Paramount regularly feature Broadway shows and top line performing artists. Everyone from Jerry Sein­ feld to Carlos Santana have performed at the Paramount. In March, the elaborate sets and compelling music of The Lion King will be featured. Smaller theater venues provide more intimate settings, but the quality of the theater is still ex­ traordinary. These smaller venues include The Taproot Theatre in Seattle’s Greenwood neigh­ borhood and The Seattle Public Theatre right on the banks of Green Lake. If one prefers an all Shakespeare diet, the Seattle Shakespeare Theatre offers the Bard’s work in productions that are fresh, brilliantly conceived, and ex­ pertly performed. The company will produce “The Merchant of Venice” in March, featuring two of Seattle’s most gifted performers, Todd Jefferson Moore and R. Hamilton Wright. This will be the hot ticket in town. Music Seattle’s music scene is perhaps best illustrated by the depth of talent in two very different Janice Baird in the title role of Richard Strauss’ Elektra, Seattle Opera, fall 2008. © Patrice Nim, Toulouse genres. The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO), directed by Clarence Acox and Mi­ chael Brockman, features a big band sound and the region’s most highly sought after jazz musicians. SRJO performs regularly at the Nordstrom Recital Hall in the Benaroya Hall complex. The other wing of the building is home to The Seattle Symphony. Playing in a state­of­the­art, downtown venue that opened ten years ago, the symphony has achieved international recognition and is the most re­ corded symphony in the country. Among the works that are to be performed this season is the monumental Mahler’s 8th, the “Symphony of a Thousand.” In March, the symphony features the Eng­ lish violinist Tasmin Little on a program that includes the works of Edward Elgar and Dvorak’s Symphony Num­ ber Six. Small jazz venues abound in Seattle. From Tula’s in Belltown to The New Orleans near Pioneer Square, there is always an opportunity to swing it in the Emerald City. Seattle engages the community in the music scene from early on. The Seattle Youth Symphony is the largest youth symphony in the United States, and two local high schools, Garfield and Roosevelt, regularly trade honors winning The Essentially Ellington competition in New York City. It is no fantasy. If you’re into music—any kind of music, be it kletzmer, new age, or even a “Sedentary Souza March­ ing Band”—you will be able to find the best of if in Seattle. Opera Even before you’ve heard the overture, your sights and senses will be awakened by attend­ ing the Seattle Opera. The company performs in Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, which opened in 2003. The building itself is a work of art and has received critical acclaim for both its interior and exterior spaces. McCaw Hall was C&RL News November 2008 604 designed by LMN Architects, featuring the work of interior designer Deborah Sussman, artist Leni Schwendinger, and the landscape designers of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd. The space is commensurate with the intense theatricality inherent in this art form. Once seated, opera lovers are treated to world­class voices—think Jane Eaglen and Ben Heppner in Tristan und Isolde—performing new works of contemporary American opera and the com­ plete repertoire of classic European operas, all under the direction of innovative directors and dramatically sensitive conductors. The company performs fi ve operas each year and emphasizes their relationship to the work of Wagner by regularly performing the complete Ring Cycle. To encourage the future of opera, the company maintains a highly regarded Young Artists Program, as well as a vibrant opera education program that includes a year­ long lecture series at Seattle University. Visual art As a Pacific Rim city, Seattle is a place of di­ verse cultural heritage. The confluence of Pan Asian, Asian, Native American, Scandinavian, and North American cultures is seen nowhere more evidently than in the three separate venues that make up the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). SAM Downtown has just completed an extensive expansion and renovation. The collection takes one, literally, inside the mysterious beauty of a 16th­century Italian room. Audio guides and computer screens bring patrons the voices of artists and curators who provide insight into the particular culture from which the work of the artist emanates. One can see works of Northwest Native American Art, an extensive collection of Af­ rican masks, and the paintings of European, modern, and post­modern masters. Exciting special exhibitions, such as “Edward Hopper’s Women,” are also a part of what makes SAM a terrific museum. In March, SAM Downtown will feature the exhibit “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The Seattle Asian Art Museum, located in Volunteer Park in an historic building overlooking downtown and the Puget Sound, offers viewers a vast col­ lection of Asian art, including textiles, paint­ ings, sculpture, and more. SAM’s Olympic Sculpture Park turns what was once a nine­ acre industrial site into an open­air museum, featuring the works of artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, and Anthony Caro. The park unites Seattle’s waterfront, cityscape, and visitors to the park view cutting­ edge sculpture as they make their way down a path that leads to the water’s edge. SAM joins local art galleries by staying open late and by providing free admission on “First Thursdays” every month. Dance