“Institutions are increasingly bringing in artists to create series in their fields of expertise,” writes Anne Midgette in last Thursday’s (8/30) Washington Post. “In August, the St. Louis Symphony named the flutist Tim Munro its creative partner…. The New York Philharmonic created the same position for violist Nadia Sirota…. The Kennedy Center is trumpeting a host of artist-curators…. Performing arts institutions are recognizing they need vision…. Says Mason Bates, the Kennedy Center’s composer-in-residence, … ‘it’s a really cool development, letting people like Paola Prestini, Missy Mazzoli, Anna Clyne or me have a way to impact the field.’ Mazzoli … starts this fall curating the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series as the CSO’s composer-in-residence…. Every curator, artist or not, needs a lot of support to turn a vision into reality…. ‘Support’ … means giving a curator an equal partner in an administrator who can advise, counterbalance and even veto.” Says Thomas Morris, artistic director of the Ojai Festival, “Everyone thinks the definition of curation is basically selecting pieces. But the real need is broader than that. It’s … how do you develop some kind of narrative; how do you create an experience for the audience?”
Posted September 6, 2018
