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Focus on the individual
A travelling art exhibition, changes at Boston Ballet, Regattabar rescheduling, plus more

"3: Boston, Somerville, Worcester"

Massachusetts has 329 local cultural councils (LCCs), organizations in towns and cities that receive money from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) to award grants and fund public-arts projects and programming. Of these, only three — in Somerville, Boston, and Worcester — award fellowship grants to support individual artists. For the first time in the 23-year history of the state’s local cultural-grants program, the recipients of this year’s visual-arts fellowship grants will have their work showcased in a traveling exhibition. "3: Boston, Somerville, Worcester," with work by more than 30 artists, starts at Somerville’s Brickbottom Gallery and then moves to the Boston State House before closing in Worcester.

That only these three cities choose to award fellowship grants does not reflect choices made by the MCC. "The individual towns and cities set guidelines based on the priorities that best reflect the needs and interests of the community," says Daniel Kertzner, MCC’s manager for the LCC program. "We don’t dictate where the money goes."

The Somerville Arts Council (SAC), which proposed the traveling exhibition, acknowledges the importance of incorporating the community. "But we also feel that nurturing the individual artist is important as well," says Rachel Strutt, SAC’s program manager. "Artists give back to the community — they make the community a richer place to live." And in Somerville, if you win a fellowship, after you’ve completed your body of work, "be it poems or paintings," says Strutt, you’re required to perform a "community benefit," such as a lecture series or a public workshop.

By showcasing the work at the State House, the three LCCs hope to make a political as well as an artistic statement. "It’s not our role to tell other cultural councils how to spend their money," says Strutt, "but we would like to advertise that these three cities feel it’s important to give fellowship grants. It’s a great way to let the policy makers on Beacon Hill see where MCC funding goes, and how it can create a lively exhibit and get people talking about arts funding."

"3: Boston, Somerville, Worcester" runs through August 24 at Brickbottom Gallery, 1 Fitchburg Street in Somerville, with a reception on August 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. It runs September 15 through 19 at the State House (Doric Hall), Beacon Street in Boston, with a reception on September 18 from 1 to 3 p.m. And from October 9 through 23, it’ll be at ARTSWorcester, 660 Main Street in Worcester, with a reception on October 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information, call (617) 625-6600 or visit www.somervilleartscouncil.org.

— Nina MacLaughlin

Incoming at Boston Ballet

When we left Boston Ballet back in May, the departures had been announced and some but not all of the arrivals. So let’s start from scratch. Artistic director Mikko Nissinen has announced four new principals, six new soloists, and 11 new corps de ballet members. But the most exciting arrival might just be former New York City Ballet principal Merrill Ashley, who came here last season to teach George Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina (which Mr. B created on her back in 1978). She won’t be staging the two Balanchine works, Stars and Stripes and Duo Concertant, that the company has scheduled for 2003-2004, but from September 8 through 19 she’ll be "guest-teaching" classes, and that can only augur well for the development of the company’s Balanchine style.

Already announced last spring were the promotion of Sarah Lamb from soloist to principal, that of corps members Jared Redick and Romi Beppu to soloist, and that of Boston Ballet II members Benjamin Griffiths, Luke Luzicka, and James Whiteside have been promoted to the main company. Two of the company’s new principals are natives of Cuba. Lorna Feijoo had been a principal at Ballet Nacional de Cuba; since 2001 she’s been a principal at Cincinnati Ballet. Rolando Sarabia has danced with Ballet Nacional de Cuba since 1999; he’ll join Boston Ballet in November. And the name Roman Rykine should sound familiar, since he was scheduled to join Boston Ballet last year before suffering an injury and missing the entire 2002-2003. He comes to the company from San Francisco Ballet, where he was a principal from 1996 to 2002. Also, principal Jennifer Gelfand will retire from Boston Ballet after her farewell performance in the season opener, Don Quixote. And principal dancer Viktor Plotnikov will return for the 2003-2004 season as a senior artist.

In addition to Beppu and Redick, there will be four new soloists from outside the company. Barbora Kohoutkova, a native of the Czech Republic, has been a principal with Finnish National Ballet and a soloist with Bayerisches Staatsballet in Munich. Born in Minsk, Pavel Gurevich is a former principal at Milwaukee Ballet. Michael Cusumano, from Long Island, New York, previously danced with Alabama Ballet and American Ballet Theatre; Boston Ballet observers may remember that he guested in the company’s 1998 Nutcracker. Nelson Madrigal is, like new principals Feijoo and Sarabia, a former member of Ballet Nacional de Cuba; like Feijoo, he comes to Boston Ballet from Cincinnati Ballet, which he joined in 2002 as a principal.