If you want to see ground­breaking, cutting­ edge dance, performance art, or theatrical movement, On the Boards is the place to go. Many internationally acclaimed artists have premiered breakthrough performances at On the Boards. Bill T. Jones, Spalding Gray, Sankai Juku, and The Wooster Group are among those whose work was nurtured in this nationally recognized performance venue. Spectrum Dance Theatre, under the direc­ tion of Donald Byrd, brings the highest qual­ ity contemporary dance to a widely diverse audience. Spectrum’s Lecture Series I has been created to foster a dialogue between working artists and audiences. The Series is part of Spectrum’s new initiative: “Beyond Dance: Promoting Awareness and Mutual Understanding.” Finally, Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is one of the United States’ most highly regarded ballet companies. PNB has delighted audiences all over the world. The company retains close ties with the Balanchine reper­ toire, and, under the direction of Peter Boal, PNB has expanded the scope of its repertory to include the choreography of the fi nest con­ temporary American artists, including Mark Morris and Twyla Tharp. Both Spectrum and PNB maintain schools that provide excellent training for the next generation of dancers. Anyone who wishes to experience dance from the other side of the stage can fi nd a (continues on page 620) November 2008 605 C&RL News one baked, and one unbaked. This was done to guard against the two major natural threats of the time—fire and flood. In a fire, the un­ baked copy would survive, and after a fl ood, the baked would remain. This, he speculated, perhaps compares favorably to our day, when we have created history’s fastest growing, yet least persistent technology—the Web. The last day featured a PhD forum spon­ sored by the American Society for Information Science and Technology, with graduate stu­ dent presentations from Estonia, the United States. and Canada, along with smaller poster sessions from presenters from all over the world. Invited speaker Anna Maria Tammaro introduced quality models and some core values for digital librarianship and its teaching designed to reach across cultures, forming an international basis for the fi eld. And in a session designed to introduce one of the central topics for LIDA 2009, Natasa Milic­Frayling from Microsoft Re­ search, UK, attempted to describe how the continued existence of libraries and librar­ ians involves a willingness to redefi ne our roles and practices. She examined our urge to preserve, showing how humanity has al­ ways produced knowledge, ideas and data, and then attempted to preserve it. We now produce more information and media than ever, and she asked that, given the expense of digital preservation, we think about why we want to preserve such a large percentage of it. Choosing cultural priorities and decid­ ing on questions of relevance are volatile issues, and according to Milic­Frayling, may be aspects of the future of librarianship. She offered the example of a particular Leonardo da Vinci codex, one copy of which resides in the British Library, with the other owned by Microsoft. When Italy wants to reacquire this piece of its cultural heritage, who decides how that happens or which organization should relinquish their copy? Questions of this sort related to aspects of both conference tracks filled the talks given at this effective and thought­provoking fi ve­ day gathering, and attempts at answers were generated in formal and informal discussion alike. One of the strengths of LIDA 2008 (and every other year, I would imagine) was the close proximity of all its participants, allowing these conversations to move from the meeting rooms to coffee to the lovely stone streets of Dubrovnik and the restaurants of Mjlet. The 2009 version of LIDA, its tenth anni­ versary, will be held in Dubrovnik and Zadar, Croatia, and will feature two different themes: “Heritage and Digital Libraries: Digitization, Preservation and Access” and “Refl ections: Changes Brought By and in Digital Libraries in the Last Decade.” After this tenth conference, planned for May 25–30, 2009, it is intended for LIDA to become a biannual gathering. (“Your cultural fantasy” cont. from page 605) drop­in class in the style of their choice at the wide variety of dance studios in town. How about dropping by Velocity Dance Studio on Seattle’s Capital Hill for a hip­hop class? The teachers are smart, savvy, and rockin’, and the drop­in format makes the environment welcoming and, should one’s expertise re­ quire, forgiving. Understanding the wealth of cultural op­ portunities that Seattle has to offer necessitates that one recognize the pattern that has been established by the community of artists and their audiences. Seattle respects the next generation of artists by fostering environments where new artists can get their work shown, by supporting the training of future artists, and by maintaining an open mind toward authentic cultural diversity. And Seattle’s artis­ tic community actively seeks ways to engage their audiences beyond the performances by offering education, dialogue, and exposure to artists and their work. So, it isn’t just your imagination. No need to fantasize about the perfect season of cultural events. One needn’t enter a realm of purple haze, dreaming about how all the artistic disci­ plines can work together to inspire, enlighten, and engage. It can all happen in Seattle. Oh, yes. Speaking of purple haze, did we mention that Jimi Hendrix comes from Seattle? C&RL News November 2008 620