The Wooster Group Benefit last Friday was a great time. Fab people, fun drinks, great DJ and more!! Thanks to my friend Alexis we’ve got some great photos of the party - with more to come! Here’s a few to start – and check her photo set on flickr.

Kim Whitener and Susan Feldman

Scott Shepherd & Friends

AndrewAndrew

Some Girl's Sexy Back

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PEN World Voices Festival - A Tribute to Harold Pinter

For complete, updated schedule and details, click here.

Join us for a day-long tribute to Harold Pinter. The event, curated by British actor-director Harry Burton, a close friend and longtime collaborator of Pinter’s, will feature film screenings; panel discussions; rare audio and video recordings of Pinter in his own plays; the U.S. premiere of Burton’s documentary portrait Working With Pinter; and a screening of Pinter’s Nobel acceptance speech, “Art, Truth and Politics.” The evening session features a concert of performances of Pinter’s poetry, prose and short plays. Participants and performers include Eve Best, Charles Grimes, John Guare, Todd Haimes, Jason Isaacs, Alastair Macaulay, Emily Mann, Susan Hollis Merritt, Brian F. O’Byrne, Neil Pepe, Patricia Rozema, Salman Rushdie, Paul Schrader, and Henry Woolf.

For schedule and details, click here.

Martin E. Segal Theatre + The Proshansky Auditorium 

Graduate Center, CUNY 

365 Fifth Ave at 34th St. 

Free! First come, first served.

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Dance around in your barrel

at

THE BRICK’S

SHANTYTOWN BALL!

May 2, 8pm to Midnight

A Costume Party where the

Hoity-Toity meets the Down ‘n’ Doity!

At Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO.

A Fundraiser for The Brick!

Limited time ticket discounts below!

FREE BEER!

from Global Brewer’s Guild and

2-For-1 Drink Specials from 8-10p.m.!!

Great Raffles!! – One free raffle ticket with every admission!

Hosted by Richard P. Scatman and

Graspy McTakeItAll (Ten Directions)

Dance to JC Hopkins and his Hopkins Hawkes Quartet featuring Queen Esther!

Rock out to Supermajor!

Then DJ blackkorea keeps you dancing in the afterparty until 3:30am!

Special attractions including:

Fortunes Told by Pelligrina Leoni and Madama Amore!

Lunatic Fireside Chats with Boxcar F.D.R.!

The Hobo Kissing Booth!

Fish-for-a-Bum Competitions!

A Hobo-Flapper Smackdown! 

And more!

Come visit Hobohemia, where the Flappers get goofy with the bums! Doll up and party down! Or dress down and party up! We want to see your best Little Tramp fashion and It Girl-Chic! We’re Equal Opportunity! Hoboettes and Dapper Dans will not be turned away!

Raffle prizes galore! Tickets from Playwrights Horizons, an actual Depression-Era Cast Iron Skillet from The Brooklyn Kitchen, a Surprise-For-Two from Surprise Industries, silkscreen prints from Desert Island Comic Book Store, gift certificates from The Drama Book Shop, Hudson River Massage, Solo Italian Restaurant, Music Lessons from Sarah Engelke, Yoga Instruction from Jenny Schmermund and more! Not to mention the chance to walk away with half the clams in the raffle monies pot!

May 2, 8pm to Midnight

at Galapagos Art Space 

Only $40!

$30 if you come in costume!

Early Bird Special!: $20 advance tickets! (Enter the discount code “EARLYBIRD”)

https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/performance.html?method=showPerformance&reset=user&perfId=7151075&code=earlybird

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Hey y’all,

Come on down tonight and listen to me gab about alternative arts funding – specifically, about the project I work on called FEAST  – www.feastinbklyn.org

Can’t make it tonight?  There’s more on May 13th at Galapagos in Brooklyn, presented by The Field.  Check it out here.

Please join us for a conversation between funders, artists, and activists:

(ALTERNATIVE) ARTS FUNDING FOR SUSTAINABLE CREATIVE PRACTICE

A Panel Discussion

Thursday, April 30

7:00pm

NYU’s Barney Building

34 Stuyvesant Street at 9th Street between 3rd and 2nd Avenues

No RSVP, Free and open to the public

sponsored by NYU Steinhardt Art Events and Exhibitions

Department of Art and Art Professions

Panelists:

Ruby Lerner (President, Creative Capital)

Katie Hollander (Deputy Director, Creative Time)

Tim Cynova (Deputy Director, Fractured Atlas)

Jeff Hnilicka (Founder, FEAST [Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics])

Bryce Dwyer (InCUBATE, Chicago IL)

A.K. Burns (W.A.G.E. [Working Artists in the Greater Economy])

Organized and moderated by Tracy Candido, a Master’s candidate in Steinhardt’s Visual Culture Theory program and founder of Sweet Tooth of the Tiger’s Bake Sale Residency for Artists, a mini grant for artists who like to bake.

