January 2009 Archives
Limon Dance in NY Times
Limon Dance will be featured at Encounter 09 - tickets are now available for their February 28 performance... Click here to buy yours now!
34 States and 5 Nations Already Registered for Encounter 09
Painters, filmmakers, dancers, musicians, writers, poets, producers and more will gather at the Downtown Conference Center for workshops, lectures and masterclasses, and then head to Tribeca Performing Arts Center (Borough of Manhattan Community College) for the evening performance series featuring former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins, 2009 National Medal of Arts winner Limon Dance, jazz pianist Helen Sung, NEA Chairman's Medal winner Makoto Fujimura, and many other performers and presenters.
Tickets for the evening performance series only may be purchased here.
The 2008 Encounter brought nearly four hundred people from thirty-nine states and eleven nations to New York City hotels and restaurants. Registration for Encounter 09 already includes thirty-four states and five nations - with thirty days left until the event!
Area hotels, restaurants and retailers will enjoy increased patronage, thanks to International Arts Movement's Encounter 09.
IAM is a non-profit arts organization committed to gathering artists and creative catalysts to wrestle with the deep questions of art, faith and humanity in order to inspire the creative community to engage the culture that is and create the world that ought to be.
For information about International Arts Movement's Encounter 09 or to register, visit the IAM Encounter Website.
Refractions on Break Point
Star of "The Visitor" Receives Oscar Bid
So says the New York Times in its January 22 article, "With the Film Academy's Evolution, Quality Emerges Triumphant." Click here to read the whole article.
Among the nominees for Best Actor is Richard Jenkins, for his "quietly brilliant" performance in The Visitor, co-starring IAM's Danai Gurira. Both actors delivered extrodinary performances in the film.
IAM celebrates this nomination for Jenkins and applauds the Academy's recognition of film making, acting, directing and writing at its finest.
If you have not yet seen the film, be sure to add it to your Netflix list, or pick it up from Amazon.
Mako's New Book Now Available
Makoto Fujimura's new book, Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture is now available. Click here to read a sample chapter, learn more and order your copy.
ORDER YOUR COPY NOW!
Buzz about Refractions...
“An artist with the craftsmanship and global appeal of Makoto Fujimura comes along all too rarely. Such an artist with a strong faith commitment who both inspires and leads other artists – now that’s really rare. Mako is a fine writer. I learned, and was provoked and frequently moved by these reflections that through Mako’s eye have become unique refractions.”
- PHILIP YANCEY, Author, What’s So Amazing About Grace?
“These essays, like his paintings, are rich and thoughtful explorations of art’s redemptive power and its place in a violent, broken world.”
- TERRY TEACHOUT, Drama Critic, The Wall Street Journal
"Like his art, Makoto Fujimura's essays harbor a depth of luminosity that requires and rewards patient contemplation. This collection is an important contribution to the conversation between faith and art and between art and our beautiful, broken world."
- ANDY CROUCH, Editor, Christian Vision Project/Author, Culture Making
"If ever there were a time when we needed Fujimura's profound evocation of art as a harbinger of peace in a fractured world, this is it."
- JEREMY BEGBIE, Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology, Duke University
"Mako Fujimura has spent a lifetime of seeing 'through' the remarkable gift of his eye. He has painted for us, and now, remarkably, he has written for us about the truth he has seen."
- MICHAEL CARD, Musician/Author/Teacher
Media inquiries should be directed to Christy Tennant (christy(at)internationalartsmovement.org or
(212) 944-0944
Review copies available.
Paste Magazine Nominates Makoto Fujimura
Says the article, "Quincy Jones has officially called for President Obama (President Obama!) to create a Secretary of the Arts position in the U.S. cabinet. There’s an online petition for the cause, which has 170,350 signatures (and counting)."
IAM Founder Makoto Fujimura is on the list, along with a few other folks you've probably heard of. Click here for the full story...
Helen Sung Talks With Christy Tennant
Also appearing that night will be former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins and IAM Founder Makoto Fujimura.
This performance is included in all full conference registrations, but may also be purchased individually as an "a la carte" option.
Click here to purchase your ticket for the show, or click here to register for the whole conference!
Encounter 09 :: A la Carte Registration
Regular Rates:
Friday (Day Workshops Only) - $105.00
Saturday (Day Workshops Only) - $105.00
Friday (Full Day) - $145.00
Saturday (Full Day) - $145.00
Student Rates:
Student Friday (Day Workshops Only) - $55.00
Student Saturday (Day Workshops Only) - $55.00
Student Friday (Full Day) - $75.00
Student Saturday (Full Day) - $75.00
www.iamencounter.com
Rob Mathes by Alisa Harris
Rob Mathes has been involved with IAM for several years, and Alisa Harris is a contributor to IAM's online magazine, The Curator.
Helen Sung on WBGO Radio
Rob Mathes, Musical Director for Pre-Inaugural Concert
From his web site's press release:
Greenwich resident and Grammy and Emmy nominated musician, music director, singer/songwriter, arranger, and record producer Rob Mathes is busy coordinating the musical line-up for this weekend's pre-inaugural "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial" concert scheduled for Sunday, January 18, in Washington, D.C., that is the Opening Celebration of the 56th Presidential Inaugural, which Mathes will musically direct and arrange.
Scheduled to perform are: Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Jon BonJovi, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder, with additional performers possible. The concert's executive producer is George Stevens, Jr. (The Kennedy Center Honors), and is produced by Don Mischer (Olympic Ceremonies), and directed by Michael Stevens (The American Film Institute Salutes) and is a production of The Stevens Company in association with Don Mischer Productions.
"It is so exciting to be a part of history with this inaugural concert for Barack Obama," noted Mathes, who has been working around the clock to prepare for the concert. "I have never ever in my life experienced anything like this before -- it is great and I'm enjoying every minute of it!"
