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Re: “Kimberly Howard Trades One Tough Arts Post for Another”
hey stephen-
as a long-time colleague/friend of Kimberly's, i of course have massive faith in her abilities to excel at this new position
but in direct response to one comment of yours-
" Howard's new position as Trust manager, overseeing a statewide multi-million dollar annual fundraising and awareness/advocacy campaign, is exactly her second in non-profit fundraising."
that is true
but
i want to ask you to consider the depth of experience Kimberly brings that your comment sort of reduces to one facet of her resume-
she's been an ensemble member with Sojourn Theatre, an Oregon Not-for-profit, since 2003 and in that capacity, like other core ensemble members, she:
has been an active fundraiser, and every project we have carried out has been on budget, and we have never been in debt;
helped organize the Witness Our Schools statewide tour and helped build partnerships with many non-arts agencies around our state;
toured to Australia and represented Sojourn at a major convening of global funders and arts advocates;
worked with the CT state Legislature on issues of urban development and arts-based dialogue;
went to Washington DC as a presenter/participant at the Americans for the Arts Annual conference and spent time with Arts Council leadership from around the nation;
worked with not-for-profits and community groups on the ground in Ohio and Vermont that directly addressed arts advocacy and efficacy issues...
She is qualified in many ways to take on the daunting tasks ahead of her, and most significantly, she brings the combined assets and experiences of an artist and a manager to the table in a rare way...and that is, I think, what we need.
best, michael rohd
artistic director sojourn theatre
Re: “New Media Meets an Old Medium at PCS”
You raise some good points here.
Sojourn similarly explored twitter and other live interactive forms as part of our Fall work in DC around the election, and our show, The Race.
I think the question of what an audience, for whom 'interruption' is a daily part of information and narrative discourse, wants, or even needs, to engage, be delighted, be surprised...it is the contemporary question of live performance.
hand2mouth explores it, like other modern experimental ensembles, by creating pop culture heavy imagistic and more and more participatory events that are not to be witnessed but joined. Fever Theater seems to do it through an examination of ritual and community. Likewise, at Sojourn, we keep pushing the relationship between story and participation, with site, journey and technology as our main modes of formal inquiry.
There is the event, and there is getting people to the event.
And marketing techno-sophistication to web-savvy young audiences as a way to let them know that- 'yes, we know you are interacting with your culture in a new way, and we want to meet you there'- its smart.
I think the real revolution, already happening all over, but difficult at the big houses, is when these opportunities to engage aren't just in response to the event, but actually allow the 'audience' to 'impact' the event.
The phenomenon of new arts consumers isn't just to get them in the door, but give them opportunities to co-author. As the web, and video games, and music and film all do now...that is the frontier for live performance. And its a challenging, exciting one.
And a place like Portland should be, and in many ways is, exactly where the conversation is happening.
Michael Rohd
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