The economic downturn has art critics (Cotter, Peers, Saltz, Hickey) discussing whether this morbid financial climate is beneficial for artists; will it relegate art as luxury and therefore become less accessible to audiences, or will art for art’s sake return now that art as commodity is less of an issue? Both sides of the debate seem to leave the artist’s pockets empty.  Selling art to make a living has become even more difficult during the recession, and the alternative options for financial support are just as dire: jobs that may fund artists’ creative practice are scarce, grant options are dwindling, and art institutions are holding on tight to their fortune. How are artists adapting to the economic crisis?  Is the economic crisis bringing the dysfunctional art system into even harsher light?  Are artists taking matters into their own hands?

Please join us for this lively panel discussion that will address the shift in arts funding during the recession and concurrent issues such as democracy in the art system, the cultural discount applied to the artist and cultural producer, and advocating for new artist economies.

*Ruby Lerner, President of Creative Capital, a non-profit whose “programmatic blueprint melds financial support with an array of services so that artists can build a solid foundation for success”

*Tim Cynova, Deputy Director of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit which assists artists and arts organizations to function more effectively as businesses by providing access to funding, healthcare, and education

*Jeff Hnilicka, an arts professional who organizes FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics), a recurring public dinner in Brooklyn designed to use community-driven financial support to democratically fund new and emerging art makers

*Katie Hollander, the Deputy Director of Creative Time, the “vanguard and veteran public arts presenter” that provides artists with “unparalleled opportunities to create ambitious new works that infiltrate the public realm and engage millions of people in New York City and across the globe;”

*Bryce Dwyer from InCubate (Chicago), a research institute that organizes the Sunday Soup Grant, a method of arts funding that is “transparent and participatory, drawing upon entrepreneurial and grassroots strategies to generate funds for artist initiatives and community projects;”

*A.K. Burns, an artist who is a founding member of W.A.G.E. (Working Artists in the Greater Economy), an arts activist group that advocate for fair artists’ wages.

For more info on Sweet Tooth of the Tiger, please visit www.sweettoothofthetiger.com

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DON’T MISS Steve Cuiffo performing an hour of Lenny Bruce material at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (36 Battery Place, NYC) on Wednesday May 6 at 7pm (tix are fifteen bucks). It’s going to be followed by a Post-performance Q&A with Mark Crispin Miller, Professor of Media Ecology, NYU.

Steve is the closest you will ever get to time travel to see the original Lenny Bruce. Seriously.  Cuiffo is a friggin’ genius!!

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FACTORY (happened)

Saturday April 18, 10am – 11pm

FACTORY consolidates resources for production of custom-made art works in All media All day long, starting early, making SHIrTs!!!  Curators, artists and audience members are invited to manufacture original products at work stations designed for cooking, dance-making, screen printing, bookbinding, video-making, immaterial crafts, and more!!!

All day long! Open participation!

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Hello, my lovely ‘bots – I’ve been tucked away in these woods directing theater students and fighting off a fever for a few weeks now. Many thoughts to share in this space on my experiences here, but first, a heads up about a new play by the collective Superhero Clubhouse:

Superhero Clubhouse presents MERCURY, a new play conceived and   directed by Jeremy Pickard, May 1-11, 2009, at The Tank, 345 W 45th St, New York, NY.

MERCURY is the third in a series of 8 ecologically-inspired Planet plays. Set at the birth of the American hat-making boom and told through the eyes of unemployed 26-year-olds across four centuries, MERCURY explores how the actions we take in the name of growth can have devastating effects on the world to come.  Previous plays in the series, URANUS and NEPTUNE, examined waste and climate change, respectively.

In 1780s Danbury, Connecticut, a young entrepreneur named Zoe Benedict is building hats.  Having stumbled upon a process by which to make felt, Zoe builds fifteen a day. Business booms, Danbury becomes the “Hat City of the World,” and “Zoe finds himself surrounded by new friends.”: there’s the woman living on his roof, waiting for the television to teach her how to fly; the ex-salesman moonlighting in drag; the hermetic bicyclist and his covert river missions; and the plastic man from the future;.  And then there’s the notorious Hole in the Sky, and the mysterious message Zoe has been commissioned to deliver through it. Increasingly plagued by uncertainty and illusion, Zoe and friends spiral helplessly into a strange universe as the poison embeds itself deeper and reality disappears.  Loosely inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories, MERCURY is a dark and wild romp of tea parties, tap dancing and toxicity.

The production runs for eight performances; all performances are pay-what-you-can. Reservations may be made by calling (212) 563-6269 or by visiting www.thetanknyc.org. Performance dates and times are: Friday, May 1st at 8pm; Saturday, May 2nd at 8pm; Sunday, May 3rd at 3:30pm; Saturday, May 9th at 3:30pm & 8pm; Sunday, May 10th at 3:30pm; and Monday, May 11th at 8pm

Additionally, a performance and party benefiting Superhero Clubhouse, with tickets priced $15-$30, will take place on May 4 at 8pm.

ABOUT SUPERHERO CLUBHOUSE

Superhero Clubhouse is a society of theatre artists conjured for creation of myth, cultivation of play and collective conversations engaged with the natural world.