The show will be broadcast on HBO on Sunday, January 18, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
HBO will broadcast the show on open access, which allows those with cable or satellite to also join the opening celebration for free.
CONGRATULATIONS, ROB, FROM ALL OF US AT IAM!
Daniel Nayeri Goes Toe-to-Toe with Billy Collins
LETTER TO A YOUNG POET
So vast was my fanboy admiration of Billy Collins when I was in college, so unencumbered by facts my ambition, and so shameless my neophytic insolence, that I wrote the Poet Laureate of United States a poem. An overconfident challenge ineptly disguised as a fan letter. It said, I am ashamed now to paraphrase:
Dear Mr. Collins, Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, respected peer of The New Yorker, deserving recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts fellowship, and all-around literary badass - you may in fact hold the highest appointed position of any American poet, but I’m a really really good English major, so, you know, make room.
I know.
And to make the audacity truly laughable, I wrote all this in the form of a poem. I will not here share that poem. Suffice to say that contrary to my undergraduate assertion, I was not really really good.
• Billy Collins will be a speaker at the annual IAM Encounter, February 26-28, 2009 in New York City. (IAM is the publisher of The Curator.)
• You can buy Billy Collins’ books on Amazon.com.
The poem, titled “Upon Reading Canada,” was an epistolary one-pager. No rhyme, meter, rhythm, or purposeful cadence worth mentioning - “free verse” would be what they aptly call it. It shared with Mr. Collins’s poetry only its general typographic shape. The rest was a haphazard cocksure motif of Billy Collins himself, cast as the heavy weight champion of the world. You see, boxing rings have lines in the form of boundary ropes, which you must grapple within. This is metaphorically similar to writing, which also incorporates lines—this time, of words.
You can see that the Muses had clearly favored me with a friend request.
As the poem swaggered on, I may have made unsubtle claims that a young challenger was on the way to the ring (this challenger was not, say, the talented Emanuel Xavier, but rather myself). You may have guessed that I wrote, printed, and mailed this poem in the span of thirty minutes, and you would be right.
Nonetheless, there is a shred of dignity I glom onto when remembering how poorly I presented myself to Mr. Collins. I was, after all, an infatuated 19-year-old. Armed suddenly with the tool of close reading, I had discovered my first Olympian. Rarely do you laugh out loud reading poetry. This is a disappointment I did not endure while devouring his books in my dorm hall. I was shushed by many a sleepy neighbor, but I would never let them mute the blaring advertisements that I was, right then, getting something terribly witty.
The truth is Mr. Collins is achingly clever. It is the first temptation in reading his poetry to assume you will only be entertained. His work is described as “gently and consistently startling,” (John Updike), “sometimes tender, often profound,” (NY Times), and “refreshingly devoid of tweed and pomp,” (some dude on Amazon).
I will not go into a close reading of Collins’s poetry. I can’t. I tried. A few hours ago I picked up Sailing Alone Around the Room to find a single poem I could dissect for you. After finishing it, I then picked up Picnic, Lightning. Then The Art of Drowning, my personal favorite. They were all delicious.
I will say his poems dazzled and sucker punched me that first time. Like all writers, my highest compliment could only be that I wished I had written each one. To credit my college self a tiny bit, this was the ending of the poem I sent him. It was upon reading his poem, “Canada,” that I thought I had discovered his first mistake. As I put it then, I felt almost relieved to see one poem, at least, that wasn’t perfect in my besotted gaze.
My reasoning for thinking ill of the poem is unclear. I think I pounced on a certain repetition of a phrase within as an error of redundancy. I’m not sure. Of course, by the time I had finished the poem, the purposefulness of each line had been made clear.
In the metaphor of the boxers, this is the unseen knockout blow. A wink from the champ preceded it, I was sure.
In a lot of ways, I suppose the redundancy is mine. This piece, too, seems like nothing but a fan letter. As for self-effacing, self-aggrandizing claptrap, well, there are more uses of the first person than the name Billy Collins. In terms of literary contests, I suppose I could lift more of his hardback editions than he could. Of mine, we could lift an equal weight, zero. Supposing we were both mysteriously turned into dancing bears, I think I’d have an easier go of it. Boxing kangaroos would be his, but never the dancing bears.
At the risk of an all-out flame war, comparable to the east coast/west coast rappers of the 90s, I will say that Mr. Collins is a fine poet, but possibly a pitiful air traffic controller. This in addition to his underwhelming performance as a dancing bear.
And lest anyone think I am overstepping with the Guggenheim Fellow, please know the kindly gentlemen has tooth enough to defend himself. Six weeks after I sent off my poem, I was standing in my dorm lobby, buttoning my coat before rushing into the autumn gale. The lady at the front desk said, “here,” to save herself the effort of sorting my mail. A letter addressed from the office of the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, in the Poetry and Literature Center, The Library of Congress, United States of America. The watermark was a bald eagle. There was only the following in verbatim, in toto:
Dear Daniel,
Ready to put the gloves on with you anytime, punk. See you at the weigh-in.
Bring your friends,
Billy Collins.
Billy Collins Talks with Christy Tennant
Christy Tennant and Billy spoke in November, and you can hear their conversation here!
All full-conference registrations include tickets to see Billy Collins (and others), but you may also purchase a ticket for just that evening's performance.
To register for Encounter 09, click here: http://www.iamencounter.com
To purchase a ticket just for the Billy Collins/Helen Sung/Makoto Fujimura performance on Feb 27, click here:
http://www.tribecapac.org/also.htm#iam
Small Works Available
Mako Awarded NEA Chairman's Medal
IAM Global Blog
The IAM Global blog discusses news and updates for the entire International Arts Movement.