Blah Blah Blah
The mayoral forum held at A Contemporary Theatre on Monday, August 27, was described by attendees as "ridiculous," "disappointing," "performance art at its worst," and "so manicured as to be ultimately meaningless." Seven candidates--Paul Schell, Greg Nickels, Mark Sidran, Omari Tahir-Garrett, Charlie Chong, Scott Kennedy, and Richard Lee--assembled in ACT's Falls theater space to discuss their positions on funding for the arts and culture in general. The result was a combination of bland platitudes from some candidates and obsessive rambling from others (Tahir-Garrett--whose restraining order only allows him to be in the same room with Schell at functions like this--spoke exclusively about the African-American Heritage Museum, while Mr. Lee, who wore a nice purple frock and videotaped himself through the proceedings, spoke exclusively about the cover-up of the murder of Kurt Cobain). An hour and a half was devoted to a series of pre-prepared questions (and pre-prepared answers) from moderator and KING 5 newscaster Lori Matsukawa, leaving only enough time for a single question from the audience--a situation that provoked hostile outbursts; three questions were finally allowed before everyone was sent out for juice and cookies. One of the few substantive replies to any question was from Mark Sidran, who said that he wouldn't even consider increasing arts funding in the current economic climate. Other notable aspects of the evening: the sizable police presence (presumably to prevent people from clubbing each other with megaphones) and the poor turnout of the arts community. Does poor attendance contribute to the poor quality of discourse, or does the inanity of current political debate discourage anyone with a lick of sense from going? The evening can be summed up in one dancer/choreographer's comment: "I went in hoping to find a candidate to vote for, and I left wanting to vote for Charlie Chong."
Sputtered Fuse
Sadly, the ambitious Fuse Foundation has closed its doors. Fuse aspired to be more than yet another granting organization; its plan included providing innovative artists with career counseling, administrative support, access to more experienced mentors, health insurance, and other resources, as well as an annual stipend of $20,000 (an amount that could genuinely allow an artist to focus on their work). There was to be no application process; instead, artists would be nominated by an anonymous committee--making the Fuse grants akin to the MacArthur "genius grants." The foundation got off to a strong start, amassing pledges for an impressive initial fund to work from. Unfortunately, the bulk of these pledges came from the wealth of the dot-com boom; as the Internet economy declined, Fuse's funding eroded. Fuse considered various means of scaling back, including combining forces with multidisciplinary arts organization Consolidated Works, but in the end the project decided to shut down. The Fuse Foundation's executive director, Alex Steffen, was unavailable for comment, but Matt Richter of Consolidated Works said, "The energy that went into it--the passion, the drive, some of the money--doesn't disappear; it's like the law of conservation of energy. It will be redirected into another project or another idea or another organization."
Baby Love
To end this column of woe and dismay on a positive note, Melanie White, the artistic director of Open Circle Theatre, and her husband Nick Rempel welcomed a lovely baby girl into their lives on August 10. Little Jordan Eliza weighed seven pounds, 14 ounces at birth. Awww.