Inspired by the childhood model of make-believe and by current movements in ecology, Superhero Clubhouse champions and practices Green Theatre, lowering its environmental impact and allowing theatre to thrive on total imagination.

More on Superhero Clubhouse and MERCURY here.

More on The Tank here.

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Name: Megan V Sprenger

Title/Occupation: Director of Marketing / Artistic Director

Organization/Company: Dance Theater Workshop / mvworks

URL: dancetheaterworkshop.org / mvworks.org

1. Where did you grow up and how did you end up where you are now?

I moved to NYC after college to pursue a dancing and/or dance community involved lifestyle. I started working at Dance Theater Workshop 14 days after graduation, and have not left.

2. Which performance, song, play, movie, painting or other work of art had the biggest influence on you and why?

Gregory Crewdson’s photographs in Twilight. They inspired me to make my first evening length work which was commissioned by PS122. This presentation launched my personal dance company mvworks. Currently mvworks is rehearsing our second evening length work …within us. which will premiere at PS122 May 17 – 24, 2009.

3. What skill, talent or attribute do you most wish you had and why?

Talent: To function on less sleep without more caffeine so I can get more done and have more money in my wallet.

Skill: Know how to spell and understand good grammar. I write about dance for a living and I can’t spell and I always have to triple check grammar.

4. What do you do to make a living? Describe a normal day.

Work at Dance Theater Workshop.

Get up around 7:30am (I love the snooze button, so this varies drastically), drink a big cup of coffee, eat two to three meals at my desk while thinking about how to more effectively market contemporary dance and its artists for 8 – 9 hours, rehearse for 2 – 5 hours (2 choreographing for mvworks, 3 dancing for Catherine Tharin), go to bed around 12:30 after watching that evening’s trash TV of choice.).

5. Have you ever had to make a choice between work and art? What did you choose, why, and what was the outcome?

Everyday. I make a different choice every time.

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Rory over at Vice Magazine sent the following:

Hey Art-Nets

So I thought I would pass this over to you, I mean who doesn’t have a cool photo who could use $1,000 smackeroos? Sure some of your readers have cool party/model/pretty sunset photos somewhere on their hard drive. Text below about contest, hit me with questions.

Guess what! We know that you’ve always wanted an excuse to send us your photos of your aunt’s senile cat or the time your Belgian girlfriend projectile vomited all over the bassist of a Bosnian ska band you saw on your trip to Sarajevo or the guy who was walking around in front of the bank dressed like a seagull or your parents backyard in the middle of winter. So Scion and Vice are inviting any and all photographers to submit their work to the first ever Scion Photo Contest.

The contest is going ’til May 15 to see if all that time you’ve spent uploading to your blog was worth it. The top photographer in each category will receive $1000, the runner-up will get $500, and third place will walk away with a free subscription to Vice magazine and a copy of True Norwegian Black Metal.

SUBMIT YOUR BEST PHOTO.

Who decides whether you’ll be walking away with some cash and a sense self-worth? For our Events category, we have Ben Ritter, portrait and fashion photographer, photoblogger, and son of a municipal judge. Peter Beste, the photographer behind the Vice book True Norwegian Black Metal and documenter of the Houston rap scene, will be judging the Photojournalism category. And presiding over Portraits will be Jamie Lee Curtis Taete (yes, for the millionth time, that’s his legal name), photographer and expert celebrity trash recycler.

So start dusting off those old negatives, warming up the scanner, and looking through your hard drives. Then go to submission page and show us something that won’t make us cringe.

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Being inspired by the Beatles is always a tricky proposition. For every ballsy bravado psychedelic copycat like Oasis (and I say that with a measure of trepidation) there’s a one-hit (or two-hit) uninspired might-as-well-be-a-tribute-band like The Knack. (though “good girls don’t” remains a favorite of mine).

So what do you do when a band like The Rosewood Thieves comes along? Not only that, but they come along with a record like Heartaches By The Pound which is an album of covers of Solomon Burke songs. You give them the benefit of the doubt. Their publicist sent me a link to download the Solomon Burke record and 2008′s Rise and Shine. While both are well-crafted, genuinely enjoyable Beatles-inflected rock, the album of Solomon Burke covers shows the band to its best effect.  It harnesses their youthful energy and brings their considerable talent to bear on the oeuvre of one of the great legends of American popular music.

You could do worse than channeling the Beatles channeling Solomon Burke. After all, John Lennon’s Rock & Roll was a touchstone for many a young rocker, introducing a whole generation to the work of his predecessors. Most folks agree that young bands benefit from getting their chops together through imitation. The gap between the quality of the songwriting on display between Rise and Heartaches is noticeable. Burke wrote from experience that these kids haven’t had yet, and the music was very much of his time. While the Rosewood Thieves have done a fantastic job – these are definitely talented musicians – in reviving the sound, they haven’t quite matured as songwriters. The craft is impressive, the soul and hard-won voice of experience is not yet there.

Still, I am not dismissing the record out of hand, there are some strong tracks there – but if you want a good intro to the band, start with Heartaches By The Pound and keep following this  promising group – good things are in store.

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