Finally, the new corps members: Kathleen Breen Combes (former member of Washington Ballet), Sarah Edery (former member of Pennsylvania Ballet), Whitney Herr (former apprentice with San Francisco Ballet); Misa Kuranaga (recent graduate of the School of American Ballet), Kelley Potter (former member of the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company), Luis Ribagorda (graduate of the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Madrid); Sarah Wroth (graduate of Indiana University), and joining in January, Seh Yun Kim (currently a principal with Seoul’s Universal Ballet). Josey Silva will leave in January; Boston Ballet II member Shannon Parsley will join at that time.

Boston Ballet’s 2003-2004 season opens Thursday October 16 at the Wang Theatre with Don Quixote. For tickets, call Telecharge at (800) 447-7400, or visit www.telecharge.com, or drop by the Wang Theatre box office, 270 Tremont Street in the Theater District.

Regattabar rescheduling

The Regattabar, which saw its entire August schedule wiped out when a water pipe burst, has announced the rebooking of the following acts:

Pierre Hurel and his trio (August 6) will perform on Tuesday October 28 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.

Tony Perez and his trio (August 7) will appear with Steve Turre and the Latin Jazz All Stars on Friday and Saturday September 26 and 27, with two shows each evening, at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $20/$22.

Charlie Kohlhase (August 13) will perform on Tuesday October 21 with his group CK5 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.

Rebecca Parris and her quintet (August 15) will appear Sunday November 23 at 3 and 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $18.

Bruce Katz and his band (August 16) will play Thursday February 5 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba and his trio (August 21-23) will play Thursday November 20 at 8:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday November 21 and 22 at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $20/$22.

For refunds and exchanges and the status of other canceled acts, call (617) 876-7777; for an updated schedule, visit www.concertix.com.

Calling all scribes

Barrington Stage Company, Obie-winning director Julianne Boyd’s fiefdom in the Berkshires, recently announced the formation of the Herrick Theatre Foundation Play Competition for New Plays. "The Foundation believes that nothing in the theater outweighs the development of new plays," said Rhoda Herrick, founder and head of the Herrick Theatre Foundation, which is apparently ready to put its money where its mouth is. First prize in the contest is $20,000, which goes directly to the playwright. The prize also includes a full workshop production of the play at Barrington Stage Company, which performs at the Consolati Performing Arts Center in Sheffield, with the possibility of a mainstage production. Two runners-up will receive a $1000 awards and professional readings of their work in Sheffield. All entries are due December 1, whereupon 10 finalists will be selected by "a consortium of readers from the professional theater community, including playwrights and directors." Finalists will be notified by April 1, with selection of the winners to be announced in May. So, playwrights, get cracking! For more information about the competition, visit the BSC Web site: www.barringtonstageco.org.

Life after Gigli

So how did the public receive the critically panned Gigli? The Ben Affleck/Jennifer Lopez vehicle took in $8000 less in its first week than the animated Finding Nemo did in its 10th. But don’t cry for J. Lo just yet. Next year, she and Ben will try again in the Kevin Smith–directed Jersey Girl, where Ben gives up the strip clubs to marry a woman (guess who?) with a six-year-old daughter who, like her mom, is a Sweeney Todd fan. Following that, Jen is set to move in with father-in-law Robert Redford in Lasse Hallström’s An Unfinished Life. And if those don’t work out, there’s always Peter Chelsom’s Shall We Dance, in which she’s Richard Gere’s dance instructor. This one’s a remake (already?) of the 1996 Masayuki Suo film Shall We Dansu?, in which Koji Yakusho plays a depressed businessman who falls for dance instructor Tamiyo Kusakari and becomes a ballroom-dance competitor. Ballroom dancing was a novelty in Japan when the film was released; Chelsom’s version will, it appears, be set in the US, and it will be hard to make anything new out of what looks like Pretty Woman with the hooker upgraded to hoofer. Then again, it will be hard to do worse than Gigli.


Issue Date: August 15 - August 21, 2003
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