Cultural Affairs Update
The city’s delay in finding a new Director of Cultural Affairs to replace departed director Jack Anderson (“Whither Cultural Affairs?” Articulations, Vol.18, No.10) may not be owing to municipal indifference, after all. Instead, it looks to be a chess-like pre-emptive strike designed to keep the position from being filled without due consideration for the position’s impact on Austin’s growing cultural scene. In response to a City Council-wide e-mail assault last week by Austin Circle of Theatres executive directorAnn Ciccolella, who wanted to know why a hold had been placed on the position, Suzie Harriman, who works in the office of Council-member Beverly Griffith, told Ciccolella that it was Griffith who was responsible for the hold. The reason, she said, was because Griffith “definitely wants to do a national search and she wants to work closely with [City Manager] Jesus Garza and the Human Resources Department on drafting a new job description and coming up with an appropriate compensation package.” Say what? A councilmember actively advocating better city support for the arts? This just after city citizens voted two-to-one in favor of turning Palmer Auditorium into a performing arts center? Pinch me, somebody, I gotta be dreamin’. Well, even if I’m not, this new day for Austin arts isn’t without battles. Other councilmembers still need to hear from arts lovers who support a national search for the new director. Give ’em an earful. And how about a round of applause for Griffith?
More Prop Wash
Shame on me for recounting the cultural triumphs in the November 3 city elections and not mentioning the long-dreamed-of, denied-no-longer victory for the Mexican American Cultural Center and the Carver Museum and Library. Both projects, for years either ignored by the city majority or actively refused, were grouped in with the library proposals of Proposition 4, a position which offered some shelter from the “no” votes but hardly enough to qualify as an automatic win. When the votes were tallied, Prop 4 registered as a decisive “yea,” with a solid six out of 10 Austin voters signaling their approval. The 60.2% in favor of the proposition was slightly below the percentage in favor of Prop 12 (62.9%) but much higher that the percentage in favor of Prop 11 (56.1%). How gratifying to see winners across the board this election. My apologies to supporters of the MACC and the Carver for not noting that earlier.
Ramont Return
Seems like only yesterday that I was on the phone with Michel Jaroschy, listening to him needle me to shed a little extra ink over the Capitol City Playhouse production of Lips Together, Teeth Apart as it was being staged by his new artistic director, Mark Ramont. Alas, it wasn’t yesterday, but too long ago — long enough for CCP to give way to the Irish pub Fad� and Jaroschy to leave too soon for that Big Stage above. And Ramont? He’s been busy directing all over the land, gracing some of the country’s finest regional theatres with his incisive theatrical insights. Just last month, he staged an acclaimed version of Paula Vogel‘s How I Learned to Drive for the Alley Theatre in Houston. This week, though, he’s back in our area, staging a production of Smash, a play based on a novel by George Bernard Shaw, at Southwestern University in Georgetown. It may be just a visit, but it’s a treat to have this fine artist back all the same. The show runs November 13-22. Call 512/863-1378 for info.
This article appears in November 13 • 1998 and November 13 • 1998 (Cover).