WANTED: Student Performing Arts Curators

WHO: Current undergraduate and graduate Stanford students are invited to apply.

WHAT: Curate Opening Acts for high-profile performers (world music, classical, jazz artists) in the new Bing Concert Hall.

*WHY: To have a stake in campus arts programming: to conceptualize, plan and present high quality, engaging programs to complement our season and showcase campus performers.

WHEN: Apply by Monday, May 21, 2012. You will be notified by the end of spring quarter.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Selected student curators will meet as a group in the fall to program three opening acts for winter and spring quarters. Curators will work closely with the Lively Arts programming, production and marketing staff, and interfacing with campus arts groups and visiting artists.

IS THERE MONEY INVOLVED?

Student curators receive a $500 honorarium and are given a budget for artist fees. Time commitment is 2–3 fall quarter meetings, attendance at all Opening Acts performances, plus several curator logistical meetings throughout the season.

To APPLY

Please cut and paste the form below into an email, and send, with your responses, to Lisa Mezzacappa, Campus Programs Manager, by Monday May 21.

• Name
• Year
• Major(s)
• Email
• Mobile
• Please describe the role the arts play in your life. (1 par)
• Describe your most memorable arts experience, on campus or elsewhere. (2 par max)
• Why do you want to be a performing arts curator with Lively Arts? What experience do you have to support this work, and what new skills are you interested in developing? (2 par max)

• References: Please provide the following information for two references who can attest to your maturity/reliability, communication skills, ability to meet deadlines, ability to work collaboratively, organizational skills, etc.

• Reference #1: Name, Title/Relationship, Email address, and Telephone #
• Reference #2: Name, Title/Relationship, Email address, and Telephone #

The first class of Doris Duke Artists — each receiving a $225,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation — has just been announced and Stanford Lively Arts audiences have met many of them. Among the recipients are recent Stanford visitors Vijay Iyer, Rinde Eckert, John Hollenbeck, Meredith Monk and Ralph Lemon. READ MORE

—Posted by Robert Cable, Public Relations Manager

During an evening of musical gifts and impassioned tributes last Saturday, the Cantabile Youth Singers of Silicon Valley honored Lively Arts’ artistic and executive director Jenny Bilfield with their 2012 Champion of the Arts award at a gala event held in the Stanford Faculty Club.

Cantabile’s artistic director and conductor Elena Sharkova, who presented the award, recalled her astonishment at being invited to perform on the stage with the Kronos Quartet at Stanford (she sent herself Jenny’s e-mail invitation three times!). Other congratulations and heartfelt words of thanks came flowing in (via video) from composers Steve Reich and David Lang, Kronos Quartet’s David Harrington, the artist Trimpin, pianist Uri Caine, St. Lawrence cellist Christopher Costanza, and singer/director Rinde Eckert as well as colleagues and artist managers, among others.

And in a prepared statement the eminent composer John Adams wrote, “Jenny combines a deep knowledge of all the arts with her own very special personal warmth and humanity. Because of her gentleness and humility it’s easy to miss the point that hers is an exceedingly sharp intellect with discriminating taste and a finely tuned sense of worth in artistic matters. Her arrival at Stanford Lively Arts has been one of the signal events in Bay Area cultural life. She has done much to revitalize musical activity at Stanford and her vision and imagination are providing a model for campus arts activities throughout the country. We are immensely fortunate to have her in our midst.”

Posted by Robert Cable, Public Relations Manager

Kronos founder David Harrington recently spoke to San Francisco Classical Voice about the group’s upcoming concerts with the Alim Qasimov Ensemble. Prior to the Lively Arts performance on February 12, visiting artists Alim and Fargana Qasimov discuss and demonstrate the music of Azerbaijan, with Harrington in a free event at the Stanford Humanities Center on February 9.
READ THE INTERVIEW

—Posted by Robert Cable, Public Relations Manager