After shuttling its popular (and free!) annual “OBT Exposed” summer performance series on the South Park Blocks, Oregon Ballet Theatre promised to come back with something different, but equally awesome: a new city-wide arts festival called “Fall.ART.Live,” hosted at OBT’s inner Southeast studios (and outside parking lots).
Well, OBT just announced their line-up for this Saturday’s day-long fest and… uh… I dunno. It just seems kinda – meh.
See for yourself:
WHEN: Saturday, August 29, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
WHERE: Outdoors at the Oregon Ballet Theatre Studios, located at 818 SE Sixth Avenue — on the east end of the Morrison Bridge between SE Belmont and Morrison.
WHO: Performers include: Bouand Dance, Josie Moseley Dance, Linda Austin Dance, Metro Dancers, Northwest Professional Dance Project, Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Oregon Ballet Theatre Apprentice Program, Polaris Dance, The Portland Ballet, The Portland Opera and Trueheart Productions. In addition, free classes will be offered by Do Jump!, Fuse Theatre Ensemble, Jaynathi Raman, Oregon Ballet Theatre and Portland Actor’s Conservatory.
Food will be available for purchase from Bunk Sandwiches, Koi Fusion PDX, New Leaf Salads and Voodoo Donuts. There will also be a beer garden adjacent to the performance stage serving craft brews from Bridgeport Brewery.
OBT also lists a phalanx of PDX arts groups who will be on hand to pimp their own wares (but aren’t offering their own free performances), like the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Live Wire! Radio and Portland Center Stage.
You know what I’m most excited about in all of this? Food from Bunk Sandwiches, Koi Fusion and craft beers from Bridgeport! Hellz yes!!
What? Is this like TBA’s smaller sadder (possibly developmentally challenged) little sister?
Hey Graham,
It’s an interesting question, actually!
After OBT canned their long-running free outdoor performance series, “OBT Exposed,” this past summer (citing lack of sponsorships), the company decided to muscle up a new city-wide arts festival to open the fall arts season in Portland and, hopefully, introduce audiences to a range of PDX artists and organizations.
This is OBT’s first time out attempting a free, multi-organization, festival-like event of this scope, so they get points for manning up to organize and present it (none of the other 5 other major arts institutions in town have attempted something like this, at least in recent memory).
But it’s notable that of the 11 performance groups on tap, 9 of them are dance, and many of the organizations hawking tickets at the event opted out of providing performers.
But it may yet grow and prosper!
SMB, I’m actually most intrigued by the free classes they’re offering. I think a day (or weekend or week or whatever) of just getting people out of seats and onto stages and in their own personal spot light would make for a much more interesting way of getting people more vested in the arts scene. By giving people the basic understanding of the mechanics and “how to” on what the artists are doing, it makes the audience much appreciative of just how good the performers really are. It’s so easy to watch someone else do something and think, “I can do that”, but to actually get humbled and realize, “I can’t do that”… Makes people value the artist more.
Also, when did it become de riguer for every event to get some “hip” food carts to cater their events? And how come no Burgerville Nomad?
I will be there. The only real reason I will attend…Koi Fusion. Yes its that good. You heard it here second.
As far as I know, nobody involved in this event is pretending that it’s a “city-wide arts festival” or a mini-TBA, or that it completely fills the gap created by the demise of OBT Exposed. It’s a free arts fair for Christ’s sake. With beer and food, performances and workshops. Did I mention that the event is free? Did you notice that the economy is hammering arts organizations lately? Some organizations are generously contributing performances. Others can’t afford to do that, or don’t have work that can easily be mounted on an outdoor stage. OBT has generously offered to set-up tables for those to distribute information and answer questions from the public. Do you seriously have a problem with that? Because you’re kind of implying that they’re dicks for hawking their tickets and pimping their wares without performing. So yawn and snicker and don’t bother coming to it if it bores you.
Stephen, if you feel that the lineup is too dance-heavy, you could have accepted our invitation to perform. We’ve been hearing good things about the “Beggar’s Opera” production you’re preparing for Opera Theater Oregon and would have loved to get a preview.