“Ireland to Fund Cultural Programs in U.S. - Wall Street Journal” plus 1 more

Ireland to Fund Cultural Programs in U.S. - Wall Street Journal

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 12:05 PM PST

By ERICA ORDEN

The government of Ireland is set to fund a $5.3 million initiative to support a vast array of arts programming in the U.S. during 2011, the country's minister of culture is set to announce Friday in New York.

Encompassing 400 events in 40 states, the project, "Imagine Ireland," will finance programming related to the country at major New York cultural institutions such as the New York Public Library, the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It will also support U.S. tours by at least three of Ireland's historic theaters: the Abbey, Gate and Druid.

At the New York Public Library, for example, the project will help fund "Ireland America: The Ties That Bind," an exhibition examining 19th- and 20th-century Irish-American performance history. Institutions including the Public Theater, P.S. 122, St. Ann's Warehouse and La MaMa, an experimental theater venue, will also present "Imagine Ireland"-backed programming.

On Friday, Ireland's minister for culture, Mary Hanafin, and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will disclose additional details of the yearlong project at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where they will be joined by actor Gabriel Byrne, a cultural ambassador for Ireland.

Additional programming is planned for Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other U.S. locations.

Write to Erica Orden at erica.orden@wsj.com

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Cultural arts: President's Arts Awards on Jan. 14 in St. Tammany - New Orleans Times-Picayune

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 08:57 PM PST

Published: Monday, January 10, 2011, 2:00 PM

When parish and city governments support diversity and excellence in civic programs, interesting and unexpected things occur.

Such was the case in the late 1980s when Wilbert Williams Jr., a pharmacist by trade, participated in Leadership St. Tammany Slidell.

"Will," as he is widely known, discovered an interest in theater that led to an acting role in the Slidell LittleTheater production, "I'm Not Rappaport. " As the character of Mitch Carter, Wills' performance resonated throughout the African-American community in St. Tammany Parish and introduced a fresh new pool of talent to the Slidell Little Theater.

This success story could have ended there, but Williams was not destined to be a one-hit wonder. In fact, he expanded his repertoire. He began assisting Bob Gault in the production of plays by contemporary African-American playwright August Wilson, while also acting in productions at the North Star Theater in Mandeville, and with the Anthony Bean Community Theater on the south shore.

His energy and dedication to theater clearly ignited what has been described as "a quiet revolution." His service to the community increased the richness and diversity of the cultural arts in St. Tammany Parish. The results have been far reaching and two examples clearly demonstrate how these actions reflect well on the organizations that gave him a start. Leadership St. Tammany Slidell brought him in touch with available resources; and the Slidell Little Theater opened the way for him to realize his talents. In 2009 and 2010, Slidell Little Theater conducted colorblind casting, which is reflected in records of in their programming. Today, the Board of Directors of the Slidell LittleTheater includes strong representation from a minority community. The gentleman who started it all, Will Williams., founded his own theater company in 2010, which he named Mitch Carter Productions, an apt reference to the first role he played on stage.

The mission of his production company is to produce more plays by African-American playwrights, such as "Jar the Floor,"recently performed at Dubuisson Gallery in Slidell, an alternative space for theater production. Wilbert "Will" Williams, Jr. receives the President's Art Award for 2010.

Another kind of diversity is recognized in the announcement of the President's Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented to José-Maria Cundin, a visual artist who is esteemed as an advocate of the Avant Garde Movement in his native Basque country.

His is an interesting journey from Spain, where he was born in 1938, to the rolling hills of Folsom, where he currently lives. Along the way, he created an outstanding professional career that spanned half a century beginning with his first solo exhibition in Bogota, Colombia, in the 1950s.

He established his residence in the United States in New York in 1958, when the art world was buzzing with promise. In 1964, he found his way to New Orleans, and his sophisticated use of color connected with an audience delighted by the brilliant spirit he exhibited in his work and his exuberant sense of mischief that fit well with cultural traditions in Louisiana.

A visit to Bienvenu Gallery at 518 Julia St., New Orleans, through Jan. 29, provides an opportunity to see a collection of 12 paintings by Cundin with titles such as "Fidel Castro in a Rare Moment of Silence," "Chavez, Why Don't You Shut Up?" and "Carlos Gardel Singing 'Muñeca Brava'"

The exhibition title, Twelve Anti-Portraits, reflects Cundin's theory that there is "a certain Spanish constant, which could be the anti-portrait, in masterpieces by painters such as Velázquez, Goya, and others."

In the exhibition essay, Richard Speer says that in the anti-portraits, tags and tatters of color coalesce around an unseen magnetic core reflecting Cundin's inquiry into the components of depiction and self-perception. He quotes Cundin:"In addition to great artists, I am also influenced by great thinkers, carpenters, fishermen, shepherds, and mechanics."

Cundin's paintings and sculptures are in numerous private collections in Spain, France, England, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. This international artist's work is in numerous public collections, including Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao; Contemporary Art Museum, Vitoria, Basque Country, Spain; Museo de Zea, Medellin, Colombia; New Orleans Museum of Art; and Johnson & Wales University.

The 2010 recipients of the St. Tammany Parish President's Arts Awards will be honored during a receptionon Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Louisiana Medical Center & Heart Hospital, 64030 Louisiana 434, Lacombe. For more information, contact Jennifer Bushnell, Arts Coordinator, St. Tammany parish government at 898.3011.

Cultural

Monday, January 10, 2011